Commentary Archives - Page 5 of 6

U.S. vs. British TV: Jason Isaacs and Joanne Froggatt discuss

February 24, 2012 StayTuned Staff

It’s a common discussion in my world. People get started discussing the quality of British television based on what they see on PBS, and pretty soon comparisons are being bandied about between Keeping Up With the Kardashians and Downton Abbey, trying to make the case for one being better than the other. (I’ll leave it up to you to determine which.) It’s true that PBS imports a lot of good stuff for us over here, and that by now most avid television viewers have at least some idea that quite a few of the more innovative shows we’ve enjoyed here […]

“Red State” leads Movieguide’s list of Most “Unbearable” Movies of 2011

February 24, 2012 Jeff Pfeiffer

Those radical Hollywood elites were at it again in full force in 2011! At least, that’s the takeaway I got from an email I received yesterday on behalf of Movieguide®, a publication of Good News Communications, Inc. and the Christian Film & Television Commission ministry. In the email, the publication announced its picks for the worst movies of 2011, including a list of the 20 Most Unbearable Movies of 2011, also known as the Rotten Banana Awards. What set this list apart to me was the interesting — and, in some cases, very detailed — names of the Rotten Banana […]

ESPN makes right call in benching Ron Jaworski on “Monday Night Football”

February 16, 2012 Tom Comi

Click here to get a FREE printable 2012 NFL TV Schedule! I really enjoyed watching Ron Jaworski when he played quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles. I have always appreciated his in-depth film breakdown and expert commentary on various ESPN studio shows. But I couldn’t stand him on Monday Night Football, and I couldn’t be happier that he has been removed from the broadcast. There’s no analyst in the industry who can break down film like “Jaws.” He has this rare ability to address the football expert and novice simultaneously without speaking up to one or talking down to the other. […]

As Barbara Walters names her 10 most fascinating people, we name some of our least

December 14, 2011 Tom Comi

By Tom Comi Follow @ChannelGuide While I am looking forward to tonight’s ABC special Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of the Year (9:30pm ET), it dawned on me that nobody ever puts out a list of the least fascinating personalities or characters on TV. Sure, Walters always includes some controversial folks on her annual list, which this year includes the Kardashian family, Donald Trump, Simon Cowell, Modern Family stars Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet, baseball star Derek Jeter, singer Katy Perry and Pippa Middleton (Britain’s most famous bachelorette). It’s a nice list, but it’s a little […]

Twitter-feed ghosts of TV series past

October 10, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer

By Jeff Pfeiffer Follow @ChannelGuideJP This morning, while perusing my Twitter feed, I happened to glance over at the “Who to Follow” suggestions off to the side and noticed that the Twitter feed for NBC’s Free Agents was among the recommendations. I found this odd, since the show had been canceled last week. Why would I want to follow a feed that likely will not be updated, and which probably should be deleted at this point? I remembered a similar experience I had in seeing that the Twitter feed for FOX’s Lone Star — a show we really liked last […]

Washington vs. New York: More than a football game

September 9, 2011 Tom Comi

Far too often sports fans over-emphasize the meaning of a football game, but Sunday’s featured game on FOX (4:15pm ET) between the Washington Redskins and the New York Giants has much greater significance than just another contest between two heated division rivals. Sunday will mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, and no two areas felt more connected that fateful day than New York City and our nation’s capital. It’s no coincidence the NFL scheduled this game on this date, and its symbolism is not lost on residents of either region. I live in […]

Reality shows need better screening processes

September 2, 2011 Tom Comi

By Tom Comi Follow @ChannelGuide Nobody will ever know if Russell Armstrong would have committed suicide had he not appeared on Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. But there should be a growing concern that the people appearing on such reality shows lack the stability to endure the spotlight they so desperately crave. We won’t manufacture a cause-and-effect relationship between what happens off-air and on-air with these programs; however, something good needs to come out of Armstrong’s suicide, and I’m hoping that involves better screening and more counseling by the producers of these shows.

TV newscasts offer some relief after earthquake

August 24, 2011 Tom Comi

By Tom Comi Follow @ChannelGuide East Coast people are as accustomed to earthquakes as Kim Kardashian is to modesty, so the rest of the country is going to have to cut us a little slack if you think we overreacted a tad yesterday. The ground hasn’t shaken this much in the nation’s capital since New Jersey Governor Chris Christie tried to run the Marine Corps Marathon a few years ago. Yesterday seemed like any typical Tuesday afternoon as I was working from my home office in Northern Virginia. That was until 1:51pm ET when I literally felt the earth shake […]

When does a niche network give up its niche?

June 10, 2011 StayTuned Staff

It’s hard to overestimate the influence that niche networks have had on us in recent decades. Thinking back to when cable TV was in its infancy and the concept was still pretty new, one might recall thinking, “How could you fill x number of hours of programming a day with _________?” (Remember — not all networks were 24 hours a day back then. That’s right, kids — television used to sign off at night!) But somewhere out there, someone had the idea to take a boatload of existing programming content, run it on the air and see what sort of […]

The 100 Greatest TV Quotes & Catchphrases

February 26, 2007 Channel Guide Contributor

In December, we told you about TV Land’s five-night countdown The 100 Greatest TV Quotes & Catchphrases. Well, now that we’ve seen the results, we thought we’d share them with you: #100 — “Nip it!” (Barney Fife, “The Andy Griffith Show”) #99 — “Yeah, that’s the ticket” (Jon Lovitz as the pathological liar, “Saturday Night Live”) #98 — “I’m Larry, this is my brother Darryl …” (Larry, “Newhart”) #97 — “God’ll get you for that” (Maude, “Maude”) #96 — “I love it when a plan comes together” (Hannibal, “The A-Team”) #95 — “This is the city …” (Sgt. Joe Friday, […]