Oscar Nominations: Hollywood Loves Hollywood
When it comes to Academy Award season, you can't deny Hollywood's own infatuation with itself. Hence two movies that celebrate filmmaking and film history are the most nominated in the…
Monday TV: Remembering Phil Ochs and Etta James Too
Bob Dylan got out of protest music about as quickly as he got in it, but his contemporary Phil Ochs stayed firmly in the field of activism and song, from…
Finding Missing Black Americans, Too
A common staple of national cable news outfits is the missing person. Almost always, it is an attractive young white woman who is being pursued. But cases of the missing…
Can ‘American Idol’ Overcome Singer Overload?
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…
Veep-O-Mania
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…
Gervais Sets His ‘Golden Globe’ Subjects
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,…
Elton, Obese Among HBO Documentary Subjects
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…
‘The Revolution’ Come Monday
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…
Thursday TV: New Shows ‘The Finder,’ ‘Rob’
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…
2 Broke Arguments: Picking Fights at TCA
Sometimes, shows are so bad, it’s not even worth asking about. Better to sigh and ignore it, as critics largely did for “Rob,” the frequently offensive send-up of a culture…