Tag Archives: Television

Very interesting column from Plain Dealer TV critic Michael Dawidziak today on the perils of 24-hour television news and the whirlwind news cycle: Perhaps Shakespeare, writing 400 years ago, somehow envisioned the era of 24-hour news channels when he coined that line about “sound and fury, signifying nothing.” It could …

If ever there was a character on broadcast TV who deserves the appellation, it’s Nina Myers of 24. In a mere three seasons, the lean nightmare preternaturally portrayed by actress Sarah Clarke, has betrayed her country three times, killed former lover Jack Bauer’s wife and unborn child, aided and abetted …

Responding to criticism over insults hurled at French-Canadians on his show last week, Conan O’Brien apologized last night: “People of Quebec, I’m sorry,” the host of NBC’s “Late Night” show said in English, as a translator recited in French, with English subtitles, “People of Quebec, I’m an albino jackass.” “We …

In the middle of a takeover bid from Comcast, Disney completes deal for the late Jim Henson’s Muppets, who have always been Disney-esque anyway: Henson’s daughter Lisa said her father always believed that Disney would be a perfect home for the Muppets. ….”In the months before his death in 1990, …

Conan O’Brien impugns the dignity of French-Canadians: Ottawa and the province of Ontario paid $760,000 to help O’Brien — who appears on the NBC television network — bring his show to Toronto for a week to boost the city’s profile after a deadly SARS outbreak last year. But the federal …

MTV executive says that Janet changed TV forever, in particular no more “live” live TV: Viewer outrage over singer Janet Jackson’s breast-baring Super Bowl stunt is forcing the U.S. television industry to change its live programming, music channel MTV said Friday. “The artist sometimes can be unpredictable, which is difficult …

I love the ambiguity of the ending of The Graduate: Dustin Hoffman stops Katherine Ross’s wedding, “rescues” her and they escape on a bus. But instead of unbridled joy and the prospect of a “happily ever after,” once the bus takes off and they are on their way Hoffman and …

Dennis Kucinich is not going to win the Democratic nomination for president, although he HAS convinced around 1% of the voting Democrats that he’s their man. Perhaps his campaign should not be considered a “failure” however, as how else would such a rodential-looking middle-aged fellow from Cleveland snag a date …

Yesterday’s Senate and House broadcast indecency hearings saw the usual grandstanding and puffery, but the problem is real: At a Senate Commerce Committee hearing, chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., urged cable and satellite companies to offer viewers the ability to pick individual channels for purchase, blocking out violence, sex and profanity. …

The Oscars are imposing a five-second delay for the first time, the Grammys had a five-minute delay, and the networks are scrutinizing their shows as they haven’t in years: As executives from Viacom Inc. and the NFL head to Washington today to answer questions about sex and profanity on TV, …