ABC clearly is very high on Whiskey Cavalier, even if Jimmy Kimmel wasn’t during his chainsaw massacre of the show’s very title during the network’s “upfront” presentation to advertisers last May...

2019

Feb

NBC'S 'THE ENEMY WITHIN' DOESN'T HAVE MUCH OF A GRIP By Ed Bark

It’s been a while, but NBC once made a nice prime-time living by mixing espionage and one-liners in quippy/trippy series such as I Spy, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. Now it’s all a very serious business...

2019

Feb

REHABBING SAMMY DAVIS JR. IN PBS' 'I'VE GOTTA BE ME' By Ed Bark

The complexities of Sammy Davis Jr. run far deeper than that hug of Richard Nixon or those deferential, knee-slapping, “with your kind permission” appearances on a variety of talk shows...

2019

Feb

WAYLAYING GUILT TRIPS IN FOX'S 'PROVEN INNOCENT' By Ed Bark

The benign egotism of Frasier Crane made Kelsey Grammer a TV superstar -- and he’s lately confirming that a reboot is getting closer to being a reality. But in the interim...

2019

Feb

'AMERICAN SOUL' SHIFTS BET INTO SCRIPTED STORYTELLING MODE By Ed Bark

Black Entertainment Television, longhand for BET, had its own Don Cornelius in Robert Johnson, who launched the network with his wife, Sheila, in 1980 and sold it to Viacom 20 years later for a reported $3 billion...

2019

Jan

TNT'S 'I AM THE NIGHT' ENDS UP BEING ITS OWN CURFEW By Ed Bark

Chris Pine’s character regularly takes a beating, as does the overall believability of TNT’s ambitious but convoluted I Am the Night...

2019

Jan

LIONS BEFORE PRINT JOURNALISM'S WINTER IN HBO'S 'BRESLIN AND HAMILL: DEADLINE ARTISTS' By Ed Bark

The lede is inspired. HBO’s Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists begins with visuals of New York subway passengers transfixed by their cell phones...

2019

Jan

SURVIVAL MODE FOR THE BIG FOUR BROADCAST NETWORKS INCREASINGLY IS MORE POST-SURVIVOR "REALITY-COMPETITION" SHOWS By Ed Bark

The annual Golden Globes awards recently came and went without a single win for one of the old line Big Four broadcast networks -- ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC...

2019

Jan

SHOWTIME'S 'BLACK MONDAY' PUTS DON CHEADLE BACK IN CON MAN MODE AFTER FIVE SEASONS AS MARTY KAAN IN NETWORK'S 'HOUSE OF LIES' By Ed Bark

Two-and-a-half years removed from a five-season run on Showtime’s House of Lies, Don Cheadle barely segues to another rapacious deal-closer in the network’s Black Monday...

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Ed Bark

Since 2006, Ed Bark's local and national TV stories and observations have been showcased on his pioneering website, www.unclebarky.com. For 26 years before that, he was TV critic for the Dallas Morning News. He's a past president of the Television Critics Association, and for seven years served on the national Peabody Awards board.