April 2009 Archives

DVD WATCH: 'thirtysomething' due Aug. 25

April 29, 2009 10:53 AM

Fans of ABC's '80s emo-fest thirtysomething will finally see the pre-midlife crisis drama hit DVD this Aug. 25, thanks to those fine retroheads at Shout! Factory.

Series creators Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz loved what the Shout folks did in resurrecting their '90s coming-of-age drama My So-Called Life -- topping an earlier bare bones set with last year's loving, bonus-laden box -- so they're taking their 1987 career-maker there, too.

The Los Angeles Times has the entire scoop here, blaming the long DVD holdup on the usual suspect: music clearances. Of course, Shout! Factory is something of a master at jumping those hurdles, earlier bringing us such gems as Freaks and Geeks and SCTV. (If only Fox would let them take over WKRP in Cincinnati and release it right.)

The thirtysomething creators promise DVD interviews and audio commentaries to flesh out the thinking -- and feeling -- behind a drama that seemed to speak for a generation grown out of '60s upheaval and hippiedom, into the me-first greed-is-good '80s, not knowing which way to turn. Baby boomers Ken Olin, Timothy Busfield, Patricia Wettig and company didn't so much have the usual drama adventures as they did talk about their feeeelings, about values, parenthood, business pressures, relationships, religion conflicts, et al. That introspective openness touched the hearts of many viewers, while driving others nuts with what they perceived as whining by folks who actually had it pretty good.

Consider it TV's first group therapy session: Your feelings might be self-centered, but they're your feelings and you're entitled to have them.

What will subsequent generations make of all this? We get our emo in reality shows now.

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WATCH ONLINE: PBS Video Player launches

April 27, 2009 11:02 AM

Ahead of the curve, behind the curve -- now PBS is ahead again. Public TV was the first network to really "get" the internet, providing loads of value-added text content when the World Wide Web was still in its infant stage. But when online video exploded, PBS was a laggard. This week it's launched a new video player that finally puts it back in the forefront when it comes to streamed content.

PBS Video, still in beta form, promises thousands of hours of programs, films and documentaries -- more added over future weeks -- all streaming in a sleek widescreen player with a clean interface that makes it easy to find your fun and/or facts. You can browse a "cover flow" view organized by either Featured Programs (American Experience, Masterpiece, Antiques Roadshow, Nature, et al) or Featured Collections (The Presidents, The Economy, Be Green, Going Places, etc.). Or head direct to what you want, through drop-down lists of Programs and Topics. (There's also a search function.)

Watch in either the standard window or full-screen view. A screen-bottom controller allows you to slide fast-forward or back. You can even "share" videos via Facebook, Digg and other social programs; email links to friends, and click directly to buying shows on DVD or from iTunes.

All this comes at little cost -- free viewing, with pre-roll underwriting spots. They're longer than the familiar on-air announcements, but tolerable.

Finally, adults get the thrills their younger counterparts have been enjoying since last fall on the still-going-strong PBS Kids Go! video player.

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TRIBUTE: Bea Arthur bounty

April 27, 2009 8:04 AM

After Beatrice Arthur died over the weekend, TV channels went into overdrive scheduling episodes of her classic '80s sitcom The Golden Girls.

WE wound up first, with its "WE Remember Bea" marathon lineup running this Monday 5 p.m.-midnight ET and Thursday 9:30 p.m.-1 a.m. ET, spotlighting episodes that focus on her acerbic Dorothy character. The Golden Girls regularly runs on WE weekdays 5-7 p.m. ET.

Hallmark Channel also airs The Golden Girls, scattered all over the schedule. Get your DVR ready for action at these times, all ET -- Monday-Thursday 8-10 a.m., 7-9 p.m., midnight-2 a.m.; Friday night midnight-2 a.m.; Saturday 6-10 a.m.; Sunday 8:30-10 a.m.

And mark your calendar for Hallmark Channel's Memorial Day marathon of The Golden Girls on May 25, 6:30 a.m.-2:30 a.m. ET.

Don't forget -- all six seasons of The Golden Girls series are available on DVD, too.

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WATCH THIS: PaleyFest salutes 'Dr. Horrible,' TV shows

April 21, 2009 1:24 PM

Even as TV Land loses interest in "our TV heritage" (finely eyed in David Bianculli's Cougar post), some folks still value what's good, even as it's still going on.

PaleyFest 2009 is the annual festival of terrific tube hosted by the Los Angeles branch of The Paley Center for Media (formerly The Museum of Television & Radio), and its current run (April 10-24) is saluting everything from Big Love to The Big Bang Theory to Battlestar Galactica. Episode screenings and lively panel discussions with the shows' creators/cast make for an annual snapshot of what's hot and what's innovative in TV today.

And online, too -- Joss Whedon's direct-to-web musical Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog was honored Tuesday night. [See photo.]

You can track the goings-on at the PaleyFest blog of The Hollywood Reporter, among other coverage, as well as at the Paley Center's own site, which includes video highlights and a Twitter feed. (And if you're in L.A., you might consider heading to a panel or two.)

Video clips from previous PaleyFest panels can be found at the center's Screening Room -- among them, last year's Buffy the Vampire Slayer reunion and 2007 salutes to Dexter and Jericho. Also streaming: excerpts from other Paley panels (the evolution of the sitcom) and flashbacks to TV history highlights (Dick Cavett remembers his talk show's incendiary Norman Mailer vs. Gore Vidal "intellectual" smackdown, which you can then watch here).

Head to a Paley Center facility in Manhattan or Beverly Hills for an even more amazing TV wallow -- more than 140,000 TV and radio shows (including commercials, sports, news, etc.), available for screening at personal consoles. You can search that collection here.

Or check out Paley Center live events including Kristin Chenoweth's April 16 New York chat or an April 22 panel on radio theater's history and future. See event calendar/details here.

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FLICK PICKS: Funny Ladies on TCM

April 20, 2009 10:56 AM

Another week, another amazing Turner Classic Movies festival, from the gold standard in film presentation. This Monday-Friday (April 20-24), it's Funny Ladies, a prime-time toast to comic women that ranges from the TV era (Lily Tomlin, Goldie Hawn, Lucille Ball) back to Hollywood's golden age (Betty Hutton, Judy Holliday, Mae West) and even further to silent silliness (Marion Davies).

That's almost 100 years of pratfalls, patsies, puns and other merriment, served up with the sort of style that makes TCM beloved where other movie channels remain random-access stumble-overs.

You can tell how smart the minds behind it are when you see how far afield their focus goes. While a few classic comediennes might be missing (Irene Dunne, anyone? Myrna Loy? Joan Blondell?), Funny Ladies reaches beyond movies/TV to include such radio names as Gracie Allen and stage stars like Fanny Brice (both on Tuesday night), plus supporting players like Alice Pearce (the first Gladys Kravitz on Bewitched).

TCM even offers an entertaining argument for one largely forgotten funny lady -- Marion Davies, whose talents are established Monday night/Tuesday morning in not only the silent treat The Patsy (4:30 a.m. ET) but also the career-spanning portrait Captured on Film: The True Story of Marion Davies (6 a.m. ET). Way to debunk that William Randolph Hearst-Citizen Kane depiction once and for all.

Here's the lineup:

• Monday, April 20 -- Patsy Kelly, Zasu Pitts, Helen Broderick, Margaret Dumont, Marie Dressler, Marion Davies


• Tuesday, April 21 -- Rosalind Russell, Mae West, Billie Burke, Eve Arden, Gracie Allen, Fanny Brice


• Wednesday, April 22 -- Marjorie Main, Judy Canova, Betty Hutton, Joan Davis, Martha Raye


• Thursday, April 23 -- Judy Holliday, Carol Burnett, Lucille Ball, Esther Williams, Alice Pearce


• Friday, April 24 -- Nancy Walker, Goldie Hawn, Lily Tomlin

My ultimate don't-miss pick? Sexy steamroller Betty Hutton in Preston Sturges' insanely hilarious, speedy-paced satire The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (Wednesday at 11 p.m. ET, TCM) -- whose release was held up for two World War II years as the studio wondered what to do with the tale of a small-town girl who ends up, as Ricky Ricardo would say, " 'spectin' " after a party night so rowdy she can't recall the offending soldier.

Find all TCM's Funny Ladies titles and times here.

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FLICK PICKS: Turner Classic Movies turns 15 with film fan festivities

April 13, 2009 5:28 PM

Bill Maher, Ray Bradbury, Matt Groening, Tracey Ullman, Rainn Wilson, John Sayles, Sally Field, Harvey Fierstein, Martha Stewart, Donald Trump and Kermit the Frog -- what's the connection?

Turner Classic Movies and its guest programmer slot. All these celebs and more have picked films to co-host alongside TCM anchor Robert Osborne in the movie cabler's monthly spotlight.

Now TCM viewers get into the act, in celebration of the channel's 15th anniversary. This Monday-Friday (April 13-17), 15 winners of TCM's co-host competition will join Osborne to present their faves in prime time.

It's quite a range, encompassing old classics and new, American films and foreign, famous titles and obscure, with the programmers themselves being just as diverse -- a 14-year-old who loves Fred Astaire flicks, a 69-year-old who's a regular on TCM's online message boards, viewers from New York to California to Florida.

Check out TCM's 15th anniversary site to read all about the fan programmers and their choices.

By the way, the channel's official anniversary is Tuesday. Former owner Ted Turner flipped a switch in Times Square to launch TCM on April 14, 1994, heralded as the 100th anniversary of motion pictures first being shown in New York near that Manhattan location. Revisit TCM's start, and some of its highlights since, in TCM's "15 Years in 90 Seconds" video here.

Tuesday's prime time lineup kicks off with the same film that launched TCM 15 years ago (and the same one that led to Turner's purchase of the old MGM movie library that enabled the channel's creation) -- Gone With the Wind (Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET, TCM).

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IF YOU MISSED IT: 'House' encore

April 8, 2009 4:30 PM

Last week's episode of House on Fox was a shockeroo (although a couple of websites had hinted that one of the regulars would be going down for good). If you missed it, never fear -- USA cable repeats "Simple Explanation" on Saturday, April 18 at 7 p.m. ET.

You can also watch online when that episode gets posted at Hulu.com on Tuesday, April 14.

(Spoilers ahead!)

If you did see the impressively dark hour that kicked off a continuing murder (?) mystery, you might want to check out Fox's online "memorial" for the departed Dr. Kutner.

And either way, it's always interesting to revisit how a show began. House nailed it from the start, which is clear when the 2004 pilot directed by Bryan Singer gets another airing Tuesday, April 14 at 8 p.m. ET on USA.

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THE JAY LENO WARS: Hometown station nixes 10 p.m. quip strip

April 3, 2009 12:55 PM

And it isn't even on the air yet. NBC's Boston affiliate WHDH has said "nuts" to the network's plan to strip Jay Leno into the weeknight 10 p.m. ET hour this fall. They'd rather run their own local news.

And remember, Leno is FROM Boston.

The real story here, as in so much of what network TV does today, lies in business ties and desperation economics. NBC slotted Leno at 10 p.m. in the first place because this network -- or should we say this GE subsidiary? -- has decided to program for short-term "margins" rather than ratings for the network, entertainment value for the audience, and longterm growth for both.

Now we see how network broadcasting is a different animal than, say, national cable. Because local affiliate stations have their own agendas. They like to make money, too. And they do it in local programming, especially late-night newscasts. If Leno lags in the ratings -- even worse than NBC's current bottom-dwelling prime-time lineup -- that hurts the size of the audience fed into their cash-cow late news. What do they care if it saves GE money? The locals could lose plenty.

And NBC could lose what literally makes it "a network" in the first place.

So we'll see how this gamesmanship plays out. As noted here in Jamie Hibberd's fine Live Feed analysis, the network is threatening to pull the Boston affiliation, and shift it to an NBC-owned also-ran in the market. Why does this conjure the cutting-off-nose-to-spite-face metaphor?

Most of the talk about NBC's Leno move has, up till now, focused on the loss of the 10 p.m. ET hour for scripted programs, which critics see as the engine that drives network quality. And I'm not disagreeing on that count. But it's much more than that. It's a potentially seismic shift in the business of how broadcast TV is put together and delivered to us, which will extend far beyond that single final hour of weeknight prime-time. We now see how it ripples into the heart of the network/affiliate relationships on which broadcast networks are built. And as that partnership turns, it changes everything everywhere at all times.

You want quality TV? One big reason the networks haven't gone even lower-brow in quick-money "reality" programs is that local affiliate stations can't take the heat. The locals hold federal spectrum licenses that can be challenged, and they depend on local advertisers reluctant to associate their products with prime-time slime.

These interconnected business levels have ever more impact on what we see. Sometimes that's good for TV worth watching -- Friday Night Lights may yet survive because NBC owns Universal, which produces the show (and gets the dollars from its DirecTV run) and which rakes in money from the show's digital afterlife (on Universal DVD and Blu-ray, iTunes, on-demand, et al). Sometimes it's bad -- networks are ever quicker to cancel shows they don't own, or reluctant to try them in the first place, because there's no back end for the network. (Or network executives keep self-owned crap on the air. This explains Kath and Kim.)

The big-gamble 10 p.m. Leno shift is revealing these many tentacles to the public. Critics have already decried the strip's displacement of scripted shows from five key hours of weekly prime-time. Now we see the affiliate effect. So let's look at something else network TV has always been predicated on, the financial back end. There isn't much to Leno, wherever he is. He's topical and timely, and pretty much old news by next week, if not sooner. No syndicated reruns. No likely DVD/download revenue, either. However, his show is really cheap to produce, NBC owns it, and it's front-loaded -- more money, right now, for less cost, right now. Who cares about building a business for the future?

Which means network TV in a tailspin, right now. NBC is accelerating the pace at which broadcasters devalue their own real estate. And that's bad for quality programming. Because the broadcast networks still remain the gold-standard there. You can talk all you want about great scripted shows on HBO, Showtime, FX, TNT or AMC, but they're doing maybe 2-3 hours of originals a week. The networks have delivered up to 20. Network shows are where most of the creators/cast/crew now making those "groundbreaking" cable originals cut their teeth to learn about the ground they had to break.

Eek, sorry 'bout that meandering metaphor. But here's another one. A sinking tide lowers all boats. The networks' loss is cable's loss is our loss as lovers of TV worth watching. The current Leno mess may only put the pedal to the metal on the entire downslide.

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THE PEABODYS: Awards go to 'SNL' on politics, 'Breaking Bad,' 'Lost,' 'John Adams,' Turner Classic Movies, more

April 2, 2009 1:50 PM

The Peabody Awards have a long history of recognizing the best in television, whatever and wherever it is -- from pioneer '50s comedy Mister Peepers and early TV opera Amahl and the Night Visitors, to current overachievers like South Park and Battlestar Galactica.

The latest honorees, announced Wednesday, run their own gamut, encompassing CNN's election coverage, Saturday Night Live's political satire, the serious history of HBO's John Adams, and the harrowing humor of AMC's Breaking Bad.

TV's Peabody Award winners for 2008 include:

Presidential campaign/debate coverage (CNN)

Saturday Night Live political satire (NBC)

Breaking Bad (AMC)

Entourage (HBO)

Lost (ABC)

Turner Classic Movies (TCM)

John Adams (HBO drama)

Washington Week with Gwen Ifill (PBS)

Beijing Olympics opening ceremony (NBC)

Hear and Now (HBO documentary)

Independent Lens: King Corn (PBS)

Depression: Out of the Shadows (PBS)

Black Magic (ESPN documentary)

Hopkins (ABC News series)

The Gates (HBO documentary)

NOVA: "Ape Genius" (PBS)

Avatar: The Last Air Bender (Nickelodeon animation)

You can find more winners, including those in radio and online -- plus the reasoning behind the selections -- at the Peabody site.

While you're there, download the PDF of the Peabody Winners Book, listing honorees back to the awards' 1940 start saluting the best in radio. It's a quick history of broadcasting at its finest.

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TV WORTH BUYING: 10 seasons of 'ER'

April 2, 2009 12:23 PM

As ER concludes its 15-season run, you can grab the first 10 seasons as Thursday's deal of the day at Amazon. The bundled DVD season sets are on sale for just $163, down from the usual $300, for one day only, at this link.

(The show's 11th season will be released on DVD July 14.)

Watching these trendsetting seasons reminds us why ER was once a 40-share show, as in 40 percent of all homes using TV being tuned to NBC's Thursday night smash. (A top-rated show today snares less than half that.)

ER may well be TV's last scripted mainstream blockbuster, since broad-based audiences today seem to materialize only around live "reality" reveals like American Idol.

Here's the ER tribute I wrote for Newsday.

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