2006-related stories
Posted May 7th 2007 2:03PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Grey's Anatomy, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Jericho, Shark, 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights, Brothers and Sisters, The Black Donnellys, Upfronts
We're about a week away from the upfronts, the annual back-patting festivals the broadcast networks hold to introduce their new fall schedules. TV Squad will be ready, providing you, the loyal reader, with coverage of who's in, who's out, and what's new on the five broadcast networks (yes, I'm counting the CW as a full broadcast network, even though it's looking like it'll air mostly reality shows next year).
So, it seems to be a good time to look back at our coverage of
last year's upfronts, to see what was considered news, which shows became hits, which shows never aired, and which pilots looked promising but mostly ended up causing each network piles of money, bad press, and misery.
Click on the network name to see to our coverage of that network's 2006 upfront:
Continue reading Looking at the 2006 upfronts with 20/20 hindsight
Posted Jan 4th 2007 4:07PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, ABC, NBC, CBS, News, OpEd, Gilmore Girls, Saturday Night Live, Scrubs, The Simpsons, Grey's Anatomy, The Colbert Report, How I Met Your Mother, The Office, South Park, Last Comic Standing, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Class, 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights, Ugly Betty
I'm going to dispense with traditional "Best" and "Worst" lists and just use the tried-and-true journalistic method of "made-up categories." Why? Well, firstly, everyone's sick of seeing "Best" and "Worst" lists by this point, considering every newspaper and magazine did one over Christmas week. Secondly, to be honest, the list would end up looking like everyone else's. How much of a limb am I going out on, for instance, to say that
The Office was one of the best comedies this year? Exactly!
So, let's start with the Good Stuff, and then do the Bad Stuff:
Continue reading Best and Worst of 2006: Joel's list
Posted Jan 3rd 2007 2:30PM by Jay Black
Filed under: ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, HBO, Cable, OpEd, American Idol, Lost, The Simpsons, American Dad, Watercooler Talk, The Office, The Sopranos, South Park, MTV, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Jericho
Here's my opinion on best/worst lists of any given year: I love reading them and I hate writing them. It's been a lot of fun looking at what my colleagues here at TV Squad have had to say about the newly ended year, but it's been a slow walk through hell trying to actually make my own list. I'm not sure why, exactly, I had so many problems with the list. Maybe it's because I'm afraid that some sort of cosmic force is going to hold me accountable for what I say here. Like, I'll die and meet the God of TV and he (or she) is going to be waiting for me with my 2006 best of picks and be angry that I left
Two and a Half Men off the list (note, in this scenario, the God of TV is related to Charlie Sheen).
My dislike of having to write this list is part of the reason why I'm posting it in early January and not in the Christmas-New Years corridor like I wanted to. Every time I sat down to write it I suddenly found something I had to do around the house (like take a nap or eat some cheese). Today, though, I finally forced the words out of my fingers. I'm looking forward to hearing how wrong I am about all of these choices!
My best and worst 2006 after the jump...
Continue reading Best and Worst of 2006: Jay's List
Posted Nov 28th 2006 7:02PM by Anna Johns
Filed under: ABC, News, Celebrities
Once again, ABC news woman Barbara Walters is hosting her list of
The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2006. As usual, she's picking public figures from entertainment, politics, sports and business. ABC has released the names of six people on her list, including Patrick Dempsey (
Grey's Anatomy), Anna Wintour, Andre Agassi, John Ramsey (JonBenet's father), televangelist Joel Osteen, and Terri Irwin. Last year's list included Jamie Foxx, Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Camilla Parker-Bowles, and Tom Cruise- who totally wigged out in 2005. The special airs on Tuesday, December 12th at 10 pm.
Whether you like her or not, I think Rachael Ray deserves to be on this year's list. 2006 was definitely her year. To that, I'd add Barack Obama (who should've been on her list in 2004) or Nancy Pelosi. And, probably Angelina Jolie.
Who else should make this list?
Posted Nov 19th 2006 10:02AM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Cable, Commercials, Celebrities
If you missed it last year when TBS looked at the funniest commercials from around the world, don't worry, the network is gearing up once again to do the same thing. On December 27 at 9 pm TBS will air Funniest Commercials of the Year: 2006, hosted once again by Kevin Nealon. Over fifty ads will be showcased during the special, and you can also visit the TBS site Very Funny Ads and vote on ten select ads, which should help to alleviate some of the guilt you might have felt for not voting in the midterms. This is the third year for the special, which I believe was inspired by the classic Funniest Daguerreotypes of the Year: 1840. I'll never forget how hard I laughed seeing James Fenimore Cooper reading a copy of The Pathfinder upside down. Such buffoonery had never been seen by the likes of me or my kin, I can tell you that for sure. I laughed so uproariously I almost tripped over the dead bodies of all my family members who had keeled over from consumption the week before. Those were good times.
Posted Nov 19th 2006 8:02AM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Celebrities, Comedy Central
Last year, Comedy Central and a whole lotta comedians celebrated the end of 2005 with Last Laugh 2005, a look back on what made the year worth forgetting. This year they'll be adding 1 to 2005 and calling it Last Laugh 2006. Makes sense, I guess. According to Comedy Central Insider, the special will be hosted by Lewis Black and air on December 10, but if you want to see the special yourself on December 3, you can register for tickets here. This is the kind of special that's made for Tivo and DVRs; you can skip over the comedians you don't like and get to the ones you actually want to see. The special will include Patton Oswalt and Greg Giraldo, among many others. The special will also premiere on inDemand on December 25. Watch it with your family, Baby Jesus would want you to.
Pictured on the right is Lewis Black, performing his speed juggling act in which he juggles twelve bean bags so fast you can't even see them.
Posted Jul 11th 2006 12:40PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Sports, FOX, Programming, TV Sports
Anyone who knows me knows I'm a pretty rabid baseball fan. I've been following the Yankees (yes, the Evil Empire) since 1979 and probably know more about the career stats of Steve Balboni than probably any human should. In fact, I just got back from a trip that revolved around watching games in Chicago and Milwaukee on consecutive nights (both the White Sox and Brewers lost. Don't the home teams know I flew all the way over there to see them?).
But I don't know how much of the
All-Star Game I'm going to watch tonight. And it's not just because I have to review
Last Comic Standing, which comes back tonight after a week's break. It's just that the game has become beyond boring.
Continue reading Anyone still watch the All-Star Game?
Posted Jul 4th 2006 3:21PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Sports, OpEd, TV Sports
Quick question: When did ESPN start broadcasting the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest? I vaguely recall it being on TV last year, but must have forgotten about it, because when I flipped passed ESPN this afternoon, I was shocked that they were broadcasting the competition. So I settled in and watched the entertaining introductions, especially of women's champ Sonya Thomas, American challenger Joey Chestnut, and the Babe Ruth of competitive eating, five-time defending champ Takeru Kobayashi.
But then I realized something: I'd have to watch people cramming hot dogs in their mouths. And chewing. And swallowing. For... twelve... whole... minutes. The prospect of that grossed me out. A lot. I was able to hold on for about twenty seconds before I had to turn away. Then I turned back about three minutes in to the contest and things just looked worse. So I just decided to
find out later who won (Kobayashi did, with a record 53 3/4 dogs; Chestnut set the "American record" with 52). It wasn't too long ago that the only place we saw the Nathan's contest on TV was when we saw a snippet about it on the evening news. And, judging by what I saw today, it seems like it should have stayed that way.
Posted Jan 6th 2006 1:29PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, Industry
Nominations for the 2006 Producers Guild Awards were announced recently. Here are the nominees for the
television category:
Long-form:
- Empire Falls
- Into the West
- Lackawanna Blues
- The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
- Warm Springs
Comedy:
- Arrested Development
- Curb Your Enthusiasm
- Desperate Housewives
- Entourage
- Two and a Half Men
Drama:
- 24
- Boston Legal
- Grey's Anatomy
- Lost
- Six Feet Under
Non-fiction series or special:
- 30 Days
- 60 Minutes
- Amazing Race 6
- Amazing Race 7
- Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Variety series or special:
- 77th Annual Academy Awards
- The Ellen Degeneres Show
- Late Night with Conan O'Brien
- Late Show with David Letterman
- Real Time with Bill Maher
I'm not exactly sure how a show like Two and a Half Men winds up on the same list as Arrested
Development, but there you go. Winners will be announced on January 22.
Posted Jan 1st 2006 11:20AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, ABC, CBS, OpEd, WB, Battlestar Galactica, Lost, The Five, Veronica Mars
There really isn't any hard and fast rule for the way that I came up with my list. There aren't a whole lot of new
shows coming out during the mid-season that I want to watch. I'm tired of law shows and there are way too many 'Single
in the City' sitcoms coming out (although I do include just one of them on my list). I may give
Skating with Celebrities a chance out of morbid curiosity, but there's no way I'm
resolving to watch it. Here are the shows that I plan to watch faithfully in 2006:
5.
Veronica Mars If Joss Whedon says this is the "Best. Show.
Ever." I believe him. I really missed the boat on this one and now that we're halfway through season two, I've got
a lot of catching up to do. Most of that catching up with be done on DVD. And hopefully I can catch this season's reruns
during the summer so I'll be ready for season three in the fall.
Continue reading The Five: Shows I resolve to watch in 2006
Andy Richter: The TV Squad Interview
Have any questions for Vik Sahay of Chuck? Ask them here!
Mike Henry and Daryl Hall on a Cleveland Show Thanksgiving
