It may soon be clear that I think "Smash" is one of the best shows in TV history. It has it all -- passion, pain, characters worth caring about, splendid visuals and great music. Here's the story I sent to papers:
By MIKE HUGHES
For NBC – often ignored, sometimes
mocked – this is new: Suddenly, it has our attention.
A lot of things have been passed off lately as TV "news magazines." They've told old crime stories or new celebrity stories; the "magazine" part is right, the "news" part is iffy.
That's why tonight's arrival of "Rock Center" -- 10 p.m. Mondays on NBC -- seems important. By all accounts, this will be an actual, serious news magazine.
I'll try to have a review of it afterward. For now, here's the story I sent to papers:
By MIKE HUGHES
So NBC has officially cancelled "The Playboy Club." This is good news (twice) and bad:
-- Good, because it was a bad show, monotonely dark in emotion and in visuals, with characters who were hard to be interested in.
-- Good, because NBC is replacing it with a serious news program. On Oct. 31 (oddly), it will start a magazine show anchored by Brian Williams -- a real, "60 Minutes" kind of show, not just a "Dateline" collection of true-crime tales.
For Whitney Cummings, this is the big week. Tonight, CBS "2 Broke Girls" (which she co-created and co-produces) debuts; on Thursday, "Whitney" (which she created and stars in) debuts. The former is terrific, the latter is above average. Here's the story I sent to papers:
By MIKE HUGHES
Every now and then, TV comedy needs a
fresh spark. Now it has Whitney Cummings – doubly.
A few years ago, with the Playboy empire in decline, no one would have expected this. Somehow, the creation of Hugh Hefner, 85, has made it back into the media spotlight.
"The Playboy Club" opens tonight on NBC, amid much buzz (good and bad) and wildly mixed reviews. Also, Playboy keeps showing up elsewhere. Here's the story I sent to papers:
By MIKE HUGHES
LOS ANGELES – Standing on the Playboy
Mansion grounds, John Salley seemed out of place.
Katie Couric's decision finally became official today: She'll start working immediately for ABC, which will syndicate her talk show in the fall of 2012. Along the way, key questions were answered:
1) Which network? NBC -- which is already comfortably No. 1 in news -- wasn't in the running. CNN was for a while, in a deal that would have Warner Brothers syndicate the show. Still, it was down mostly to CBS and ABC.
Some speculated that Couric had mixed feelings about CBS News and would be glad to jump. They may have been right.
I'm writing some quick stories at the Television Critics Association sessions and putting them here, after I send them to papers. The previous story -- see previouys blog -- had "The Real L Word" people talking about nudity in Sunday's show (Aug. 1); here's a newsy overview of NBC:
By the end of today's presentation for advertisers, Fox had filled the stage with a golden-robed choir and the cast of "Glee."
