That Shakespeare! So talky! So much speechifying! Why must Laertes lecture so much? No one will mistake the bard for Aaron Sorkin, the brainy TV writer who gave us “The West Wing” and “The Social Network.” But people are certainly putting up some oddball arguments against almost certainly the strongest series to start this summer. […]
Monthly Archives: June 2012
Also on Sunday: MacLaine Honored, Reality ‘Escape’
Once she was Irma La Douce; soon she’ll be grandmama on “Downton Abbey.’ Shirley MacLaine is feted by Meryl Streep on “The AFI Life Achievement Award 2012” (TV Land, 9 p.m.). Barbra Streisand, Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman and the honoree’s brother, Warren Beatty, are among the attendees. The point of the new reality show “The […]
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An Emmy for Elmo, Others
Elmo won an Emmy Saturday, as Kevin Clash won best performer in a children’s program for his work on “Sesame Street.” Also at the Daytime Emmy Awards at the Beverly Hilton — almost certainly the least seen event, as it was run only on HLN on cable — “General Hospital” won five Emmys, including best […]
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Saturday TV: Dillahunt Goes Online, Daytime Emmys
Before he became famous for his comic turns on “Raising Hope,” Garret Dillahunt was a strong all-purpose actor who managed the feat of having two roles in “Deadwood,” among other things. In the new TV movie “Tall Hot Blonde” (Lifetime, 8 p.m.), he plays a nerdy factory worker who starts messaging a woman found on […]
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Friday TV: A Mistress and Other Newsmagazines
Rielle Hunter, John Edwards’ mistress, is back in the spotlight promoting a new book, titled “What Really Happened,” with a slew of interviews, including one tonight with Chris Cuomo on “20/20” (ABC, 9 p.m.). The death of a kindergarten teacher is examined on a two hour “Dateline” (NBC, 9 p.m.). Brigitte Bardot and Bob Barker […]
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Thursday TV: ‘Reincarnation’ Amid Reruns
All Yeshi Norbu wanted was a normal life. Born in Italy and raised in the West he couldn’t quite cut off ties with his past in Tibet, where his father is a respected Buddhist leader and Yeshi is considered the reuncarnation of his great-uncle, another important Buddhist master. It all gets a little complicated, and […]
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BBC’s ‘Inside Men’ Absorbing Fare
It officially becomes summer tonight, at a time when TV is a forlorn landscape of reality programming and reruns. There’s a cool, gripping drama starting tonight, though on BBC America that may get you through a month’s heatwave. “Inside Men” (BBC America, 10 p.m.) is a gritty, gripping drama about an audacious and brutal grand […]
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Also On Wednesday: New ‘Baby Daddy,’ ‘Futurama’
The first of what will be a few sitcoms about the outlandish idea that men takes care of infants, “Baby Daddy” (ABC Family, 8:30 p.m.), is more directly based on ancient things ike “Three Men and a Baby.” In this case, it’s a guy in his 20s, his brother and two friends who agree to […]
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Talking Reality Treasures with Beers
Some pretty high-powered TV writers were gathered yesterday for a taped panel on reality television. Damian Holbrook, the TV Guide senior writer; Andy Dehnart, my friend behind the indispensible RealityBlurred.com website and Kate O’Hare of Tribune Media Services were there along with me, your correspondent from this very website. They all flew in from different […]
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A Response to Redneck TV
My story in the Washington Post on the rise of Redneck and Hillbilly-themed shows on cable has drawn a lengthy response from a reader in Buford, Ga., whose argument may be undercut by his own ethnic bias. He writes: About the only thing that former Governor and Senator Zell Miller said that I agreed with […]
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