The biggest benefit of the TCA press tour to people who cover this industry from a business perspective, rather than an artistic perspective, is the chance to be in the same room as the heads of the various networks who come here. There was so much grumbling about the fact that NBC canceled its executive session (using as an excuse the fact that the network’s merger with Comcast has yet to be officially approved and, thus, no one’s quite sure who’s going to be heading up what, even though the head of programming, at least, should be the same either way) because everybody likes asking NBC just why it’s gone so awry. And the questions in the executive sessions get markedly tougher, markedly more interesting, than they are in some of the show sessions. It’s easy to forget some of the time, but we’re all here because we really love this medium and we want it to GET BETTER. And part of that is holding executives’ feet to the fire to figure out what they’re thinking about assorted topics.

Thus, TV reporters tend to love candor. And the last two days of press ...

I don’t know if you’ve heard this, but NBC is in trouble. Nothing the network does seems to work, and the two shows it had that it could have conceivably called “hits,” The Biggest Loser and The Office, are both long in the tooth. And they were never top ten shows to begin with, outside of that one time The Office was after the Super Bowl. The network’s Thursday comedies gather lots of Internet buzz and critical praise, but that doesn’t mean much of anything when it comes to the Nielsens, leading to the network entering a period where it might have to cancel either Community or Parks And Recreation, arguably the two strongest comedies on television. And it’s not as though any of the other nights boast high critical support either. Outside of Chuck and Parenthood, is there another drama on the network that has attracted a high level of support? (You’d have to count Friday Night Lights as an NBC show, and it’s not, not really.)

And yet the rest of the NBC universe is humming along just fine. USA, Bravo, SyFy, and Oxygen have all identified their target audiences and ...

When you’ve got one of the biggest buzz hits on television, you can afford to do pretty much whatever the hell you want, and Fox finds itself in that enviable position now that it has Glee on its schedule. The network’s fall was so soft that two of its three new shows disappeared without a trace and the other, Raising Hope, lacks the strong ratings you’d expect for a show that just got a second season pickup. Its signature hit, American Idol, is entering a season where it’s betting almost entirely that its continued status as TV’s number one show relies on a complete and total retool of the show from the ground up (granted, one necessitated by the departure of Simon Cowell). And the network has shelled out millions upon millions of dollars for a pilot that sounds like nothing less than a high-concept reimagining of Land Of The Lost, minus the Sleestaks, plus the villain from Avatar.

And yet there’s Glee, one of the success stories of the fall, along with the continued growth of Modern Family. The series, which struggled a bit last year, has managed to grow from where it ...

ABC is a network in a very weird place. On the one hand, they have Dancing With The Stars, which was the number one show on television last fall, and Modern Family, which has Two And A Half Men in its sights on its way toward becoming the number one comedy on television. On the other hand, they have a whole batch of shows, from Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives to Detroit 1-8-7 and No Ordinary Family, that are either old and only getting older or quite clearly placeholders until the network can think of something better to toss on the air. This leads to the weird schizophrenia of the fact that the network announced it had picked up six series for another season yesterday, including Modern Family, Cougar Town, The Middle, Castle, Grey’s Anatomy, and Private Practice, but it still hasn’t picked up what remains one of its signature hits, no matter how old, in Desperate Housewives.

Also unstated is the fact that the network’s fortunes rise and fall based on whether Dancing With The Stars is on the air or not (though the move of Wipeout from summer to air before Grey’s Anatomy ...

For people who write about TV professionally, the TCA press tour is a real boon. While, to a degree, it’s about sessions where the news could be handed out more efficiently via press release, it’s also about seeing how casts and creative teams interact with each other or about tracking down showrunners in moments when they might be more candid than usual and offer up hints on how they’re going to right past wrongs on their series or push forward through a troublesome storyline. (In particular, the interview Alan Sepinwall and a handful of other critics did with the producers of How I Met Your Mother at last summer’s press tour is a great case in point of good TV journalism arising from this event.) And for those who cover the business side of the medium more than the artistic side, the sessions with the network executives are invaluable, providing the best chance to ask just why, say, network television is so crappy right now.

But don’t get me wrong. This event is also about the networks seeing if they can buy us. Getting all of us together in a room with them is supposed ...

The number of cable networks programming original, scripted programming has exploded in the last five years. (Yesterday, BET told us all about how it was finally launching a scripted bloc, which debuts on Tuesday.) But for the most part, those networks are chasing niches that the main broadcast networks are already chasing or niches that the major networks have abandoned. Think of how USA programs mostly light action dramas, or how Disney and Nickelodeon have picked up the torch ABC’s TGIF lineup dropped. The general idea most TV critics and fans have is that cable is the place for quality TV, but cable’s no better than broadcast, really. It’s just that the economic realities of the industry have created a few places where it’s financially advantageous to put on a low-rated but critically acclaimed series that will act as a loss-leader for everything else on the network. AMC almost certainly loses a lot of money putting Breaking Bad on the air, but the show’s critical cachet is attractive to advertisers, and that makes it easy for AMC to sell ad bundles. Buy a few ads on Breaking Bad, then buy a few more in the ...

The semi-annual Television Critics Association press tour has always carried a whiff of mystery and allure for me. Years and years ago, when I had a blog and little to no clue how to move beyond that, I would read reports from the event, even for shows I wasn’t terribly interested in, and be bitterly envious of all of the people sitting in that room, watching upcoming shows, talking about those shows with their creative personnel, and getting to talk shop with fellow TV critics.

But, OK, now, I’ve been here for a day, and I know that what the press tour is really about is trying to maintain your sanity when Oprah Winfrey simply will not. Shut. Up. Also, it’s about listening to Mike Tyson go on a lengthy series of monologues about how he loves pigeons.

The entirety of the second day of press tour (I skipped the first day for a variety of reasons, and if you’re upset you didn’t get to read my take on what the Weather Channel is bringing us in the new year, well, I’m sorry) was building to the moment when Winfrey deigned to grace us ...

Tim Heidecker of Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! tweeted some tweets (@timheidecker) earlier today taking issue with our best-TV-of-the-year lists--specifically the fact that neither Awesome Show or Check It Out With Dr. Steve Brule were honored. I know, your first instinct is probably either "He's totally right!" or "Sour grapes, pal."

I was actually sort of touched that Heidecker--who I think is one of the two funniest guys on TV, along with Eric Wareheim--cared enough about our opinion that he cared to tweet. (And follow it up with an e-mail saying, "Hey, I shit-talked you a little bit on Twitter, nothing personal.") He's told us in the past that he's a big fan of the site, and he even stopped by to help us test out a fake alien vagina this year. If I had voted this year, or if freelancer David Wolinsky had, I imagine one or both of those series would have gotten some love. It just goes to show you that the articles at The A.V. Club--especially best-of lists, which we rarely do--are conversation starters more than they are in any way definitive. That's why we've got comments ...

Comedy has gotten much more democratic over the years: It’s no longer limited to guys in clubs or major-network TV shows. With a bit of free time and minimal iMovie know-how, everyone from budding young comics to name-brand stars can carve out some Internet space for their sense of humor. At the same time, traditional outlets like comedy CDs and DVDs are growing in breadth with the art form itself. It’s a great time to be a comedy fan, and Laugh Track, The A.V. Club’s weekly comedy blog, will round it all up—new and noteworthy stand-up, sketch, and online video, much of it courtesy of under-the-radar comedians with a little too much time on their hands.

Internet: Chris Gethard’s cross-country show

Chris Gethard, a comedian and star of the now-shuttered Big Lake, hosts a monthly show at UCB New York where anything can happen. He once took the entire audience on a bus trip to New Jersey to show them the basement where he lost his virginity; another time he flew a kid from Ohio out to the show during which he and his co-hosts spent the show cheering him up. He also engages ...

Comedy has gotten much more democratic over the years: It’s no longer limited to guys in clubs or major-network TV shows. With a bit of free time and minimal iMovie know-how, everyone from budding young comics to name-brand stars can carve out some Internet space for their sense of humor. At the same time, traditional outlets like comedy CDs and DVDs are growing in breadth with the art form itself. It’s a great time to be a comedy fan, and Laugh Track, The A.V. Club’s weekly comedy blog, will round it all up—new and noteworthy stand-up, sketch, and online video, much of it courtesy of under-the-radar comedians with a little too much time on their hands.

CD: Comedy Death Ray, Xmas CD 2010
Given A Night Of 140 Tweets and the prolificacy of comedy podcasts, this was the year comedians made no secret of all being friends with each other. Comedy Death Ray capped that sentiment off nicely with an awesome, overloaded tribute to “We Are The World,” paired with a Christmas album that shows off surprising non-comedy talents. Jimmy Pardo channels Dean Martin and William Shatner on a cover of “Here Comes Santa Claus ...

Comedy has gotten much more democratic over the years: It’s no longer limited to guys in clubs or major-network TV shows. With a bit of free time and minimal iMovie know-how, everyone from budding young comics to name-brand stars can carve out some Internet space for their sense of humor. At the same time, traditional outlets like comedy CDs and DVDs are growing in breadth with the art form itself. It’s a great time to be a comedy fan, and Laugh Track, The A.V. Club’s weekly comedy blog, will round it all up—new and noteworthy stand-up, sketch, and online video, much of it courtesy of under-the-radar comedians with a little too much time on their hands.

Internet: Vag Magazine
The mark of bad social commentary is when the comic feels the need for a figurative wink (or in the case of hilarious stand-up comedian Sarah Palin, a literal wink) to the camera. But there’s no desperation or “See what I did there?” in Vag Magazine, a six-part series that details the launch of an exaggeratedly feminist rag. The women on the editorial staff fight about what makes for a compelling Vag story, while demonstrating ...

Comedy has gotten much more democratic over the years: It’s no longer limited to guys in clubs or major-network TV shows. With a bit of free time and minimal iMovie know-how, everyone from budding young comics to name-brand stars can carve out some Internet space for their sense of humor. At the same time, traditional outlets like comedy CDs and DVDs are growing in breadth with the art form itself. It’s a great time to be a comedy fan, and Laugh Track, The A.V. Club’s weekly comedy blog, will round it all up—new and noteworthy stand-up, sketch, and online video, much of it courtesy of under-the-radar comedians with a little too much time on their hands.

CD: James Fritz, Deflated
Last summer, I spoke to Kyle Kinane for a Variety article and wound up talking for a while about his strange experiences in show business, most of which didn’t make it into the final piece. It was strange to him how quick people are to define his “style” in an attempt to understand the deeper motivations behind his comedy—as if his persona were somehow an act he was cultivating. That simply isn’t ...

Wednesday afternoon, as many Americans grappled with what the election results meant for our lives and the future, the inimitable Ghostface Killah decided it was high time to talk about your steez. Via nearly 20 rapidly posted tweets, he addressed everything from shoes to jeans to hair and your general attitude. How's your haircut game?

A lot of niggas don't know how to get busy.
1:27 PM Nov 3rd via web

A lot of y'all muthafuckas just throw on whatever whatever whatever and just think thats whats poppin and it's not poppin man.
1:28 PM Nov 3rd via web

Yo when you step out the crib, just make sure you match. Don't be coming outside on some like you Rainbow man or something like that G.
1:29 PM Nov 3rd via web

With mad different colors and shit and your gear ain't proper. You know what I mean? Make sure your swagger is up to par nahmean. You decent
1:30 PM Nov 3rd via web

You ain't gotta come out looking all Super Fly and dapper and all that shit but just make sure that your gear you know ...

As of this week, Laugh Track will have a weekly home on The A.V. Club’s blog. With so much happening in the world of comedy, and at such a quick pace, it made more sense to cover the videos, stand-up comedy, sketches, and other projects as they arrive. The sorts of topics Laugh Track includes will not change; only the frequency. To reiterate something from the original Laugh Track introduction, it’s a great time to be a comedy fan.

Internet: Full Benefits, Very Mary-Kate, and Hello My Name Is
Although CollegeHumor is best known for its epic prank wars and timely parodies, last month it began an experiment with three series divided into “seasons,” somewhat mimicking a traditional TV schedule. The site already had a few longer video series, but this was the chance to launch three at once, all with an eye toward serialized comedy.

The first was Full Benefits, about two CollegeHumor employees, Sarah Schneider and David Young, who hook up, then struggle to determine the status of their relationship and hide it from their judgmental co-workers. Very Mary-Kate, a series created by Elaine Carroll about the outrageous world of Mary-Kate Olsen, was given a ...

In 1987, the 20th anniversary of “The Summer Of Love” touched off a series of reflective broadcast news stories and magazine articles, along with list after list of the best music, movies and ideas that had survived the ensuing decades. I was 16 at the time, about to turn 17, and was already starting to lose my reverence for the rock icons of the late ‘60s. But I was still inclined to devour any piece of pop culture history I came across, so I pored over all those lists, and watched all those special reports. I especially remember a multi-part “history of rock” documentary miniseries, which hit all the Rolling Stone-approved highlights, complete with interviews with the artists who played at Monterey, Woodstock, Altamont and the like. During each of these segments, invariably, Jerry Garcia would turn up and offer his recollections of these generation-defining events. His main memory? How badly The Grateful Dead played and sounded.

As someone who’d been taught by radio DJs, rock magazines and various musical mentors to treat the output of the major ‘60s bands as inerrant, it was something of a revelation to hear Garcia talk about his music as though he ...