TV REVIEWS: THE GOLDEN GLOBES

In the end, the TV critics concluded, Sunday night’s Golden Globes telecast amounted to yet another letdown, not so much because of the choice of winners — best drama: The Descendants; best comedy or musical: The Artist — but because of the commonplace performance of host Ricky Gervais. All of the critics had sharpened their [...]

AL-JAZEERA ENGLISH HONORED BY ONLINE JOURNALISM AWARDS

It may still be struggling to find outlets on most cable systems, but al-Jazeera English has been attracting viewers, critical respect, and numerous awards, especially for its coverage of the recent Middle East unrest. Its latest honor comes from the Online Journalism Awards, which gave it its top award for al-Jazeera’s coverage of the uprising [...]

CRITICS IN LOCK STEP WITH EMMY VOTERS

It was like the Emmys all over again as Mad Men won the best drama award and Modern Family the best comedy award at the Critics’ Choice Television Awards in Beverly Hills on Monday. The two shows took top Emmy honors last September and are expected to dominate the field when this year’s Emmy nominees [...]

EULOGIES FOR DYING SOAPS AT DAYTIME EMMYS

Sunday night’s presentation of the Daytime Emmy awards was more like a funeral for soap operas than a celebration of top talent. The ABC soaps All My Children and One Life to Live were up for awards for the last time. At one point, Debbi Morgan of All My Children remarked as she presented an [...]

RATINGS DROP FOR TONYS

As usual, Broadway’s Tony Awards was not a ratings winner Sunday night. The awards ceremony, usually the lowest rated of all the show-biz trophy presentations, drew an estimated 6.9 million viewers, according to overnight Nielsens, down slightly from last year’s 7 million viewers and 2009′s 7.4 million. (It was a triumphant night for The Book [...]

DOUBLE DOSE OF EMMYS ON WEST COAST SAVES THE DAY

The decision by NBC and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences to air this year’s Emmy awards show live coast-to-coast not only didn’t hurt the telecast’s ratings, but it apparently improved them. Daily Variety reported today (Tuesday) that Nielsen combined the “unduplicated viewership” of the live West Coast telecast with the taped repeat that [...]

NEW SHOWS SHINE AT EMMYS

Demonstrating that the broadcast networks can still compete with cable in the quality department — and attract impressive audiences in the process — such critical and ratings hits as Glee, Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory, and The Good Wife were honored with Emmy awards Sunday night. Modern Family, which debuted last season on ABC, [...]