network television news stories on Newser

Fox Refuses Ads for Service to, Well, Kill Ads

Kevin Spak — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:26:02 CDT

How awesome would it be if your DVR automatically skipped commercials on shows recorded off the major networks? Probably not very awesome if you were one of those same networks, which is why they're outraged over the Dish Network's upcoming "Hopper," which, Dish announced last week, would be able to...

Smash Opens to Rave Reviews

Kevin Spak — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:10:05 CST

If you watched the Super Bowl, you just might have heard of Smash , NBC's new drama about the making of a Broadway musical. It premiered last night, and critics are (mostly) giving it a standing ovation: The buzz has gotten so intense that the conversation isn't even about whether it'll...

Expect Bawdy Humor in Tonight's Chelsea Debut

Evann Gastaldo — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:07:28 CST

If you were worrying that a Chelsea Handler sitcom on network TV would tame the bawdy comedian, you can stop. Tonight's NBC debut of Are You There, Chelsea? features bartender Chelsea, played by Laura Prepon, behind bars for drunk driving, where she prays (to vodka) and promises to change her...

ABC Cancels Desperate Housewives

Polly Davis Doig — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 12:21:06 CDT

Things might have just gotten a little more desperate than usual over on Wisteria Lane: ABC is canceling longtime stalwart Desperate Housewives, the network confirmed today to the AP. "We want to make sure it has its victory lap," ABC Entertainment President Paul Lee said in making the announcement that...

16 Awful TV Spinoffs

John Johnson — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 15:20:47 CDT

PopCrunch rounds up 16 of the worst TV spinoffs of all time: Here's a sampling: Joanie Loves Chachi : "A mewling stillborn abomination that starred two people who obviously hated each other." Happy Days deserved better. Galactica 1980 : Bad acting and a lame plot doomed this spinoff of the original Battlestar...

Prime-Time Swearing? Who Gives a $#*!?

Jane Yager — Mon, 31 May 2010 05:41:00 CDT

When the prime-time comedy $#*! My Dad Says hits CBS this fall, most viewers and advertisers won't give a $#*! about the title—a sign of just how far attitudes about TV swearing have come since the days when Lucy Ricardo had to say she was "expecting" rather than "pregnant"...

We Need Better TV Critics

John Johnson — Sat, 22 May 2010 15:30:40 CDT

If it's true that television is becoming the "future of the filmed narrative"—and just listen to all that chirping in academia about The Wire —then it's time for smarter TV critics, writes Vadim Rizov. The job goes beyond just snarking at the latest episode of American Idol . TV critics...

NBC's Rah-Rah Coverage of Team USA Nauseates

Harry Kimball — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 11:40:56 CST

Shaun White may be introducing new tricks during these Games, but NBC’s coverage of him, and Team USA in general, remains an unchanged lesson in "network heavy breathing," writes Alessandra Stanley. “Hyped-up commentators” explain the action “often incomprehensibly,” but once the race is over the cameras are “instantaneously intrusive.” Take...

Minorities Finally Get Lead Roles in TV Dramas

John Johnson — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 20:36:45 CST

The upcoming crop of pilots for network TV offers hope that the industry taboo against minority leads in dramas can finally be put to rest. Four of the most high-profile projects in the works feature non-white actors, notes the Hollywood Reporter , including Forest Whitaker in a spinoff of Criminal Minds...