Category Archives: Winter Press Tour 2012

The Last ‘Prime Suspect’ Airs Tonight

By Roger Catlin | Published: January 22, 2012

“Prime Suspect” (NBC, 9 p.m.) winds up its unsuccessful season by showing its final two episodes before the hat is retired for good. Network chief Robert Greenblatt told TV critics said that it didn’t gain enough viewers in short enough time since its fall debut. “Ten or 15 years ago, you could keep a show [...]

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Can ‘American Idol’ Overcome Singer Overload?

By Roger Catlin | Published: January 18, 2012

Every year, it seems that people question whether “American Idol” (Fox, 8 p.m.) can continue its run as No. 1 show on TV. It happened especially last year when the judging panel was retooled with personalities who didn’t seem to have much invested in the acts before them (certainly they were not going to produce [...]

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The Other Napoleon Dynamite

By Roger Catlin | Published: January 15, 2012

The return of Napoleon Dynamite in cartoon form affords the chance for creator Jared Hess to come clear about the origin of the name – used by Elvis Costello 20 years before it appeared in his 2006 film. When I asked Hess about it last week at the TV Critics Press tour, he said it [...]

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Tonight: The Return of Napoleon Dynamite

By Roger Catlin | Published: January 15, 2012

Responding to no detected public demand, the entire cast of “Napoleon Dynamite” (Fox, 8:30 p.m.) has been reunited, not for a sequel to the 2004 cult classic but an animated series to fit into the Fox animation Sunday night. As such, its awkward silences and rural absurdities plays like a revival of “King of the [...]

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Veep-O-Mania

By Roger Catlin | Published: January 14, 2012

Usually considered a historical footnote or contemporary also-ran, the vice president was fully put on the pedestal at the TV Critics’ winter press tour this week. Never has there been a day when the office has been so vaunted, in the presentation of new shows, TV movies and network directions. But on Friday, there were [...]

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Gervais Sets His ‘Golden Globe’ Subjects

By Roger Catlin | Published: January 14, 2012

A packed day of cable presentations at the TV critics’ winter press tour Friday began with Ricky Gervais’ hilarious new series “Life’s Too Short.” But because his higher profile gig, hosting the Golden Globe Awards Sunday for the third time, people were betting on who’d be his celebrity targets this time. “ I have specific [...]

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Elton, Obese Among HBO Documentary Subjects

By Roger Catlin | Published: January 13, 2012

Amid the star power of the HBO sessions, the network also released the roster of documentaries planned for the first half of the year. They include: “The Union,” about Elton John and Leon Russell’s musical collaboration, directed by Cameron Crowe. Debuts Feb. 2. “The Loving Story,” about “Loving vs. Virginia” that fought laws on interracial [...]

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Anna Deavere Smith’s New Journalism

By Roger Catlin | Published: January 13, 2012

Culled from 320 interviews over a series of years, Anna Deavere Smith unusual performance piece “Let Me Down Easy” concerns 19 people’s reaction to their health care. Some are dying, some are talking of others dying. All are very expressive, and all taken on by Smith in the piece, which makes its public television debut [...]

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‘The Revolution’ Come Monday

By Roger Catlin | Published: January 13, 2012

It’s a transition time for Ty Penington, whose “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” shows its final makeover today, and the long running “One Life to Live” dies, making way for a daytime team makeover show, “The Revolution” that starts in the slot Monday on ABC. “We can’t replace that show, you know, but what we offer [...]

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Thursday TV: New Shows ‘The Finder,’ ‘Rob’

By Roger Catlin | Published: January 12, 2012

The new midseason shows continue to roll out. A spin-off from the people who make “Bones” (Fox, 8 p.m.), “The Finder” (Fox, 9 p.m.) stars Geoff Stults as a savant who vows to find people and things (including the guitar of John Fogerty, who guest stars in the premiere). Meant to be breezy in the [...]

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