Welcome to Pilot Light, a periodic preview/analysis of new fall TV shows. These are not full-fledged reviews (those will come later), but rather pieces that will explore common themes popping up this year, as well as noting the strengths and weaknesses of various show concepts, performances, and time-period scheduling. First up: girls, girls, girls! READ FULL STORY »
The Rev. Al Sharpton premiered PoliticsNation on MSNBC Monday evening with an hour of booming bombast and near-obliviousness, as he steam-rolled over his guests, interrupting them to ask long, halting questions. At one point he acted as though he was having an argument with his teleprompter and said with exasperation to a guest, “Well, let me just ask you my way: Is the Tea Party going to destroy the Republican Party?” Please, Al, can’t every question be asked your way? READ FULL STORY »
The annual MTV Video Music Awards For Videos MTV Doesn’t Play was hyped in advance for its host-free format and its Kanye-Jay-Z duet, but it turned out that the most consistent quality of the broadcast was its aesthetically conservative mien. The performances by Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Adele, Bruno Mars, and Jesse J emphasized full-throated pop music sung without bombastic, American Idol-style excessiveness. The Foo Fighters’ acceptance of their award by exhorting the viewers to “never lose faith in real rock & roll music” amounted, in this context, to the night’s most aggressive statement, while the band’s dedication of its prize to the most music-minded of MTV executives, former CEO Judy McGrath, showed an admirable display of informed gratitude for one reason why MTV initially existed. READ FULL STORY »
Doctor Who got off to a marvelously energetic, funny, clever, noble mid-season start on Saturday night with the episode titled “Let’s Kill Hitler.” Resolving the cliffhanger of the seventh episode by, with devilish perversity, raising more questions and introducing more plot lines — shaggy-dog story-telling being part of the series’ enduring charm — Doctor Who jumped across time and space in Steven Moffat’s witty script. READ FULL STORY »
While Anna Paquin is larking through the season being a cheerfully aggressive Sookie sex toy, and the superb Irish actress Fiona Shaw is having a ball channeling a possessed palm-reader-turned-witch(es), the True Blood performance that just gets better — deeper, richer, wittier — belongs to Deborah Ann Woll as the ginger-haired, heart-on-her-bloody-sleeve Jessica Hamby. READ FULL STORY »
Networks like to build identities for themselves — it helps signal to viewers what kind of programming they’re going to get. Thus, Lifetime was created to serve as a place for women’s programming (well, for weepy TV-movies about female humans under duress, at least) and FX has a pretty manly image (Justified, Sons of Anarchy). Broadcast networks, because they want to reach a broad mass of people, don’t brand themselves as firmly. But new-ish ABC Entertainment president Paul Lee has set out a passel of new shows that are consciously going for a theme that’s a bit daring. Boiled down, it amounts to: Women smart and strong, men dumb and weak. READ FULL STORY »
Jon Hamm was named best actor in a drama and Modern Family’s Ty Burrell and Parks and Recreation‘s Nick Offerman tied for best actor in a comedy in the annual Television Critics Association awards ceremony held on Saturday night.
The full list is: READ FULL STORY »
Rescue Me producer/co-creator Peter Tolan decided to wake up the jaded gathering of the Television Critics Association by dropping his pants mid-way through a press session on Saturday morning. READ FULL STORY »
