HBO at TCA: Wednesday Afternoon Smackdown with Aaron Sorkin

Wednesday was cable’s turn at The Television Critics Association Press Tour as HBO took center stage for its presentation with the main event – Aaron Sorkin vs. The Critics over controversial new drama The Newsroom. Things were so tense, you wonder if Larry Merchant (HBO’s boxing analyst) should’ve moderated the panel. But first, a few undercards: – HBO executive session: […]

Retro Friday: Fall 2008 NBC Promo – Make Some Noise!

This week’s Retro Friday takes a short trip back to 2008 when NBC aired a promo for its fall programming during the Opining Ceremonies of the Beijing Olympic Games, featuring the song “Make Some Noise”. Shown are clips from modest hits 30 Rock, Heroes, Chuck, and Deal Or No Deal, featuring Alec Baldwin, Zachery Levi, Howie Mandel, and Greg Grunberg. […]

Showtime, CW at TCA: Dexter and the Beast

The CW and Showtime – both owned by CBS Corporation – held their presentations at the Television Critics Association Press Tour on Monday, featuring shows about a serial killer, a superhero, and a beast (don’t get these guys in the same room.) – CW executive session: CW network chief Mark Pedowitz has to make the best of many bad situations: […]

CBS at TCA: Lackluster fall entries at a lackluster presentation

It was The Church Of Tisch’s turn at the Death March With Cocktails (translation: CBS’ day at the Television Critics Association Press Tour) on Sunday, introducing five new shows – and most of them were unimpressive. Here’s what went down: – CBS exec session: CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler began the session walking out with a stuffed monkey, obviously mocking […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: RIP Sherman Hemsley, Chad Everett

There is other media news besides the Olympics and the Television Critics Association Press Tour – including a new morning show for the new i101 and the return of a bad Scooby-Doo reboot. And we once again mourn the loss of a television great – in fact two of them. – Sherman Hemsley, who is best known as George Jefferson […]

FX at TCA: Winning with “Anger Management”

FX held its panel at the Television Critics Association Press Tour on Saturday, and this is what went down: – Charlie Sheen appeared in front of the press during the Anger Management panel – in front of many of the same critics who’ve ripped his new show (Anger has only a 44 Metacritic score.) Even though the program’s ratings have […]

ABC at TCA: Trying to get out of the basement

The Television Critics Association Press Tour rolled on Thursday and Friday with ABC up. We’ll start with Friday and work our way backward to Thursday as the juicier stuff is up front: – ABC executive session: Entertainment Chief Paul Lee addressed the press at TCA on friday, and was unapologetic about ripping off CBS’ Big Brother with The Glass House, […]

NBCUniversal at TCA: We’re Number 3! We’re Number 3!

NBCUniversal held its TCA presentations for its broadcast and cable platforms on Tuesday and Wednesday. Here are the highlights: – NBC executive session: On Tuesday, NBC chief Robert Greenblatt addressed the media and touted the upcoming Summer Olympics, which opened in London on Friday – not to mention the brand new series he gets to peddle during the Games. The […]

Fox at TCA: Mariah Carey joins “American Idol” as a judge

Fox became the first broadcast network to hold their presentation at the Television Critics Association Press Tour on Monday, with panels on Fox’s three new shows, a X Factor press conference, and an introduction of a new judge on American Idol. – Fox executive session: Entertainment chief Kevin Reilly met the press on Monday and revealed that Mariah Carey will […]

PBS at TCA: Free Bates!

Welcome to T Dog Media’s (snarky) coverage of the Television Critics Association Press Tour. While yours truly isn’t in Cali for the tour (though he wishes he were… well, I have a living to earn, you know), there will be recaps and comments on the day’s activities. And believe me, there is no shortage of items to make fun – […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: TribLocal makes changes after scandal

Notes and news – in this mostly local edition of the Grab Bag: – As mentioned briefly in the Tribune bankruptcy post on Saturday, the Chicago Tribune was recently caught using fake bylines and plagiarizing and fabricating stories in TribLocal, the paper’s hyperlocal network of websites and print properties serving Chicago’s suburbs. On Friday, the Tribune announced it was parting […]

Welcome to Comic-Con

It’s finally here! On Thursday, the 43rd annual Comic-Con kicked off Thursday in San Diego. Once held in a basement of a downtown hotel, Comic-Con expanded over the decades and now takes place at the city’s convention center. Certainly, Comic-Con is a far better and more enjoyable experience to cover than some overrated, overblown, overhyped, and over-covered event that took […]

Retro Friday: Happy “Friday the 13th”

Straight from the vaults of the T Dog Media TV Hall Of Shame (or more specifically, YouTube): A true TV… um, “horror”: In honor of Friday the 13th, let’s celebrate by watching the opening theme of this forgotten 1987-90 weekly syndicated television series of the same name that had nothing to do with the movie of the same name. Instead […]

CBS to bring back “Unforgettable”

It is indeed rare, but starting to become a little more common – a major network “uncanceling” a show: CBS has reversed its decision on dumping Unforgettable; instead, the network announced it would pickup thirteen new episodes to run next summer. Starring Poppy Montgomery, Unforgettable is about a woman who has a photographic memory and helps the New York City […]