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GUEST BLOG #75: Diane Holloway Looks Forward to the Oscars... But Why?

[The Oscars are a month away and counting... and contributing critic Diane Holloway is counting. In her latest column, she tries to explain why...] (more)

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Bianculli's Best BetsMonday, Feb. 8, 2010

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER

CBS, 8 p.m. ET

Super Bowl viewers yesterday saw ads featuring Neil Patrick Harris, as Barney, appearing to be in the stadium audience, sporting a CBS sign that actually pimped his own phone number. Tonight, the results of that cross-promotional ploy.

HOUSE

Fox, 8 p.m. ET

Lisa Edelstein gets a Cuddy-centric episode tonight, which sounds like a very clever way to reimagine the strange daily routines at the hospital: through Cuddy’s eyes. In this version, it’s House (Hugh Laurie) who pops in for only one or two scenes, and Cuddy whose problems and solutions carry the day, and the show.

CHUCK

NBC, 8 p.m. ET

Rival spies are watching Chuck from afar, and, with both his spy skills and his way with women, giving him credit for a lot more than he deserves.

HEROES

NBC, 9 p.m. ET

SEASON FINALE: Why is this series vanishing before the Olympics, and not scheduled to return until and unless NBC renews it for next season? Because this series has slipped so much, creatively and in the ratings, that it’s no longer a high priority for NBC. Though, as the Central Park cello concert threatens disaster in this season finale, our heroes may be saved by NBC’s current prime-time debacle. Right now, the network NEEDS shows. Lots of them.

24

Fox, 9 p.m. ET

Interesting: the redemption of Renee, or the lack of it, is turning out to be the most interesting story line on this show in years. I hereby put forth a suggestion that sounds like heresy, and never will happen: Kill Jack near the end of this season, totally unexpectedly, and let Renee carry the story line and, from that point on, the show.

DAMAGES

FX, 10 p.m. ET

For a law series, this FX program has a shockingly high body count – and that count is upped by one or two cadavers tonight, as several camps mobilize to try and locate a key, missing witness.

For Better or Werts ImageFOR BETTER OR WERTS

by Diane Werts


THE RATINGS: Super Bowl tops all-time viewership

Wow. Seems that Who-Dat/resurrection-of-New Orleans storyline attracted the masses. And having Peyton Manning in the mix didn't hurt. Sunday night's Super Bowl XLIV (that's 44 in non-pretentious language) scored more than 106 million viewers, Nielsen says, nudging out the 1983 finale of M*A*S*H as American TV's most-watched show ever. CBS was crowing these details the day after . . . (more)

DVD THIS WEEK: Live TV dramas still unmatched, 50 years later

dvd studio one anthology.jpgLive TV creates its own unique brand of electricity. We watch Saturday Night Live and American Idol as they happen -- and we see whatever happens. There's no second take, no safety net. We're sharing the same time and (virtual) space as the people staging the show. And that's a direct connection that taped/filmed shows simply can't match. This urgency once filled TV's comedies and dramas, too, in the medium's early years of the 1940s and 1950s, before videotape was perfected. That's why I love watching old before-my-time shows, even in the poor quality afforded by filmed-off-a-TV-monitor kinescopes. The programs still sizzle with the adrenaline of a cast and crew who had one shot to get it right. Some of the programs they got especially right are still legendary. And now the Emmy-staging TV academy's Archive of American Television is making sure we understand why. In tandem with DVD distributor E1, they're releasing live TV originals like Twelve Angry Men, which hits stores Tuesday . . . (more)

WOW!: Discovery's 'Life' press kit includes its own TV

life video screen.jpgTV critics learn pretty quickly how to judge the importance of a show to its network. Sometimes publicists mail us a plain brown envelope with a screener disc in it. Sometimes they send out a swank press kit with info printed on custom show letterhead, in specially designed boxes, maybe with a promotional goodie like a T-shirt. And then there's the press kit for Discovery's upcoming Life nature miniseries, which essentially unreels on its own little enclosed TV set. Whoa . . . (more)

NEW and RECOMMENDED

 

 

As if you couldn't get lost enough in Lost, here comes Lost University. It's an interactive BD Live Blu-ray bonus feature that makes you a student of the show, complete with classes detailing the plot's ins-and-outs, homework to back it up, and exams to test exactly how much you've absorbed. Get your student ID, and get going . . .

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CLASSICS TO CONSIDER

Unauthorized TV DVD releases are a bad thing. They're often low quality. The sellers can be dodgy. They violate the legal rights of those who own the show. And they discourage official releases by diverting revenue into the hands of pirates.

Now here's why I'm making an exception for The Nostalgia Merchant's two-set release of Amos 'n' Andy.

The transfers from the sitcom's vintage film prints aren't bad. This particular video distributor has a 30-year track record. And it's that rare case where the show's ownership simply can't release an authorized version.

There's just too much lingering controversy over this 1950s hit -- TV's first major network series with a black cast -- for rights-owning corporation CBS to go there . . .
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