Tuned In, TV Blog, Television Reviews, James Poniewozik, TIME

May 8, 2008 2:36

Coming Attraction: Swingtown

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"Swing" don't mean dancing! / Cliff Lipson/CBS

Yesterday I posted about having finally gotten a screener of CBS's summer drama Swingtown, which I'd been anticipating since CBS screened a trailer a year ago at upfronts. I've watched it, and I have to report that I'm disappointed.

Disappointed because it's good. Very good. Which means that I have to prepare to be depressed that CBS apparently lost confidence in the show almost as soon as it signed it up (like Viva Laughlin, except that show deserved the no-confidence vote) and consigned it to the traditional kill-off space of the summer schedule. (One hopeful factor: the paucity of new shows after the writers' strike means it's possible that a scripted summer show should actually get renewed. Just possible.)

I'll give the show more of a review-review when it comes out, but here are a few impressions:

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May 8, 2008 12:16

John McCain, Maoist

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Daily Show regular John McCain returned to TDS last night, this time as presumptive Republican nominee, and cited the inspirational words of Chairman Mao:

I somehow get the feeling that people would be making a bigger deal of it had Barack Obama dipped into the little red book. In the second half of the interview, Stewart "enters the octagon" with McCain and asks him about his association with a certain leading American religious figure:

All in all, not as contentious as some recent McCain sit-downs in which Stewart pressed him hard on the issue of Iraq. I can let that pass, though. I'm more surprised that Stewart did not ask the obvious follow-up on McCain's vice-presidential joke: Sir, have you ever actually watched The Office? Give me two names of members of the Dunder-Mifflin Scranton branch accounting department! And if I may follow-up: Team Pam or Team Karen, and why? No waffling!

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May 8, 2008 11:23

TV Poll: What's Your TV Guide?

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In the New York Times, the new editors of TV Guide—which looks like it will be up for sale again already—explain why they believe the magazine still matters. It may, but the magazine itself recognized some time ago that if TV Guide matters, it's not as a guide to TV, as least not as far as the listings are concerned. Probably smartly, the magazine has been de-emphasizing its TV listings for some time, more recently adopting a bigger magazine format and a greater emphasis on features. (The brand has also diversified with, among other things, a TV channel, a nod to the alternative technologies that are supplanting the mag's original function.)

All well and good. But people do still need to find out what's on TV. Anecdotally, I know that TV listings have been cut back in local newspapers, but what with the number of channels and the scheduling shell games, listings are theoretically more useful than ever. To me, TV Guide Channel or similar scrolling cable-listings channels are useless—I don't want to sit around and feel myself grow old waiting for channel 145 to roll around again. I haven't looked at a print listing in ages, but then I have TiVo, and also, I'm kinda paid to follow TV for a living.

What about you Tuned Inlanders? Do any of you still use an old fashioned print guide? Is your cable box's listings interface good enough? Do you have a favorite online source? Or do you just go wherever the remote takes you?

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May 8, 2008 10:45

Coming Soon in the 2008-09 TV Season: The 2007-08 TV Season

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USA Today runs a walkup to next week's broadcast network upfront, where the big trend in new TV will be: less new TV. The upfronts are usually an intense preview of the coming fall season, with the networks screening trailers of pilots that they mail out to advertisers and critics soon afterward. This year, there'll be fewer clips, because fewer pilots have been shot. The bad news: though I'll still be going to most of the upfronts next week, I may have bupkes to report to you. The good news: the sessions will be much shorter than usual.

Among the handful of new shows that are expected or are already announced, USAT spots one trend: "Dramas that blend weekly procedural cases with expansive character development." Intrepid readers may recognize that as the big TV trend of last fall (Life, Journeyman, Pushing Daisies, Moonlight...), one that didn't pan out so well ratings-wise for the nets even before the strike.

But given the hurry-up mode TV development is in, the networks are lucky to have any new stuff on the air come fall. Isn't originality too much to expect on top of that? It usually is.

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May 8, 2008 9:11

The Morning After: Idolimination

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SPOILER ALERT: A few thoughts on list night's American Idol elimination coming up—after the break!

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About Tuned In

James Poniewozik writes TIME magazine's Tuned In column, about pop culture and society. Tuned In, the blog version, is about the stuff we used to call "TV," whether it's in your living room, on your computer or--once the networks figure out the technology and line up the advertisers--in your dreams themselves.