Tuned In

Mad Men Finale: Programming Note

James Poniewozik — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:37:00 +0000

Mad Men's third-season finale airs Sunday night, and because of Matthew Weiner's understandable desire for secrecy, it'll be the first episode of the season critics won't be seeing in advance. So I'll be watching on plain, old-fashioned TV, like the little people do. What does this mean for my post-show reviewing? I may end up doing [...]

30 Rock Watch: Subway Series

James Poniewozik — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:04:10 +0000

Spoilers for last night's 30 Rock coming up after the jump: So far season 4 of 30 Rock has been fixed on the issue of real vs. fake America, which in meta terms of the show's own concerns, means: are the same things entertaining in Middle America as on the coasts? The plot of "Audition Day" [...]

Office Watch: Slappy Birthday

James Poniewozik — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:40:08 +0000

Spoilers for last night's The Office coming up after the jump: Well, that's what I get for committing to something in print. Yesterday, in running down my personal contenders for the best comedy on air today, I made the case that The Office had gotten past its problem of making Michael Scott too crazy. Then came [...]

Dead Tree Alert: The Third Bias

James Poniewozik — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:52:30 +0000

My column in this week's print TIME expands on a bullet point from my post a week ago, on the Pew Research poll that asked TV viewers whether they believed the networks they watched had a liberal or conservative bias. The problem with this dichotomy, used not just by Pew but media critics all over, [...]

So What's the Best Comedy on TV Right Now?

James Poniewozik — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:12:02 +0000

That TV-critics' Twitter debate I mentioned in my Modern Family post this morning was kicked off by a simple but tough question: what's the best comedy on TV right now? I don't want to misrepresent anyone by saying who picked what and why, but it's something I'm wrestling with right now, as I start to [...]

Iron Chef: The Michelle Obama Edition

James Poniewozik — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:51:08 +0000

Speaking of liberal indoctrination by edutainment programs, Michelle Obama's efforts to turn us all into communist vegans is not stopping at Sesame Street. Food Network announced that Iron Chef America will be airing a special two-hour episode Jan. 3, taped at the White House, featuring the First Lady and her much-publicized kitchen garden. Says the network, [...]

Sesame Street's Parodies, Still Rousing Grouches After 40 Years

James Poniewozik — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:06:04 +0000

I was going to post about the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street next week, since the seminal kids' show debuted on Nov. 10, 1969. But yesterday I noticed a surge of traffic to the blog to some old posts on Sesame Street. As far as I can tell, they were driven by Google's illustrating its [...]

Modern Family Watch: Blades of Glory

James Poniewozik — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:57:23 +0000

Yesterday a few critics and I were on Twitter jawing about which we considered the best comedies on right now. Because that's how we roll, we TV critics. Modern Family came up, and while there was general agreement that the show is hilarious and clever and warm, I added that I hoped that its warmth [...]

TV Tonight: Top Chef Reunion Dinner

James Poniewozik — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:45:18 +0000

Not only is Glee taking the night of tonight, but even Bravo's Top Chef: Las Vegas is on vacation. In its place, however, Bravo is offering us a special one-off of the show, or what we refer to in the Tuned In household as "a ripoff episode." Unlike the clip jobs that Survivor like to insert [...]

Glee Drops a CD, Jane Lynch Drops In to Party Down

James Poniewozik — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:23:50 +0000

Having a crappy day at the office? I can't offer you a new episode of Glee tonight. (I can tease you that I've seen next week's episode, in which the on-again, off-again show is on again.) But in the meantime, the next best thing, Glee: The Music, Volume 1, has just been released online and wherever it [...]