NewYorkCity-related stories
Posted Apr 22nd 2009 2:04PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: OpEd, Reality-Free
Variety has an article about some
renovations going on at the Paley Center for Media (formerly known as the Museum of Television and Radio, which is the name I still use for it) and it got me thinking. Is such a museum even necessary anymore?
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely think we should keep a historical broadcast record of television, radio and other types of media. But isn't that what the Internet is for? Wouldn't a virtual museum accomplish the same purpose online without the need for a brick-and-mortar presence?
Continue reading Is the Museum of Television and Radio necessary anymore?
Posted Apr 6th 2009 2:12PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Programming, OpEd, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
Jason Katims, the producer behind
Friday Night Lights and
Parenthood, is
making another drama for NBC. This one will be a modern take of an old classic,
The Wizard of Oz. But rather than having Dorothy go to Oz, she will go to New York City (her version of the Emerald City) and join the art world as a naive Kansas girl. Her boss will be the Wicked Witch.
Okay, so it's a
Sex And The City version of
The Wizard of Oz. It may work. It certainly has enough familiar elements to do so.
Without knowing anything about this series other than what is written in the article, I already know that she will have three co-workers, one with no brain, one (and pretty loose) with no heart (and fairly stiff) and one with no courage (and quite possibly hairy. And, if he acts like Burt Lahr in the classic movie, quite possibly gay).
Posted Mar 26th 2009 1:38AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Life on Mars
(S01E16) In our second-to-last episode, we get a few revelations about Sam and the reason behind his trip to 1973. Nothing conclusive, of course, but that's probably been saved for next week. Will Sam get back to 2009? Will he die? Will he get hit by another car and wake up in 1938? The mind boggles.
Sam is really adapting to his environment and becoming more brutal in his police work. Being stuck in a 1973 cop show is really rubbing off on him. On the plus side, even a bullet can't keep Michael Imperioli from delivering a great performance while in surgery. I think I'll miss you the most, Ray.
Continue reading Life on Mars: Everyone Knows It's Windy
Posted Mar 24th 2009 11:00AM by Eliot Glazer
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Video, Cable/Satellite, Music and Variety
Nothing breeds talent quite like cable access television.
Starting in 1979, Brooklyn resident Frank Masi created and hosted a program on local New York television called
Stairway To Stardom. Filmed in what appeared to be a freshly carpeted Staten Island basement,
Stairway was an especially early, low-budget predecessor to
Star Search and
American Idol, but sprinkled with the key element of hometown appeal.
Continue reading Stairway to Stardom, or what American Idol filmed in a Staten Island basement 25 years ago would look like - VIDEO
Posted Jan 13th 2009 1:03PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Commercials, Reality-Free
Since Michael Bloomberg became mayor of New York, the city has been notorious for its mommy-state health initiatives. Part of that has been a series of harsh ads featuring folks like
"tracheotomy guy" Rolando Martinez and ads featuring a smoker who has to get his
gangrenous foot amputated.
The latest set of ads, which air three times an hour in New York, depict a sick woman getting a bronchoscopy. During this, we hear the whistling noise of air whipping around the tumor in the lung, and the doctor explains that at that point, it's "too late to operate."
The first few times I saw
the ad, though, something struck me as odd: it was the doctor's voice. It sounded very dubbed and announcer-y, as if some Shakespearean actor was reading from a script. Upon further review, it looked like it was indeed a dubbing job, and not a very good one at that.
Continue reading New York City dubs Australian anti-smoking ad; makes it sound stupid
Posted Nov 13th 2008 11:01AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Episode Reviews
(S05E01) When I watch
Project Runway, I'm reminded of the fact that I'm no fashion designer. I'd be up a tree if I faced the challenges those contestants face. The same with
Top Design, not to mention any of the hair shows. However,
Top Chef is a different story. I do cook and every day is a challenge to figure out what to make and how.
So, the return of
Top Chef -- season five -- was like greeting an old friend. Here are people I can relate to, even if they have culinary skills that exceed mine.
The new edition is set in New York, a point that was obvious from the start with arrivals not coming via a pedestrian airport. No, here we are at Grand Central Station, a landmark. Then it's onto a ferry to Governor's Island to really get a look at the city.
Continue reading Top Chef: New York (season premiere)
Posted Jun 24th 2008 9:05AM by Kristin Sample
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, News, Industry, Celebrities
She doesn't exactly come off as a Martha Stewart-esque homemaker on the show but
Bethenny Frankel really knows her way around the kitchen. The star of Bravo's
Real Housewives of New York City has launched her own line of baked goods. The NYC cougar is bringing us
vegan cupcakes and other healthy desserts. The line is called Bethenny Bakes and she launched her new company at the Bridge Market Food Emporium in Manhattan on Sunday. Some of the products include lemon cupcakes, banana oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, fudge chocolate chip muffins, and blueberry muffins. There is no word on whether or not these will be in stores outside of New York.
I wonder if these treats actually taste good. More importantly, I wonder if Bethenny's boyfriend will help her run the business. He
lost his Wall Street job as an executive at Patriarch Partners, LLC because he appeared on the show.
Posted May 16th 2008 12:03PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Daytime, Talk Show
It's the end of an era today. One of the longest running syndicated talk shows is airing its last show.
The Montel Williams Show wraps today after 17 years of discussion, controversy, interviews and inspiration. But just because the show is ending, that doesn't mean Montel is going away. At the final New York City taping in March, he explained to the adoring throng, "I'm not retiring. I am stopping
The Montel Williams Show, but I am not, in any way, shape or form, stopping anything else that I'm doing."
Williams' show has actually been one of the more dignified syndicated daytime talk shows, a step above
Jerry Springer and
Maury Povich, but not quite
The View or
Ellen DeGeneres. His style could be compared to Phil Donahue, especially in his desire to be a change agent. He really cared about the people who appeared on his program; it wasn't about being a ring leader to a freak show, as Jerry is, or confronting people with DNA tests like Maury does. Montel was not into that stuff.
Continue reading Montel Williams airs his last show today
Posted Apr 2nd 2008 11:23AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Law and Order, How I Met Your Mother, 30 Rock, TV Squad Lists, Reality-Free
New York, New York -- a place so big that had to name it twice. Isn't that what they say about the Big Apple? Recently, movie critic Leonard Maltin, host of the
ReelzChannel original series
Secret's Out named his picks for the
15 greatest New York scenes in movie history. That got me thinking about the television shows that are intimately tied to New York, series that are inextricably New York shows. Whether they are -- or were -- filmed in the city, here's 15 absolutely, positively New York TV shows (in the order in which they debuted!). You don't have to agree with me -- and I may have overlooked one or two (which I urge you to comment and let me know) -- but I have good reasons for every one of my choices!
Continue reading Fifteen great New York TV shows
Posted Feb 21st 2008 4:41PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, CSI, Cable/Satellite, Pickups and Renewals, 30 Rock, Awards, Weeds, Emmys
If you've watched
30 Rock this past season, you've seen how funny actress Edie Falco can be. As C.C. (Celeste Cunningham), she's been a hoot opposite Alec Baldwin. Well, Showtime noticed, and they announced today that the three-time Emmy-winner, best known as Carmela on
The Sopranos, will star in a new show for their network. She'll be playing a "strong-willed, iconoclastic New York City nurse juggling the frenzied grind of an urban hospital and an equally challenging personal life" is the 30-minute, single camera, dark comedy.
Continue reading Showtime pilot for Edie Falco
Posted Sep 13th 2007 2:02PM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Site Announcements
With all the
emotional goings on at TV Squad HQ, I got to thinking that we've gone way too long without putting names to faces. This doesn't just mean the writers -- I also mean you, the readers!
We'd like to get some idea of the interest level of a TV Squad meetup for fans of TV Squad. Want to meet a bunch of the TV Squad team? Meet with other readers and fans of your favorite shows? How about some chances to win some cool free TV stuff and see some of the latest gear? Well, we want to hear from you so we can start putting it together.
I've got a couple of polls after the jump. Please take the time to answer them and leave comments if you've got other ideas. We all think this would be a great idea and, if the first one is a success, we'll do another one in a different location!
UPDATE: We say San Diego because we'd do it during Comic-Con.Continue reading Would you attend a TV Squad meetup?
Posted Feb 26th 2007 10:05AM by Elizabeth Chan
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, NBC, Interviews, The Sopranos, The Black Donnellys
There are a lot of initial discrepancies about NBC's
The Black Donnellys from the moment you watch the show.
If you are a born and raised New Yorker, you might find it initially hard to relate to the creators insistence on piecing together different but real geographical areas and their claim that it's one fictional neighborhood, unlike other shows using a New York backdrop such as
The Sopranos,
Law and Order or even
Sex and the City. If you are Canadian, you might be even more confused by the creators choice of the title,
which until recently has been a famous historical reference to one of the most gruesome murders in Canadian history.
Bobby Moresco and Paul Haggis, the Oscar winning team behind
Crash and the creators of
The Black Donnellys implore you to throw pre-conceived notions out the window when you watch the premiere Monday night and want to remind us that although the show is heavily based on their personal experiences growing up in New York City's Hell Kitchen, the story and places are indeed fictional and should feel timeless.
Continue reading Who are The Black Donnellys?
Posted Dec 19th 2006 3:03PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Video
Taxi rides in New York City, can be extremely frustrating. You could be riding along quickly to your destination, then hit a pocket of traffic that has you stopped for what seems like an eternity. On top of that, your driver is probably more likely talking on his cell phone or just not interested in talking to you (especially if his English is sketchy). So, unless you have someone to make out with in the back seat with you, how do you pass the time?
Well, the New York Taxi & Limousine Commission has got a solution for you: TV! Like other cities have been doing, the TLC
will be rolling out new cabs that have touch-screens installed in the back. On the screens, passengers will be able to see weather and news reports, and help them look up restaurant reviews.
Continue reading New NYC cabs to have TV
Posted Nov 18th 2006 9:04PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Food/Home/DIY, FOX, Celebrities
Do you love fine dining but aren't satisfied unless your restaurant is owned and operated by a screaming, gesticulating British man? Well, you're in luck because Gordon Ramsay, he of FOX's hit reality program
Hell's Kitchen (which returns next year) has opened his first restaurant in the United States. The new restaurant, The London, is located in the NYC London Hotel. If you wish to eat there, you'll have to be patient, because it's booked for the next two months. Ramsay, who also owns nine other restaurants, says the New York City restaurant is his biggest one so far, and the most expensive. I'm guessing what sets this restaurant apart from others is that if you're not happy with your meal, Ramsay will personally come out and headbutt you in the face. Not that it matters, since I'm going to assume the menu is far more costly than anything I could ever afford. I guess I'll stick to staying home with a frozen pizza and not watching
Hell's Kitchen.
Posted Sep 21st 2006 11:26PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, ABC, OpEd
(S01E01) This, by far, is the most disappointing new show of the season.
And it pains me to say that, because I like J.J. Abrams and I like stories with lots of characters set in New York City, but this show starts with a concept that turns out to be pretty damn bogus to start with and then does nothing with it.
Here's what's wrong with it.
Continue reading Six Degrees: Pilot (series premiere)
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