By FELICIA R. LEE
Watching “Harper’s Island,” the new 13-episode murder-mystery program beginning Thursday night on CBS, can be compared to seeing the blurry outlines of a relationship’s future on the first date. Yep, there’s an end. And things will get bloody.
Television Review
By GINIA BELLAFANTE
The specter of 9/11 is in the foreground again in the terrifically restive FX drama “Rescue Me,” which begins its fifth season on Tuesday.
The Media Equation
By DAVID CARR
“Treme,” an HBO series by David Simon, tells the story of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The series is separated by just enough time to offer insight without being overly detached.
By BRIAN STELTER
Pat Kiernan, a morning anchor on NY1, will formally start PatsPapers.com, a pre-skimmed selection of articles from newspapers around the country.
Television Review | 'Surviving Suburbia'
By ALESSANDRA STANLEY
This family comedy about a goofy suburban dad — played by Bob Saget — is ABC’s relapse.
By SARAH TOLAND
With layoffs rising in New York, casting agencies are seeing much bigger responses to their calls for “background talent” than just a few months ago.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mr. Braden was a newspaper publisher and former Central Intelligence Agency officer whose 1975 book about his eight children, “Eight Is Enough,” inspired the ABC television series.
By MARK HARRIS
In Season 5 of “Rescue Me,” which begins Tuesday on FX, the specter of 9/11 becomes a major character once again.
By JOE SEXTON
Remembrance of fists past: a documentary on Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier awakens memories of a much-hyped fight in Manila.
By MICHELLE ORANGE
“In Treatment,” HBO’s intimate and innovative therapy drama, has resurfaced in its second season as a show both shot and set in the talking-cure capital, New York City.
By PAM BELLUCK
“ER,” which broadcast its final episode on Thursday, started a vigorous dialogue between Hollywood and the medical world.
Video Game Review
By SETH SCHIESEL
Nintendo’s newest toy demonstrates that its makers may have a deeper understanding of how entertainment is evolving than any other company.
Television Review
By NEIL GENZLINGER
“Inside Guantánamo,” which will run Sunday on the National Geographic Channel, juxtaposes life within the prison with the high-level legal battles it provokes.
By BILL CARTER
NBC had a message for its affiliated station in Boston on Friday: take Jay or go away.
Television Review
By ALESSANDRA STANLEY
If viewers have learned anything from the HBO series “In Treatment,” which begins its second season on Sunday, it’s that therapists, not just their patients, can also get tangled in half-truths.
The TV Watch
By ALESSANDRA STANLEY
The final episodes of “ER” served up a parable of anxiety — not the viewers’ sense of loss, but the creators’ fears of oblivion.
By BILL CARTER
The 72-year-old soap opera “Guiding Light,” the longest-running scripted program in broadcasting history, will end in September.
By TIM ARANGO and BRIAN STELTER
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is set to spend more money on influencing popular culture through a deal with Viacom.
Television
By GINIA BELLAFANTE
During its terrifically plotted second season, “Damages” submitted its heroine, played by Glenn Close, to a process of at least partial transformation.
By BILL CARTER
The long and bitter litigation over the hit reality series “Project Runway” came to an end Wednesday when the Weinstein Company, which owns the show, agreed to pay NBC Universal a settlement fee.
Wife/Mother/Worker/Spy
By MICHELLE SLATALLA
A mother identifies with “American Idol” not only on the couch, but in her family life as well.
Television Review
By NEIL GENZLINGER
“Jerusalem: Center of the World,” a two-hour documentary on Wednesday on PBS, does little but recite the greatest hits of the three major religions that have flourished in and around that city.
The TV Watch
By ALESSANDRA STANLEY
Success for television cooking shows like “The Chopping Block” depends on the charisma of the star, the chemistry of judges and contestants and, above all, timing.
By BRIAN STELTER
Ratings show that the three cable channels together averaged almost 2.5 million viewers at any given time during the first quarter, up more than 20 percent.
Television Review
By GINIA BELLAFANTE
“Cupid,” a new version of a failed series about a man who insists he is the god of love, begins Tuesday on ABC.
By BRIAN STELTER
Disney will sell and control advertising for its video clips, but split the revenue with YouTube.
By BRIAN STELTER; Compiled by FELICIA R. LEE
ABC will adapt an overseas reality show about entrepreneurship for a possible premiere next season.
By BRIAN STELTER and BILL CARTER
Glenn Beck’s show has become wildly popular with a mix of moral lessons and outrage.
By BRAD STONE and BRIAN STELTER
Cable TV providers are testing ways to restrict access to free shows on the Web to just their paying subscribers.
By BRIAN STELTER
In an experiment that harks back to its origins, MTV will use 3 to 9 a.m. Monday through Thursday to show music videos, news, interviews and performances.
By DAVE ITZKOFF
“Parks and Recreation,” a faux documentary comedy starring Amy Poehler, has its premiere on NBC on April 9.
By STUART MILLER
The actor Wendell Pierce, a New Orleans native, is focused on rebuilding his hometown, both on screen and off.
By J. HOBERMAN
“An Age of Kings,” a widely acclaimed British series that first aired in the United States in 1961, is now available on DVD.
Questions for Donald Trump
Interview by DEBORAH SOLOMON
The real estate developer talks about who’s to blame for the financial crisis and why he didn’t invest with Bernie Madoff.
Domains | Margaret Cho
Interview by EDWARD LEWINE
The comedian, author and star of the coming television show “Drop Dead Diva” on Lifetime, lives in a renovated 12,000-square-foot 1928 Spanish-style house in Los Angeles.
A Night Out With | Adrienne Bailon
By DOUGLAS QUENQUA
Hanging out with Adrienne Bailon, a host of "New Afternoons on MTV," at the Lucky Strike Lanes and Lounge on West 42nd Street.
Television Review
By ALESSANDRA STANLEY
“Little Dorrit,” which begins on PBS on Sunday, flushes out the similarities between Victorian London and 21st-century Wall Street without losing sight of the larger vision of Dickens’s story.
By BILL CARTER
The popular host, whose contract just ended, said he was taking the opportunity to evaluate his options.
Advertising
By BRIAN STELTER
The average American adult spends eight hours a day in front of screens, and computer use has replaced radio as the second most common media activity.
Television Review
By GINIA BELLAFANTE
“The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency,” HBO’s serial adaptation of Alexander McCall Smith’s books, captures Mr. McCall Smith’s diffuse curiosity.
Television Review
By ALESSANDRA STANLEY
“In the Motherhood,” a new comedy on ABC that was adapted from a series of webisodes, tries to refresh the family sitcom with a jolt of deadpan satire.
By EDWARD WYATT
Watch closely, America. Your Idols may be lip-synching.
By SETH SCHIESEL; Compiled by DAVE ITZKOFF
The post-apocalyptic role-playing adventure was to be named game of the year for 2008 on Wednesday at the ninth annual Game Developers Choice Awards in San Francisco.
By BRAD STONE
The Blockbuster chain hopes its digital future lies with a movie delivery partnership with TiVo.
On the White House
By PETER BAKER
In a prime-time news conference tonight, aides are hoping that President Obama can build support for his economic agenda.
- Tonight: Live Video | Jeff Zeleny and Helene Cooper Live Blog in The Caucus
By GINIA BELLAFANTE
The network’s reality programming often assumes the burden of correcting reductive portraits of black life.
Television Review
By NEIL GENZLINGER
The makers of “Ten Trillion and Counting,” Tuesday’s “Frontline” on PBS, want to make sure that you know that George W. Bush, not Barack Obama, put the country in the economic mess it’s in now.