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The latest 10 entries, with the newest at the top. Bob Woodruff doesn t look quite as GQ as he used to in tonight s documentary To Iraq and Back (9 p.m. on ABC), but he s alert, fairly articulate and focused on shedding new light on the rocky road ahead for soldiers who have suffered brain injuries in the Iraq War.
What could have been simply a compelling personal story quickly evolves into a larger look at the true tragedy of the war s non-fatalities and the U.
S. government s ineffective response. Injured veterans, their families and medical personnel are interviewed.
Woodruff had only been anchoring ABC s World News for a few months in January 2006 when the vehicle he and cameraman Doug Vogt were riding in was struck by a roadside bomb in Iraq. (Vogt also survived and is still recovering.) The devastating head injury Woodruff suffered left him in a coma for several weeks, and he has spent an entire year working to regain his mental and physical abilities.
The ABC documentary covers in excruciating detail the extent of Woodruff s injuries and his long road to recovery. He still has trouble remembering certain words and names and continues with weekly therapy sessions in New York.
His wife Lee talks for the first time about her husband s near-death injuries and the impact the past year has had on their family.
But Woodruff s desire to put himself into a larger context has been respected, and the personal story serves as a springboard to that. The result is an extraordinarily powerful hour that is informative and gut-wrenching.
The never-ending Academy Awards on Sunday night logged nearly 40 million viewers on ABC.
While that sounds impressive, it was the third lowest number in 15 years.
The nearly four-hour telecast lapped into Monday morning on the East Coast, so Nielsen has no numbers for that post-prime, next-day tally.
The top-rated Oscar show in recent history was 1995, when 55 million people saw Titanic win the best picture award.
This year s show drew slightly more viewers than last year s program, which was hosted by Jon Stewart. At least Ellen DeGeneres can take comfort in the knowledge that she did better than the faux news guy.
FNL or bust.
Well, the NBC message boards are posting messages to ban this show in lieu of FNL, which is totally ridiculous. I guess their hope is that if NBC doesn't keep FNL, then no one should watch another show offered on a totally different night. I can understand what Britney Spears is going through.
I had the same experience in 2000. I had a total breakdown and did things that were out of character for me. The last thing I wanted was people hovering over me waiting for me to slip up and offering has she been evaluated for postpartum depression?
just a thought...
The state and city should do everything they can to keep this show - the writing is amazing and the subject matter thoughtful. As a parent the story lines hit close to home. It will be a pity if production leaves town.
One of the best new dramas of the season arrives tonight, and one of the most over-rated and under-performing newcomers leaves.
NBC hasn t officially canceled Aaron Sorkin s Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, but it s gone for now and quite possibly for good. The internal workings of a late-night comedy show just hasn t clicked creatively or any other way.
Replacing Studio 60 for the foreseeable future is The Black Donnellys (9 p.m. Mondays), an atmospheric, operatic saga of four working-class Irish brothers in New York who find themselves sinking ever-deeper into organized crime.
Told through flashbacks and yarn-spinning from a guy in the slammer who may or may not be fabricating major and minor details (like his own participation in the Donnellys violent escapades), the series is the brainchild of Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco (both of Crash and Million Dollar Baby ). The duo s previous TV outing was the highly praised but generally ignored EZ Streets.
The Black Donnellys follows four brothers in various stages of mob life.
The heart and sadly withering soul of the group is Tommy (Jonathan Tucker), a talented artist who should have found an easy exit from a life of crime if it weren t for his loyalty to his screwed-up brothers. Tommy knows better than to dally with the mob, but family loyalty trumps common sense.
The bad Donnellys are Jimmy (Thomas Guiry), a drug-addicted bar owner with a limp that dates back to a pivotal childhood trauma; Kevin (Billy Lush), a hapless gambler and welcher who decides to kidnap a guy he owes money to rather than pay him; and baby-brother Sean (Michael Stahl-David), a handsome womanizer whose escapades frequently land him in trouble.
Our witness and jail-house narrator is the Donnelly brothers childhood friend Joey Ice Cream (Keith Nobbs). He s either embellishing or outright lying about his and the Donnellys mob adventures, but he provides a good deal of comic relief to balance the moodiness and violence of the drama.
Filmed in New York and set in that city s notorious Hell s Kitchen, The Black Donnellys looks like a Martin Scorsese film and may remind some viewers of the fabulous Showtime mob series Brotherhood.
But this NBC offering stands on its own. It manages to be rough and tough without the free pass of bad language enjoyed by movies and pay cable channels. Within the confines of prime-time network TV, The Black Donnellys paints just as vivid a picture of this dark and seedy milieu and manages to give us characters worth spending quality time with.
When he s not bailing his brothers out of trouble with the law and the competing Italian mob, Tommy wrestles with his love for childhood love Jenny (Olivia Wade). She loves him, too, but she s married to a guy who s gone missing for more than a year. We suspect he s wearing concrete boots in a river, but we don t know.
The series boasts multiple perspectives, flashbacks and fast-forwards. And a good deal of very dark comedy like a dead guy named Louie being ditched as the Traveling Wilburys Handle with Care is played in the background, followed by a peppy radio rendition of Louie, Louie.
I ve seen all five of the episodes NBC sent out for preview.
In fact, I helplessly watched all five in a row and loved every minute of it. I m guessing those of you who love mob sagas will feel the same way, so enjoy.
Watching the Oscars is a marathon, not a sprint, so we should prepare for Sunday night s telecast by TV fasting for the rest of the weekend.
Carb-loading on Sunday might be a good idea.
In case you ve been spelunking in Afghanistan, the Academy Awards, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, airs Sunday night on ABC, starting at 7 and going until the end of time. The longest Oscar telecast in recorded history topped off at more than four hours.
DeGeneres will make the journey enjoyable, and there s enough star-gazing to last a lifetime. It s fun, but, really, it does go on waaaaaay too long.
KLRU s original public affairs series Special Session takes a break from current happenings at the Lege to look back with fondness at the life and impact of former Gov.
Ann Richards.
The silver-topped dynamo died Sept. 14, 2006, at the age of 73, and her funeral at the Erwin Center was a national event.
This half-hour (11 a.m. Sunday and repeats 9:30 p.
m. Wednesday) is quieter, more personal and, with the passing of time, perhaps more thoughtful than previous tributes.
Host Paul Stekler begins the program with portrait footage filmed in 2002.
Richards is seen campaigning and making public appearances and talking about them later.
I feed off people, she says matter-of-factly. When I m with people, I feel energized and excited.
The miniportrait shows off Richards sparkle, drive and humor. God bless you and vote Democratic! she barks at a rally on the University of Texas campus.
Reminiscing about the governor s impact on Texas politics are Mary Beth Rogers, Richards former chief of staff and the former president of KLRU; Chuck McDonald, the Richards press secretary from 1990-94; and Dallas Morning News political reporter Wayne Slater, who covered the governor.
Tabloid TV being the train wreck that it is, it s just a matter of time before the spotlight on dead Anna Nicole Smith shifts to the alive-but-seriously-weird Britney Spears.
is already rampant that Spears will pop up on TV soon to explain why she s been partying hearty, checking herself in and out of re-hab and most importantly what she was thinking when she shaved her head.
Will Spears go the bona fide news route and pick Today co-host Matt Lauer? He was the questioner for her previous interview, when she looked and sounded like someone who had been wandering in the wilderness for months.
Barbara Walters is said to be interested in chatting up the pop star and so are all the syndicated entertainment news shows such as Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood.
Those would all be serious, heavily melodramatic choices. If I were Britney (and thank God I m not), I might try to turn this image disaster around differently.
First I would check myself into re-hab and stay for at least the required 28 days longer if I didn t quite have my act together yet.
You ve got to get your act together before you make a confession, or you might confess to something you haven t actually done. And you would just perpetuate the notion that you re seriously wack.
Then I d sashay professionally made up, dressed to the hilt and looking fabulous onto David Letterman s show and poke major fun at myself.
That seems the best way to redemption to me. Sobbing on a newsmagazine or tabloid TV show only further ruins the mascara and the reputation.
The mushroom cloud returns tonight.
Do you remember what was happening when it left?
CBS , one of the few new serial dramas to find an audience last fall, ends its lengthy midseason hiatus at 7 tonight. The show was last seen in late November, so it has now officially been off the air longer than it was on.
This cannot be good for a drama hoping to build an audience on suspense and intrigue. A nuclear attack has struck Middle America, and a small town in Kansas is dealing with the horrible aftermath. What really happened and why we don t really know.
Lost followed the same silly course of action, ticking off millions of fans and slipping precipitously in the ratings. In the fall, it was in the Top 5; last week it was No. 19.
Serial dramas should come on, stay on and end the season with bang. There s a reason 24 has stayed on track creatively and with its audience. It starts in January and ends in May no reruns, no departures.
Tonight s return of Jericho tries to make up for lost time with an episode that features lots of flashbacks to jog viewers memory of what happened previously. We even see the mushroom cloud again and the tyke on the roof taking it all in.
New plot details include how reluctant hero Jake Green (Skeet Ulrich) happened to return to Jericho and how mystery man Rod Hawkins (Lennie James) wound up there, too.
Still to be uncovered during the second half of Jericho s debut season is why Jake was gone for five years and what horrible things he feels so guilty for doing.
But will anyone care about the convoluted mysteries? I doubt it.
Any momentum the show built up in the fall has melted away by now.
| Tuesday, February 20, 2007, 10:01 AM Let s stipulate that American Idol is a monster hit. Let s also stipulate that even reality TV foes like me are addicted to it.
But even the best dark chocolate can make you sick if you eat too much. Ditto Idol.
This week and for a couple more weeks, Fox s Idol gobbles up three nights of TV instead of two.
The Top 12 male contestants compete tonight at 7; the Top 12 female contestants compete Wednesday night at 7. Each performing night is a two-hour telecast.
And then Thursday, a one-hour results show at 7 p.
m. will reveal the rejection of two male and two female wannabes.
Isn t five hours of Idol just a tad too much?
Especially for a live show that most people actually watch live, rather than record, because everyone will be talking about it the next day at work or school.
So, yes indeed, the three-night, five-hour schedule is way too much. And unnecessarily so.
Besides dozens of ads during each half-hour, there will be program padding a-plenty, including clips from past shows and lots of segments with host Ryan Seacrest making glib comments and needling the testy judges.
So here s my plan: I m going to watch as much of the performance episodes tonight and Wednesday as I can and skip the Thursday results show altogether. The results will be immediately available online, and I don t need to slog through all those after-the-break moments.
The only results show I ll watch will be the May finale.
It doesn t take a genius to figure out why Fox is stuffing excessive amounts of Idol down our throats. The network was sagging pitifully until the January return of favorites such as Idol and 24.
To the dismay of competing networks, the sixth season of Idol is turning out to be even hotter than the previous five. Last season Idol averaged 31.7 million viewers per episode.
This season it s averaging 33.5 million viewers. In the multichannel, network-sagging universe, that s amazing.
Nevertheless, I think there s a good chance viewers will grow weary of and saturated by three nights of Idol a week.
Whatever it takes to keep Friday Night Lights in Austin, city and state officials should do. Period.
This isn t some cheesy reality show, a la Real World: Austin, with slackers drinking and fighting on Sixth Street. This is a distinguished, high-quality drama series that prompted even the New York Times, which tends to look down its journalistic nose on television, to coo and drool.
In case you missed our , FNL may be forced to pull up stakes in Central Texas and head for another locale if Texas and/or Austin don t cough up some financial incentives to stay.
The cast and crew, especially creator Peter Berg and Austin native executive producer Sarah Aubrey, want to stay here. The young cast has fallen in love with their new home and quietly have become part of the community.
But NBC is looking for a way to shave about $100,000 per episode off the budget if the show is renewed for a second season.
New Mexico, Louisiana and Georgia are among the state courting the production with substantial incentives.
A show about Texas high-school football needs to be filmed in Texas, and FNL has nestled into our environs with its own stadium at Del Valle and production offices in South Austin. They re happy to be here; we re happy to have them.
Texas has long touted itself as a movie mecca, but in recent years, productions have found our neighboring states more amenable financially. Our film commission does not offer incentives; other film commissions do.
Governor Perry has included an incentives package in his new state budget, but the Legislature has yet to approve it and probably won t until mid-May.
FNL needs to have a plan in place before then because NBC will have to decide on renewal before then.
Besides holding the bragging rights to the FNL locale, Austin benefits in many ways from having such a distinguished production in our midst. A cash infusion of more than $1.
5 million arrives with each new episode, tourism benefits and other productions are more likely to come here if we can keep the good one we ve already got.
So come on, city and state officials. Step up and do the right thing.
The thought of South Congress Avenue without Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton and a host of gorgeous, talented young stars is just too depressing.
It s a relief to be rid of the really bad warblers, but last night s American Idol elimination episode was, well, weird.
First of all, we lost Jimmy McNeal, the terrific 23-year-old singer who is a senior at Texas State University in San Marcos.
I thought for sure we d get to see this super-talented Waxahachie native for at least a few more weeks.
It happens. It s alright, McNeal said this morning after the Hollywood rejection, which actually took place weeks ago.
I m very, very happy that I did it. This was my fourth time to try out, and I ve never gotten past first round before. I guess I just wasn t what they were looking for then or now.
It s a TV show.
Grumpy judge Simon Cowell had praised McNeal in an earlier audition, comparing him favorably to former Idol winner Ruben Studdard. So it was surprising when the boom was lowered in picking the final 24 contestants.
I m very hard on myself, McNeal said. Even if I have my best performance ever, you always think there s something you could do better. But I thought I was good enough to make it.
I guess they thought different.
Texas State students and faculty had rallied around McNeal, as had friends and family in Waxahachie. There were even plans for Idol T-shirts featuring the impeccably mannered and popular student.
McNeal, a music major, hasn t given up on his dream. He plans to pursue a singing career after he graduates. Because of a holding contract Fox has with all Idol contestants, he can t do anything professionally until after the May finale airs.
This is a stepping stone for me, he said. I m thankful to American Idol for showing my audition I wasn t sure they would.
Also last night on Idol, the fabulous Robyn Troup, who won the My Grammy Moment competition and got to sing with Justin Timberlake on The Grammys, got the hook.
Good enough for Grammy, but not good enough for Idol. The Idol episode was taped before the Grammys, but the Houston native has such obvious talent you d think she would have made it to the Final 24.
Next Tuesday, the top 12 male singers perform, and, on Wednesday, the top dozen women follow.
The men who made the cut are Chris Sligh, 28, Greenville, S.C.; Sanjaya Malakar, 17, Federal Way, Wash.
; Brandon Rogers, 28, West Hollywood, Calif.; Philip Stacy, 29, Jacksonville, Fla.; Blake Lewis, 25, Bothell, Wash.
; Rudy Cardenas, 28, Los Angeles; Paul Kim, 25, Saratoga, Calif.; A.J.
Tabaldo, 22, Santa Maria, Calif.; Nicholas Pedro, 25, Taunton, Mass.; Chris Richardson, 22, Chesapeake, Va.
; Jared Cotter, 25, Kew Gardens, N.Y., and Jason Sundance Head, 28, Porter, Tex.
The women competitors are Melinda Doolittle, 29, Brentwood, Tenn.; Gina Glocksen, 22, Naperville, Ill.; Haley Scarnato, 24, San Antonio, Tex.
; Jordin Sparks, 17, Glendale, Ariz.; Stephanie Edwards, 19, Savannah, Ga.; Leslie Hunt, 24, Chicago; Alaina Alexander, 24, West Hollywood, Calif.
; Sabrina Sloan, 27, Studio City, Calif.; Lakisha Jones, 27, Fort Mead, Md.; Nicole Tranquillo, 20, Philadelphia; Amy Krebs, 22, Federal Way, Wash.
, and Antonella Barba, 20, Point Pleasant, N.J.
Now here s a sad commentary on the state of citizenship and culture in America.
The death of former Playmate and over-the-top reality star Anna Nicole Smith last week racked up more cable news coverage than the war in Iraq.
According to figures released Tuesday by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, Smith s mysterious swan song gobbled up 21 percent of all news programming on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel. On Thursday and Friday (the day she died and the day after), that figure soared to 50 percent.
Coverage of Iraq and the 08 presidential race came in second and third on cable news, with a measly 15 percent and 10 percent, respectively, over the week of Feb. 4 to 9.
The questions asked on a half-hourly basis was: Why do we care about Anna Nicole Smith?
Nobody seemed to know, but it probably has something to do with the trashy nature of the poor woman s life, the controversy surrounding the father of her infant daughter and a cast of characters that seems to have come right out of tabloid central casting.
Fox and MSNBC seemed to willingly hitch their news wagons to Smith s fallen star, but CNN looked pained by the process. Wolf Blitzer turned over the entire Situation Room (3-5 p.
m. Thursday) a show normally devoted to serious political and policy coverage to the Bizarreness in the Bahamas. He didn t look happy about it, but he went with the apparent viewer-interest flow.
The broadcast networks were more restrained, no doubt due to the lack of air time. The Smith debacle came in fifth, behind the war, the winter weather, the presidential campaign and the Scooter Libby trial on ABC, CBS and NBC.
With paternity, cause of death and other mysteries still left hanging, don t look for the Anna Nicole Show to go away any time soon.
Cheers for James!
The grand finale for the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show was indeed grand. No more waddling Pekingese or odd-looking whippets this time around.
No, last night s Best in Show winner was a gorgeous, doglike English springer spaniel named James. He was simply splendid and noble, circling Madison Square Garden like he owned the place, which, as of about 9:50 p.m.
, he did.
The crowd may have preferred the woolly cutie owned by Bill Cosby, but dog judges made the right pick this time. James, with his glorious red and white coat, was a down-to-Earth winner.
Haven t we all suffered enough? This week, at long last, the excruciating early-round auditions for American Idol conclude, and the Top 24 semifinalists a dozen guys and a dozen gals will be unveiled.
That happens, perhaps appropriately, on Valentine s Day (Wednesday).
Tonight is a performance night for the Hollywood round.
Let s keep our fingers crossed for Jimmy McNeal, 23, a senior at Texas State University in San Marcos. He auditioned in San Antonio last summer and was one of 22 out of 11,000 contestants from that city to earn a ticket to Hollywood.
If you saw McNeal s audition, you remember him as the guy who channeled Sam Cooke and prompted grumpy Simon Cowell to coo happily, You re like a little fun Ruben, aren t you? The reference, of course, is to former Idol winner Ruben Studdard.
McNeal, a Waxahachie native, is contractually forbidden to discuss his participation in Idol until (if?
) he is eliminated. We should find that out Wednesday.
With toys and terriers out of the way, tonight s edition of The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show (7 p.
m. on USA) brings on the dogs I love.
Sporting dogs such as Brittany spaniels and Labrador retrievers don t require blow driers or hair clips to be cute, and that s a relief.
Who among us really wants to spend more time grooming our dogs than ourselves?
Sporting dogs are first up tonight, followed by hounds and herders. The Big Finish will be the crowning of Best in Show, in which winners from all groups compete.
I m still a huge fan of 24, but is anybody else squirming over all the torture scenes this season? It s been too much for my taste and not just because Jack Bauer tortured the heck out of his own brother (and their father subsequently killed the poor guy).
Every episode thus far has had grueling scenes of torture, such as last night s near-drowning and shoulder-drilling of CTU guy Morris.
Enough s enough. Let s get back to conspiracy and suspense.
Skeletal tune-up accomplished!
Like it or not, I m back!!
So, where to begin after two weeks in an alternate universe?
Loved the Grammys. Christina Aguilera channeling James Brown pure heaven. The Dixie Chicks grabbing every award in sight fabulous.
Best performance? Mary J. Blige.
Hands down.
As fine as the Grammy Awards were last night, tonight is when the really exciting TV begins. And I m not talking about 24.
I m talking DOGS.
gets underway at 7 p.m.
on USA cable network. Yes, I m a total sucker for dogs, but even cat people enjoy watching Westminster because it s such an amazing show.
Trainers, owners and dogs all prancing around a ring, fur flying (on the dogs, not the handlers).
Fashion comedy comes into play, too from the silly canine dos to the practical, rubber-soled shoes and evening wear of the handlers. The whole thing is a trip, from beginning to end.
Tonight we ll see working dogs, terriers, toy breeds and nonsporting breeds.
Tomorrow night is the more elite groups: sporting, hound and herding dogs. Plus, Tuesday night is the crowning of Best in Show the top dog among all breeds and groups.
Note to self: set DVR to catch two-hour 24 tonight, American Idol and Boston Legal tomorrow night.
Much as I love the dogs, I can t miss my stories, as my grandmother used to call her favorite shows.
More fallout from the bomb scare in Boston. Here s the AP story:
The head of the Cartoon Network resigned Friday following a marketing stunt that caused a security scare in Boston.
Blinking electronic devices had been planted around Boston to promote Aqua Teen Hunger Force, but when authorities got a series of 911 calls about the suspicious devices on Jan. 31, they called out the bomb squads and shut down bridges and highways for fear they could be explosives.
A few hours later, Cartoon Network s corporate parent acknowledged it was part of a marketing move.
The announcement of Jim Samples resignation was made in an internal memo sent to Cartoon Network staff members. In the statement, Samples said he regretted what had happened.
It s my hope that my decision allows us to put this chapter behind us and get back to our mission of delivering unrivaled original animated entertainment for consumers of all ages, Samples said.
The that aired during the Super Bowl is being revised.
The commercial, which featured a quality-obsessed robot who loses his job and then jumps off a bridge in a dream sequence (really, this is easier to understand if you watch the ad) had drawn fire from suicide-prevention groups.
GM initially said it wouldn t change the ad, but has now agreed to edit it to remove the suicide reference, the AP reported today.
The criticism of the GM ad follows a flap from the fast-food industry about Kevin Federline s Nationwide ad and the Snickers commercial showing two male mechanics mortified at their accidental kiss.
What do you think: Are these ads offensive?
Clear eyes, full hearts alert: in an iTunes store message sent out last night, Apple announced it s adding Friday Night Lights to its TV offerings.
Here s the kicker: you can download the pilot episode for free.
Regular episodes are $1.99 and the whole season is available, up to this week s episode, Blinders.
We ve had mixed experiences watching the show online on NBC.com, so for those with video iPods or a preference for watching iTunes shows nice and legally on their computer screen (or via the TV with Apple s new ), this sounds like a good option.
This morning when Ellen Degeneres asked on her 600th show how many of her audience members have watched every episode, I enthusiastically raised my hand.
Ellen and The View are part of my morning ritual, and I thought I had not missed an episode. That was until I found this link on
It turns out that while I was taking a shower Monday morning, Ellen called Gladys Hardy again for her take on Oscar-nominated movies! Did Ellen miss I know she didn t; her people are quoted in the story.
Regardless, I am glad Ellen called her again. I think Gladys paired up with Ellen is funny. And now we all have a new meatloaf recipe to try out.
So there might have been some, uh, in Prince s halftime performance at the Super Bowl.
I am a little flummoxed that people are coming up with these interpretations. My sense of humor can veer toward the seventh grade-ish, and I didn t see anything to snicker about.
And even if there was settle down, y all.
Tim Gunn s cameo in Ugly Betty last night was cute, but too brief.
Meanwhile, now that the shock of the announcement that Gunn is leaving Parsons has worn off, I m resigned to the fact that he ll also be leaving Runway soon.
And I know that I proclaimed that if he leaves, I quit watching, but here s a scenario that could bring me back: Runway hires Season 2 contestant as the new mentor to the designers.
Think about it: Nick has a background as a fashion instructor. He s funny, nice and highly quotable (just coming up with whickety-whack guarantees his place in Runway history).
Just a thought, Bravo.
The Project Runway fans around here are reeling from the that Tim Gunn, mentor to the Runway hopefuls, is leaving his day job at the Parsons School of Design to work for Liz Claiborne.
That raises a huge question: Will Gunn be back for the next season of Runway ?
Here s the key sentence from the Reality Blurred report: And it s sort of odd that the news release only explicitly mentions his upcoming series, Tim Gunn s Guide to Style, but not future appearances on the show that made him famous.
I don t think this bodes well. Without Gunn, I m not sure I d stick with Project Runway.
I m fond as can be of Heidi Klum, Michael Kors and Nina Garcia, but they are all, as Kors would say, whackadoo. Gunn is the show s moral center. You can count on him.
He s dapper. Not enough people are dapper these days.
A Guide to Style doesn t sound like an inspired idea.
Mainly, I think it doesn t go far enough. I d rather see Tim Gunn Eradicates Everything Evil and Tacky About Life and Then Fixes You a Cocktail. But I will hope for the best.
Tim Gunn will be a class act no matter what. Runway, I m not so sure.
OK, Jon Stewart s not really a puppet, but he ll share screen time with some in Friday s Groundhog Day episode of .
The host of The Daily Show joins Mary, Jack and his dog Mel on the show that airs at noon on . On the show, Stewart plays anchorman hot on the trail of the stage-fright-struck Gertrude the Groundhog, who s hiding in Jack s clubhouse.
Sure, the show, which includes musical themes and introduces children to instruments such as the accordion and the hammer dulcimer, is targeted at tots, but there s plenty on the show show to keep parents and nonparents interest.
(My son, Mateo, was getting mildly annoyed this week when I rewound the DVR for the third time to watch the video of Thunder by .)
Another episode has a video of past South by Southwest darlings the . (Rachel, in case you were wondering, is now almost as tall as her diminutive parents.
) Last season, blues icon Buddy Guy visited the clubhouse as the
Thursday night is always a TV-viewing jungle, what with Ugly Betty, NBC s suddenly truly must-see TV (except for ER ), the zombiefied O.C., and all the stuff on CBS we frankly don t watch, but it might be time to make room for one more show.
Comedy Central debuts at 9:30 p.m. tonight.
Nobody s expecting it to be the next Chappelle s Show, but Silverman at least has a unique take on comedy and she s smart to surround herself with comedy aces such as Brian Posehn and her sister Laura Silverman (we ll always love her as Laura on Dr. Katz ). She s also smart to format the show as a sitcom with funny asides instead of a sketch-heavy variety program, which hasn t worked so well for some other Comedy Central shows.
We heard a few audio clips and it s definitely not going to appeal to everyone, but Comedy Central s audience will likely love Silverman. The New York Times about it today.
Watch it tonight and let us know what you think.
If you missed Erik Estrada and La Toya Jackson taking down criminals in Muncie, Ind., on sadly, your chance is gone. CBS on the cop show.
I ll admit I watch some crazy reality TV shows. I even watched I Love New York, but this one I missed. Did anyone watch this show?
According to E! Online, Jackson threw a fit about a cat and Estrada threw one over being misidentified as Emilio Estevez. (He should only be so lucky.
)
When you want to know about the U.S. Supreme Court, where do you turn?
Austin, of course. Four University of Texas professors are featured on a PBS series about the history of the Court (airs 8 p.m.
Wednesday and Feb. 7 on KLRU Channel 18).
In fact, the university ranks No.
1 among institutions providing experts for the show, according to the UT Law School.
Look for Lucas A. Powe Jr.
, William Forbath, Louise Weinberg and Ernest Young experts all on constitutional law on the show.
Sigh. After the big season premiere, which was officially awesome, 24 has been stumbling along lately.
I concur with culture critic on what some of the key problems are:
Too much bureaucratic yammering. There aren t many things more fun than being trapped in a bunker talking about policy. See, this is why I never watched The West Wing, my irritated viewing companion exclaimed last night.
Mystifying lack of panic over the nuke. The part that really got me was when Darren and that blond gal were checking into the hotel and you could see the maid a little farther down the hall. All while there s a mushroom cloud on the horizon.
Wouldn t just about everyone, everywhere get to go home from work if there was a nuclear attack? The only thing that I can figure is that after the rash of terror attacks bosses aren t accepting them as an excuse anymore for missing work. But I think the real reason things are business is usual is that 24 lacks a suitable mayhem budget.
Which makes me sad.
The whole Sandra Palmer storyline. I like Walid, but Sandra can go.
He s better off without her.
Not enough Jack. Really, it all comes down to that.
I always pictured Jack s dad as a gruff guy who worked down at the mill and pulled things like drowning Jack s kitten and then yelling at him when he cried. But I am willing to give James Cromwell a chance as the Bauer pater familias. There s some interesting stuff going on.
Like dad Bauer was all We can t let Graem go to jail, but not really freaked out at all that Jack had been in a Chinese prison.
Here are some suggestions, projections and fears for future episodes:
Bring Assad back. He and Jack are good together.
No more Sandra Palmer.
None. Let s just pretend she didn t happen.
Quit giving everything away in the scenes for next week.
Give more hints that Josh is Jack s son.
Bring back the Logans. And Mike Novick.
And Aaron Pierce. If there are budget issues, fire Morris.
Those are my grumpy thoughts.
What do you think?
Isaiah Washington has gone off to rehab to figure out why he keeps barking homophobic epithets at co-star T.R.
Knight.
The incident, which occurred in October and resurfaced at last week s Golden Globe Awards, allegedly has plunged Grey s Anatomy into a state of disarray.
Will Washington be fired?
Will the writers make his character, Dr. Burke, reveal that he s gay? Will the actor open a future episode with an on-air apology?
Will Knight even accept such an apology?
Maybe. Who knows.
But in the meantime, last night s episode was one of the season s best. Too bad these folks are let loose in real life without benefit of script. We d all be a lot safer if they just read their lines.
If you haven t seen Thursday s edition of Grey s and plan to, consider this your official SPOILER ALERT.
The hour ended with a trio of bangs: Burke proposed to Cristina, who broke their silly silence but refused to apologize (which she didn t need to do anyway); George ended his mourning-fueled sex-capade with Callie by asking her to marry him; and Chief Dr. Webber resigned to spend more time with his wife, who announced that she s moved on and slammed the door in his face.
Lordy. The shocks just kept on coming and, naturally, it was a cliffhanger. Neither Callie nor Cristina looked like they were about to say yes to their respective proposers.
But maybe one or both will. Guess we ll find out next week. Given Grey s track record, it seems unlikely we ll see a double wedding on the show any time soon.
Or ever.
At least the painful rejection of Chief means he s not leaving Grace Hospital after all, and we can look forward to the return of his steady influence on this band of semi-wacky docs.
And do we love Miranda Bailey most of all?
Yes, we do and not just because she wants to open a free clinic. We love that she s not over-sexed and immature. We love her determination and well-concealed soft spots.
Dr. Bailey, short in stature but toweringly tall in every other way, is the heart and soul of Grey s no doubt about it.
For the past couple of days, I ve transformed myself from TV critic/writer to investigative journalist.
My beat? Gladys. Just call me the Bob Woodward of Weird Austin.
This has been one bizarre story, but apparently the mysterious 88-year-old Gladys Hardy is a talker in our fair city. She s the woman who talked with Ellen De Generes not once but twice and sparked national interest with her homespun humor.
Turns out Gladys has been a regular caller at KLBJ for nearly a year and contributes to other radio stations around Texas, too.
She is, as far as we can tell, actually a funny guy impersonating a funny old woman. Which is why we hear but never see her.
For the time being, I m finished stalking this poor fictitious character.
It s a whole different job crawling through neighborhoods and banging on the doors of unsuspecting (and more than a little grumpy) people. I m gonna watch a little TV now.
Is Idol toning down the mean?
Is it my imagination, or has Simon Cowell toned down his personal criticisms since his season debut American Idol episodes last week were blasted by TV writers and viewers alike?
He s not exactly nice these days, but his remarks in the Memphis and New York auditions were relatively tame. He certainly didn t tell anyone they looked like a bush baby.
And whatever was causing Paula Abdul to slump over, giggle and continuously sip from that enormous glass seems to be subsiding, too. She actually tried to make sense last night in defending her sympathetic view of one contestant. She s never going to be articulate, so we shouldn t have unrealistic expectations.
But what s the deal with last night s guest judge Carol Bayer Sager? Has she had a Joan Collins makeover or what? Her face didn t budge, her lips were puffed up and, really, that hairdo went out of style while Dynasty was still on.
This show gets stranger and stranger, doesn t it?
Is Gladys Hardy real or a hoax? Inquiring minds want to know.
Gladys, in case you missed it, is the 88-year-old Austin woman who phoned The Ellen DeGeneres Show last week and brought the host to her knees with a barrage of hilarious comments. The clips quickly spread across the Internet. (Scroll down to check it out.
)
Honey, I love Jesus, but I drink a little, she told DeGeneres, prompting screams of laughter from the studio audience and causing the host to double over howling for several seconds.
The two new BFFs chatted again on today s Ellen.
We thought Hardy would make a good story for the newspaper, so we checked the phone book and numerous other sources we have to locate people by name and approximate birthdate.
We found no Gladys Hardy in Austin or surrounding areas.
Hardy has called into various Austin morning radio shows, including KLBJ-FM s Dudley Bob. And she has a Web site (gladyscalls.
com) and a home on MySpace. Does this sound like an 88-year-old woman? Or someone pretending to be an 88-year-old woman?
We called the Ellen show in Los Angeles, leaving several messages requesting information on Austin s newest sensation. While the spokeswoman who finally called back would not put us in touch with Hardy, she said the producers and DeGeneres enjoyed the really fun chats with her. Perhaps our question about whether Gladys might be a hoax prompted the spokeswoman s concluding remark: I m not sure if we ll call her again in the future.
Gladys Hardy sounds suspiciously like one of the Greater Tuna guys or maybe Liz Carpenter and her lines sound scripted.
Call me anything but don t call me late for dinner, Hardy quipped when DeGeneres asked if she could call her on a regular basis.
Hardy initially phoned Ellen last week to suggest that a potted plant behind DeGeneres be moved because it was sticking up behind her head.
She left a funny voice mail message, so DeGeneres called her back on the air.
Hello, this is Gladys, Hardy bellowed into the phone. If you re sellin something, I ain t interested.
After DeGeneres identified herself, Hardy went into a harangue about KVUE pre-empting Ellen for extensive weather coverage during last week s winter storm.
Hardy told DeGeneres she had been on TV before she once called QVC to buy a ladybug brooch and wound up talking about ladybugs on the air.
DeGeneres invited Hardy to come to Los Angeles and appear on the show, but Hardy declined.
I like to stay local, she demurred, adding that she mainly goes out to walk the malls for exercise.
If Gladys Hardy is real, we would love to talk with her about her fabulous, raucous sense of humor and her new friendship with Ellen DeGeneres. We want to take her picture and share her with our readers.
So, Gladys, are you out there? Are Gladys neighbors, friends or family members out there? If so, help us get in touch with this funny phantom.
We want to make her a star!
If Gladys is fiction, she s managed to dupe a lot of folks watching Ellen.
We know it s our civic duty to witness President Bush s State of the Union address tonight, but that doesn t mean we have to like it.
Boston Legal would have been so much more fun and possibly more enlightening.
The broadcast and cable news networks have set aside a two-hour chunk 8 to 10 p.m.
tonight for Bush s address to Congress and the nation, followed by the Democratic response from Virginia s newly elected Sen. Jim Webb.
At the winter gathering of TV critics in Los Angeles, HBO announced a new series that sounds promising.
Lily Tomlin will star in an hour-long comedy, created by the Designing Women team of Harry Thomason and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason. HBO is overdue for a funny newcomer.
Tomlin will play a real estate mogul and wealthy Dallas matriarch in 12 Miles of Bad Road.
She last appeared on TV as the acid-tongued assistant to President Bartlet on The West Wing. But comedy has always been her forté, and HBO will give her the freedom to let loose.
Mary Kay Place will play her sister.
No debut date has been set. The Thomason team is known for its sharp wit and incisive political commentary (they re bosom buddies of Bill and Hillary Clinton), so we can expect some current-events edge when the show debuts at the dawn of a presidential election season.
FX has finally given a premiere date to the sixth season of The Shield.
Mark you calendars for April 3. It will take over the 9 p.m.
Tuesday spot currently held by Courteney Cox s Dirt. (No word on whether Dirt will have a second season.)
Yes, it s been more than a year since The Shield had its fifth season finale, the shocker in which Lem was murdered by partner Shane.
Yikes. We knew these guys were borderline bad, but that killing took the cake.
The new season will run for 10 weeks and focus on Vic Mackey (Emmy winner Michael Chiklis) as he searches for Lem s killer unaware that a member of his own team has done the deed.
And yes, Forest Whitaker will be back, at least for a while, as super-creepy Internal Affairs Det. John Kavanaugh, whose crusade to nab rogue Mackey has become a psychotic obsession.
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