television – News Stories About television - Page 49

OPINION

Dec 27, 2008 2:47 PM CST

Shield Guns Down The Wire

In crime drama face-off, Mackey has the edge on sheer depravity

(Newser) - When it comes to gritty portrayals of life on the unforgiving streets of an American city, no show is better than The Wire—except The Shield, Chris Petit declares in the Guardian. The crime dramas, with their shaky lens style and foul-mouth approach, shuck romance and expose the oft-forgotten American...

Sopranos'
Johnny Cakes
Commits Suicide

Dec 25, 2008 3:15 PM CST

Sopranos' Johnny Cakes Commits Suicide

Actor Costelloe played a gay mobster's lover

(Newser) - The actor who played Johnny Cakes on The Sopranos is dead, the New York Post reports. John Costelloe, 47, shot himself in the head in Brooklyn last week, police and friends said. The former firefighter served a brief but pivotal role as the gay lover of a closeted mobster in...

Fey Is AP's
Entertainer
of the Year

Dec 23, 2008 12:42 PM CST

Fey Is AP's Entertainer of the Year

30 Rock star and Palin impersonator beats out Downey, Ledger

(Newser) - Tina Fey is the entertainer of the year? You betcha. Fey was voted the AP's Entertainer of the Year, an annual honor chosen by newspaper editors and broadcast producers across the country. Fey was selected by AP members as the performer who had the greatest impact on culture and entertainment...

SAG Postpones Strike Vote

Dec 23, 2008 11:27 AM CST

SAG Postpones Strike Vote

Union schedules meeting to iron out division

(Newser) - Facing dissent in the rank-and-file, the Screen Actors Guild is delaying a member vote to authorize a strike, the Los Angeles Times reports. The union’s board will push back balloting slated to begin January 2 to “address the unfortunate division and restore consensus” at a special meeting January...

Star Wars'
Secret Shame:
The Holiday
Special

GLOSSIES

Dec 22, 2008 11:40 AM CST

Star Wars' Secret Shame: The Holiday Special

1978 TV show included singing, dancing, and Wookiees

(Newser) - It sounded like a good idea at the time. In 1978, Star Wars was huge, but a sequel was 2 years away. So why not make a TV special? Why not a holiday special? Centered on Wookiees? "The only sound they make is like fat people having an orgasm,...

7% Not Ready for
Digital TV Switch

Dec 22, 2008 8:59 AM CST

7% Not Ready for Digital TV Switch

With switch due Feb. 17, estimated 7% aren't prepared; feds' coupon program shaky

(Newser) - With US television’s transition from analog to digital broadcasting less than two months away, officials are worried that consumers still don’t have the signal-converter box, the Wall Street Journal reports. An estimated 7% aren’t prepared, and Congress, which authorized $1.34 billion for coupons to help consumers...

Tinseltown Not Run
by Jews? I'm Insulted

opinion

Dec 19, 2008 7:01 PM CST

Tinseltown Not Run by Jews? I'm Insulted

(Newser) - Just 22% of Americans say Jews run Hollywood, and one Jew is insulted: "It just shows how dumb America has gotten," Joel Stein writes in the Los Angeles Times. "Jews totally run Hollywood." Looking through the trades, he could find only eight Gentiles holding powerful positions...

Actor
Sam Bottoms
Dead at 53

Dec 19, 2008 8:42 AM CST

Actor Sam Bottoms Dead at 53

Appeared in Apocalypse Now , Outlaw Josey Wales

(Newser) - Actor Sam Bottoms, who appeared in Apocalypse Now and some 30 other films, died at his LA home this week of brain cancer at age 53, the Los Angeles Times reports. Bottoms began his film career at age 15 in The Last Picture Show and was cast as surfer Lance...

Star Gazing: 9 to Watch in '09

Dec 16, 2008 7:35 PM CST

Star Gazing: 9 to Watch in '09

Entertainment Weekly picks next year's breakout performers

(Newser) - With next year's big-name film and TV projects (including a new Star Trek and a fresh Tom Hanks movie) featuring some unknowns, Entertainment Weekly lists the rising stars of 2009:

Kara DioGuardi, American Idol: The songwriting force behind hits by Pink and Ashlee Simpson will sit at the show's judging

...

Disney Channel Coming to Russian TV

Dec 16, 2008 5:30 PM CST

Disney Channel Coming to Russian TV

Mickey and pals get first Western foothold in massive market

(Newser) - Disney has become the first Western company to crack the potentially lucrative Russian TV market, the Wall Street Journal reports. The company and a Russian broadcaster are finalizing plans to introduce Disney programming on 30 stations nationwide. Disney will have a 49% ownership stake in the deal with Russia's Media-One...

Oprah Seals Production Deal With HBO

Dec 16, 2008 4:35 PM CST

Oprah Seals Production Deal With HBO

Talk-show host's production company will do films, miniseries on cable mainstay

(Newser) - Oprah Winfrey has a production deal with HBO, ending a long-lived partnership with ABC, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The exclusive, 3-year arrangement will allow Oprah’s Harpo Films more flexibility than before. “Being on a cable channel like HBO offers us a tremendous amount of creative freedom not seen...

Murder of
Most Wanted
Host's Son
Solved

Dec 16, 2008 2:46 PM CST

Murder of Most Wanted Host's Son Solved

Convicted pedophile who died in jail was behind brutal 1981 kidnap/torture case

(Newser) - The man who kidnapped and beheaded America’s Most Wanted host John Walsh’s son in 1981 has been identified, CNN reports. “Ottis Toole was the abductor and murderer of Adam Walsh,” Florida police said today. Toole, long suspected of the crime, died in prison in 1996. “...

Jack Black Lands Office Gig

Dec 16, 2008 10:22 AM CST

Jack Black Lands Office Gig

Comedian will star as himself

(Newser) - Not only did The Office score the sought-after post-Super Bowl slot, it will also feature Jack Black as a guest star. The comedian will play himself in a bootlegged movie the Dunder Mifflin workers try to watch, Entertainment Weekly reports. Black, who rarely appears in guest spots, is not the...

Bus Tour Too Much
Sex, Too Little City

GLOSSIES

Dec 15, 2008 12:55 PM CST

Bus Tour Too Much Sex, Too Little City

Trip down memory lane is one Vanity Fair scribe would like to forget

(Newser) - Carrie & Co. wouldn’t be caught dead on a bus tour of Manhattan, but the half-day trek to various locations used for Sex and the City—a sex shop, the Meatpacking District, the Magnolia Bakery—has become the guilty secret of misguided fans looking to relive scenes from the...

Why Oprah's
Weight Matters
to Millions

OPINION

Dec 14, 2008 7:49 AM CST

Why Oprah's Weight Matters to Millions

We're sharing in her long health struggle

(Newser) - Why do we follow Oprah’s battle with her weight so avidly? Because so many of us share the same battle, and identify so strongly with its ups and downs, writes Robin Givhan in the Washington Post. Oprah “may sell a million books, hand out scholarships and cars, build...

1940s Star
Van Johnson
Dead at 92

Dec 12, 2008 7:11 PM CST

1940s Star Van Johnson Dead at 92

(Newser) - Former film and TV heartthrob Van Johnson died today in New York of natural causes, Variety reports. He was 92. Johnson starred in many movies in the 1940s and 1950s, and was later nominated for an Emmy for his appearance on the TV show Rich Man, Poor Man. Dubbed the...

Will Abdul Kiss Idol Good-bye?

Dec 12, 2008 2:40 PM CST

Will Abdul Kiss Idol Good-bye?

Singer may leave show before new season starts, sources say

(Newser) - American Idol may not have Paula Abdul to kick around anymore, reports MSNBC's Scoop blog. Abdul, who seems perpetually ticked off at Simon Cowell and the show’s producers, doesn’t need them, anyway, says a friend: “Paula has a reality show on MTV and her jewelry line.”...

How Nerds
Can Save Network TV

Dec 12, 2008 11:44 AM CST

How Nerds Can Save Network TV

Big Bang Theory succeeds where less brainy sitcoms fail

(Newser) - Why is a physics-quoting comedy one of network TV's only successful sitcoms? And with so many Americans turning to cable, the Internet, and reality programming, what does that mean for the future of prime time? The Wall Street Journal looks at The Big Bang Theory, an unlikely hit that actually...

UK TV Broadcasts
an Assisted Suicide

Dec 11, 2008 10:38 AM CST

UK TV Broadcasts an Assisted Suicide

UK debates right to die after terminally ill patient euthanized

(Newser) - A documentary that aired on Sky TV last night showed an assisted suicide, stirring up a major debate in Britain about the right to die and the responsibility of television programmers, the Independent reports. Craig Ewert, 59, who suffered from motor neuron disease, traveled to a Swiss clinic, drank a...

Grey's to Lose Another:
'George' Wants Out

Dec 9, 2008 4:43 PM CST

Grey's to Lose Another: 'George' Wants Out

As role diminishes, Knight moves on

(Newser) - It's not time to turn off the lights just yet, but TR Knight is the latest actor to leave Grey's Anatomy. His character has been twiddling his thumbs this season, making it a good time to move on, insiders tell Entertainment Weekly. Knight's departure, date TBA, supposedly isn't linked to...