television – News Stories About television - Page 55

Aug 17, 2008 4:59 PM CDT

PBS Unleashes Martha for Vocab Help

(Newser) - What if the family dog ate alphabet soup by mistake? Susan Meddaugh answered her 7-year-old son’s question by writing a book, Martha Speaks, which has now become a PBS show about the talking dog. PBS hopes it will teach challenging vocab—"diminish," "concoct," and "...

Dallas Family Goes Home Again

Aug 14, 2008 12:51 PM CDT

Dallas Family Goes Home Again

Cast returns to ranch for 30th anniversary

(Newser) - JR, Bobby, Sue Ellen, and other members of the Ewing clan are getting back together at Southfork Ranch for a Dallas reunion party to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the hit primetime soap opera, the Dallas Morning News reports. Tickets to the November reunion will cost $100 to $1,000....

Comedian Bernie
Mac Dies at 50

Aug 9, 2008 9:27 AM CDT

Comedian Bernie Mac Dies at 50

Standup comic moved on to film, TV

(Newser) - Comedian and actor Bernie Mac has died at 50 of pneumonia after a week’s hospitalization in Chicago, the Chicago Tribune reports. Mac suffered from sarcoidosis, an unusual autoimmune disease that causes inflammation in the lungs. Born Bernard Jeffrey McCullough, the comedian was a late bloomer, achieving fame in his...

Teen TV That Flunked College

OPINION

Aug 6, 2008 2:50 PM CDT

Teen TV That Flunked College

10 shows that fizzled after high school

(Newser) - Heading off to university is typically viewed as an accomplishment, but one blog contends that most TV shows tank when their characters take this major life step. College on the Record lists the top 10 series muddled by matriculation:

Boy Meets World
Saved by the Bell: The College Years
Dawson’

...

Mad Men Invades Your Closet

Aug 5, 2008 4:27 PM CDT

Mad Men Invades Your Closet

Designers and labels copy, coordinate with hit show

(Newser) - Mad Men isn’t just one of the best shows on TV—it’s also a fashion trendsetter, Advertising Age reports. Bloomingdale’s features Mad Men-themed displays and clothing, GQ recently published a 6-page spread with a cast member, and the show’s network has started a Target-sponsored fashion blog....

$heen $its
Atop TV Heap

Aug 5, 2008 11:26 AM CDT

$heen $its Atop TV Heap

(Newser) - Charlie Sheen is the highest-paid primetime TV actor at $825,000 per episode, but the Two and a Half Men star's $20 million per year pales in comparison to Oprah's haul. The media mogul took home $385 million last year, Reuters reports in deconstructing TV Guide’s annual list of...

Christina Applegate Battling Cancer

Aug 3, 2008 8:50 AM CDT

Christina Applegate Battling Cancer

Full recovery expected for star of Samantha Who?

(Newser) - Christina Applegate has been diagnosed with breast cancer, but her doctors expect a full recovery, Reuters reports. Applegate—who played ditzy daughter Kelly Bundy on Married…With Children and now stars as an amnesiac on ABC’s Samantha Who?— has been an advocate for breast cancer research. Her mother battled...

Miley: End Near for 'Hannah'

Jul 30, 2008 12:15 PM CDT

Miley: End Near for 'Hannah'

Miley Cyrus says next season the last

(Newser) - Tween queen Miley Cyrus is ready to part ways with her Disney show and alter ego Hannah Montana. "We’re thinking this is our last season," 15-year-old Cyrus told E! Online. "I just think we did a lot of episodes. We basically did two seasons in one...

Swayze Filming New Show

Jul 30, 2008 11:21 AM CDT

Swayze Filming New Show

Actor was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in January

(Newser) - Patrick Swayze was back at work for the first time since being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, the Daily Mail reports. The 55-year-old actor was joined by his wife on the Chicago set of A&E’s The Beast. The actor, who is undergoing chemotherapy, has called himself a “miracle”...

Reality TV: Bad for Child Stars?

Jul 26, 2008 5:41 PM CDT

Reality TV: Bad for Child Stars?

Critics says it's exploitation, but others call it education

(Newser) - CBS’ Kid Nation has drawn its share of controversy, which hasn’t stopped a new crop of kid-centric reality shows from cropping up. NBC is letting teenagers care for babies and toddlers on The Baby Borrowers; a Nickelodeon channel probes children’s emotions on The N’s Student Body; and...

Why I Loved Scully

COMMENTARY

Jul 24, 2008 1:03 PM CDT

Why I Loved Scully

Unlike most onscreen women, Scully was portrayed with nuance and power

(Newser) - The X-Files’ Dana Scully was everything women in entertainment today are not: intellectual, nuanced, tortured, Rebecca Traister writes in Salon. So as the sci-fi classic hits the big screen once again this weekend, we need Scully, “the cerebral head of the X-Files, torn between her Catholic faith, her scientific...

Don't Expect Dora at Your Kid's Party

Jul 22, 2008 3:48 PM CDT

Don't Expect Dora at Your Kid's Party

Copyright holders crack down on use of TV character costumes

(Newser) - Want to book Elmo for your kid’s birthday party? Better expect “Big Red Tickle Monster” instead, the Wall Street Journal reports. Corporations that control the use of children’s entertainment characters are targeting costume-rental services that offer unauthorized versions of their cash cows, resulting in lawsuits, grotesque lookalikes,...

'Sophia' of
Golden Girls
Dead at 84

Jul 22, 2008 1:37 PM CDT

'Sophia' of Golden Girls Dead at 84

Veteran actress Estelle Getty suffered from dementia

(Newser) - Estelle Getty, the diminutive actress who spent 40 years struggling for success before landing a role of a lifetime in 1985 as the sarcastic octogenarian Sophia on TV's The Golden Girls, has died. She was 84. The two-time Emmy winner, who suffered from advanced dementia, died this morning at home,...

TiVo-Amazon Deal Offers Onscreen Buying

Jul 22, 2008 10:28 AM CDT

TiVo-Amazon Deal Offers Onscreen Buying

DVR pioneer aims to create 'underpinnings of a future business model for TV'

(Newser) - TiVo and Amazon have teamed to introduce a “product purchase” tool that will allow viewers to buy the products being plugged onscreen, the New York Times reports. Soon, when Oprah Winfrey plugs a book or David Letterman talks up his musical guest, TiVo customers will be able to order...

Court Tosses Super Bowl Fine

Jul 21, 2008 1:27 PM CDT

Court Tosses Super Bowl Fine

Federal panel says FCC acted capriciously with $550K penalty

(Newser) - A federal appeals court today threw out the FCC $550,000 fine against CBS for Janet Jackson’s infamous 2004 “wardrobe malfunction.” The decency watchdogs were found to have acted arbitrarily in changing their policy of not punishing fleeting nudity, Broadcasting & Cable reports. The court separately said...

'Brenda' Back on 90210 Spinoff

Jul 20, 2008 12:08 PM CDT

'Brenda' Back on 90210 Spinoff

Shannen Doherty will reprise her 1990s character

(Newser) - Brenda Walsh will return as an adult to CW's 90210 spinoff this fall, reports the AP, but it remains to be seen whether actress Shannen Doherty has finally grown up. Also slated for comebacks on the angsty teen drama are Jennie Garth and Tori Spelling, but Doherty’s notorious volatility...

Michael J. Fox
Returns
to TV

Jul 17, 2008 12:50 PM CDT

Michael J. Fox Returns to TV

Will guest star on 'Rescue Me'

(Newser) - Michael J. Fox will return to the small screen next year in a four-episode guest role on FX's "Rescue Me,” the AP reports. The “Spin City” star, whose symptoms of Parkinson’s disease have become evident since his 1991 diagnosis, will play the wheelchair-bound love-interest of the...

Mad Men, Damages Make History With Emmy Nods

Jul 17, 2008 9:11 AM CDT

Mad Men, Damages Make History With Emmy Nods

Best-series noms are first for basic cable

(Newser) - Mad Men, AMC's sleek 1950s advertising drama, and FX's legal thriller Damages made Emmy nominations history today as the first basic cable programs to gain best-series nods. HBO's John Adams, meanwhile, was the overall frontrunner with 23 bids, including a lead-actor nomination for Paul Giamatti's turn as Adams.

Late-Night
Takes it Easy
on Obama

ANALYSIS

Jul 15, 2008 7:16 AM CDT

Late-Night Takes it Easy on Obama

From racism to favoritism, comedians explain lack of jokes

(Newser) - John McCain has been skewered by late-night comics throughout the presidential campaign, but Barack Obama has escaped relatively unscathed. As this week's New Yorker cover flare-up made clear, satirists are struggling to find an angle on the Democratic nominee. The New York Times speaks to half a dozen late-night hosts...

Black Media Outlets
Focus on Obama Ads

Jul 14, 2008 6:29 PM CDT

Black Media Outlets Focus on Obama Ads

Budget for African-American outreach unclear

(Newser) - The Barack Obama campaign hasn't spent much on advertising in African-American media, a trend many hope the candidate will reverse as he gears up for the general election, Advertising Age reports. "The audience has to be motivated to get out and vote," says a BET exec who cautions...