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Arts - Television - The New York Times
The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20090408181624/http://www.nytimes.com/pages/arts/television/index.html

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Television

Television Review

From the Pampered Life to Police Work on the Mean Streets

Ben McKenzie as a rookie police officer in “Southland.”
Warner Brothers Television

Ben McKenzie as a rookie police officer in “Southland.”

The lead characters in two new police dramas that begin this week, “The Unusuals” on ABC and NBC’s “Southland,” are upper-class kids who defy their upbringing to become cops.

A New Television Murder Series Keeps Its Own End in Sight

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

Specters and Snobs Alert: Sound the Alarm

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

A Disaster Still Raw, Years Later

“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.

On the Web, a National Version of ‘In the Papers’ From NY1

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'

At Home on the Outskirts, With Goofy, Grumpy Dad

This family comedy about a goofy suburban dad — played by Bob Saget — is ABC’s relapse.

For Film and TV Extras, Cash Helps and Stars Amuse

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.

Tom Braden, Who Fathered ‘Eight Is Enough,’ Dies at 92

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.

Fifth Alarm for That Haunted Fireman

In Season 5 of “Rescue Me,” which begins Tuesday on FX, the specter of 9/11 becomes a major character once again.

The Thrilla Continues to Thrill

Remembrance of fists past: a documentary on Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier awakens memories of a much-hyped fight in Manila.

Sessions and the Single Man

“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.

A Made-Up Hospital That Offered Real Medicine

“ER,” which broadcast its final episode on Thursday, started a vigorous dialogue between Hollywood and the medical world.

Video Game Review

With More Than Games, DSi Widens Playing Field

Nintendo’s newest toy demonstrates that its makers may have a deeper understanding of how entertainment is evolving than any other company.

Television Review

Prison Misery, for Detainees and Guards

“Inside Guantánamo,” which will run Sunday on the National Geographic Channel, juxtaposes life within the prison with the high-level legal battles it provokes.

NBC and Boston Station Spar Over Leno

NBC had a message for its affiliated station in Boston on Friday: take Jay or go away.

Television Review

Patients in Therapy, Therapist in Trouble

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

‘ER’ Goes the Way of Nurses’ Caps

The final episodes of “ER” served up a parable of anxiety — not the viewers’ sense of loss, but the creators’ fears of oblivion.

CBS Turns Out ‘Guiding Light’

The 72-year-old soap opera “Guiding Light,” the longest-running scripted program in broadcasting history, will end in September.

Messages With a Mission, Embedded in TV Shows

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is set to spend more money on influencing popular culture through a deal with Viacom.

Television

A Litigator’s Venomous Veneer Begins to Crack

During its terrifically plotted second season, “Damages” submitted its heroine, played by Glenn Close, to a process of at least partial transformation.

Weinstein Strikes a Deal in ‘Project Runway’ Lawsuit

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

America, You’ve Voted. Me, Too.

A mother identifies with “American Idol” not only on the couch, but in her family life as well.

Television Review

Visiting the Dry City Where 3 Religions Have Flourished

“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

‘Chopping Block’ Winds Up There

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.

Fox Still Leads Prime Time

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

A God Fully Loaded Looks for Love

“Cupid,” a new version of a failed series about a man who insists he is the god of love, begins Tuesday on ABC.

Disney’s TV Unit Will Make Short Videos Available on YouTube

Disney will sell and control advertising for its video clips, but split the revenue with YouTube.

New Reality Show for Tough Times

ABC will adapt an overseas reality show about entrepreneurship for a possible premiere next season.

Fox News’s Mad, Apocalyptic, Tearful Rising Star

Glenn Beck’s show has become wildly popular with a mix of moral lessons and outrage.

Some Online Shows Could Go Subscription-Only

Cable TV providers are testing ways to restrict access to free shows on the Web to just their paying subscribers.

MTV to Put a Bit More Music Back, in the A.M.

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.

It’s Not ‘The Office.’ The Boss Is a Woman.

“Parks and Recreation,” a faux documentary comedy starring Amy Poehler, has its premiere on NBC on April 9.

Home to His Acting and His Activism

The actor Wendell Pierce, a New Orleans native, is focused on rebuilding his hometown, both on screen and off.

This Earth, This England, This Series

“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

If He Builds It

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

Comedy Clubhouse

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

Rolling With Her Friends

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

Dickens and the Business Cycle: The Victorian Way of Debt

“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.

Dylan Ratigan of CNBC’s ‘Fast Money’ Leaves Network

The popular host, whose contract just ended, said he was taking the opportunity to evaluate his options.

Advertising

8 Hours a Day Spent on Screens, Study Finds

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

Unusual Sleuth, Unusual Setting

“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

TV Moms Without the Pearls

“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.

‘Idol’ Group Numbers: Not So Live After All

Watch closely, America. Your Idols may be lip-synching.

Fallout 3 Is Named Game of the Year

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.

Blockbuster and TiVo Join to Deliver Digital Movies

The Blockbuster chain hopes its digital future lies with a movie delivery partnership with TiVo.

On the White House

Obama Selling His Economic Plan on the Airwaves, Again

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

On BET, Lifestyles of the Rich and Real

The network’s reality programming often assumes the burden of correcting reductive portraits of black life.

Television Review

That Big Hole in the Economy, and Who Dug It

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.

TV Highlights

What’s On This Week

A daily updated summary of the week in TV.

the Medium

For adventures in digital culture, don’t miss The Medium, a blog by Virginia Heffernan.

Multimedia
Remembering ‘ER’

As the groundbreaking medical drama prepares to end, the people behind the series recall its 15-year run.

Excerpt: 'Party Down'

The comedy about a party planning company staffed by Hollywood hopefuls begins on the Starz cable channel on March 20.

Bigger Names on Smaller Screens

Professionally produced, original shows by notable names are increasingly showing up online alongside the viral videos and “brand extensions” to television series.

Excerpt: 'Desperate Housewives'

The ABC drama is among the prime time series that have begun incorporating the economic downturn into their stories.

T Magazine
Screen Test: Tomorrow’s Film Stars, on TV Today

Lynn Hirschberg talks to five actors who are making the jump from the tube to the multiplex.

Cracking Cases, Resisting Sparks

Many crime series have paired attractive opposites in an effort to enliven the characters and mine additional drama from their unresolved sexual tension.

Excerpt: 'Breaking Bad'

"Breaking Bad," starring Bryan Cranston as a terminally ill scientist who sells drugs to secure his family's future, returns for its second season on AMC on March 8.

Fallon’s Comedy Career

Jimmy Fallon, the former “Saturday Night Live” comedian, brings his act to “Late Night” fives time a week.

Plenty of Guts, Little Glory

Many stars have had residencies on “ER,” but it’s the off-camera veterans who have kept the hospital humming throughout the show’s 15-year run.

Surviving Ski Joring

The winter sport, in which horse-drawn skiers fly off ramps and around obstacles, will be featured in an upcoming episode of "Wreckreation Nation" on the Discovery Channel.

A ‘Genre Boy’ Returns to Television

Cult favorite writer and director Joss Whedon answered reader questions about past projects and his new Fox series, “Dollhouse.”

What’s On Tonight