Tuesday TV: State of the Union and Oscar Nominations
With a Republican debate every other night, it seems, for weeks running, it might be a change of pace to hear Barack Obama deliver his State of the Union (ABC,…
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…
The Last ‘Prime Suspect’ Airs Tonight
“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…
Also on Sunday: Championships and Auditions
Clear the decks and cheer on the players of the next Super Bowl. They’ll come from the winners of the conference championships, Ravens vs. Patriots (CBS, 3 p.m.) and Giants…
Saturday TV: Rob Lowe in Mustache, ‘Bayou Billionaires’
Almost quarterly, you can count on a juicy, torn-from-the-headlines TV movie peopled by favorites from other shows, thoroughly enjoying doing something different. The star tonight is Rob Lowe, who takes…
A Bad Week for R&B
I’m almost starting to believe those crass predictions on celebrity deaths. After the passing of two significant R&B figures earlier in the week, by both Jimmy Castor and Johnny Otis,…
Friday TV: Boxing Trainers, Opera, Sharks
Peter Berg turns on the camera and pretty much lets the action happen in hisnew series “On Freddie Roach” (HBO, 9:30 p.m.), following the famous boxing trainer of the Wild…
Colbert Rocks You Like a Herman Cain
One of the biggest rallies in the South Carolina primary season may be the jokey one scheduled for Friday afternoon from TV's Stephen Colbert. The Comedy Central host, who portrays…
An All-Approval ‘American Idol’
Anyone who needs proof that “American Idol” has changed completely from the show it once was need only look at Thursday’s episode of Pittsburgh auditions. Where once the audition rounds…
Thursday TV: ‘Unsupervised,’ ‘Idol’ in Pittsburgh
FX lucked out when it went into the animation business, presenting the funny “Archer” (FX, 10 p.m.), the spy caper that starts its third season with a star turn by…