Battle of the Network Parties
It’s that time of year again when the television networks preview their fall programming for TV critics in a 10-day confab known as TCA Summer Press Tour, headquartered at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. After the daily panel sessions– where critics watch clips and then hammer executives, producers and show talent with questions– it’s time to party and, um, network some more. Here is our rundown, and it...
Sneak Preview of The Playboy Club: The Key to Your Fantasies?
Comparisons to “Mad Men” were brushed aside. The controversy over a Salt Lake City affiliate’s refusal to run the program were glossed over—because another station picked it up. The argument was set forth that the show is about women’s empowerment. Those were the headlines from the NBC TCA panel on the network’s upcoming one-hour drama “The Playboy Club,” set to premiere Monday, September 19...
Unlikely Fans for NBC’s New Music Competition Show ‘The Voice’ Join Teams
Having never been a consistent fan of reality shows, reality competition shows or music competition shows like, um, the pop-culture dominant for a decade “American Idol,” we are surprisingly entranced with “The Voice,” which premiered to great hype on NBC. Having succumbed to some of that hype, our plan was to sample the first few minutes and then move on to other pursuits which would surely be more productive....
TCA Network Party Smackdown
It’s that time of the summer, when TV networks present their new and returning programming and talent to the nation’s television critics in a series of panels and presentations in a hotel ballroom. But at the end of the day, it’s time to party. As with the on-air programming, the competition is tough. Here’s how it shook out amongst the big broadcasters: CBS The party: An open-air tent at the former...
NBC Does Look More Colorful
It was NBC’s first actual upfront in several years, and it got off to a rousing opening at the NY Hilton with a taped opening from Jack Donaghy, er, Alec Baldwin, who urged several thousand attendees to get drunk at the lunch and blow off Fox. That probably didn’t happen, as there were several hours of recovery time in between presentations. The peacock net has been working overtime to make up for the 10 p.m. Jay debacle,...