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Caryn James

TV Tonight: Amy Poehler's "Parks and Rec" and Other Smart Sitcoms

  • By Caryn James
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  • January 20, 2011 6:24 AM
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  • 0 Comments
There are so few really smart network sitcoms -- I'd count four, including ABC's Modern Family -- it's hard to say whether it's good or bad that three of them are back-to-back on NBC on Thursday. The network has been floundering for years, but it has also been steadily redefining its comedy with series like The Office and the brilliant 30 Rock that rely on droll wit rather than punchlines.
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TV Review, Onion News on IFC

  • By Caryn James
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  • January 20, 2011 4:23 AM
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  • 0 Comments
The Onion’s website promotes its new mock-news show, Onion News Network, with a pitch-perfect skewering of cable blowhards and anchors: the fake network’s stereotypical blonde anchor, Brooke Alvarez, is “Smugger than Keith Olbermann. Louder than Sean Hannity. Prettier than Anderson Cooper.” That ad is also funnier than most of what you’ll find on the half-hour show. (It starts Friday on IFC, 10 ET.)
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How to Watch Sundance at Home

  • By Caryn James
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  • January 19, 2011 5:45 AM
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  • 1 Comment
As you read about the festival, with its crowds and frigid weather, you can console yourself by thinking that you're snug and (relatively) warm at home. But inevitably a little Sundance-envy creeps in. Luckily, you can have best of both because there are more ways than ever to experience the festival and even some of this year's films at home.
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More: TV Previews

Watch Daniel Radcliffe Behind the Scenes on Broadway

  • By Caryn James
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  • January 18, 2011 9:31 AM
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  • 1 Comment
Why did Danel Radcliffe choose the musical revival How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying as his next Broadway show? Equus was a creaky revival too, but that choice was obvious: he got to be extremely dramatic (not to mention famously naked). Maybe he just wants to sing and dance.
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TV Review, "Piers Morgan Tonight"

  • By Caryn James
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  • January 18, 2011 5:19 AM
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  • 1 Comment
After rivers of annoying self-promotion, Piers Morgan Tonight finally arrived on CNN to replace Larry King, and while there’s not a lot you can learn from one episode – especially when the guest is the thoroughly atypical Oprah Winfrey -- here’s what I do know. Piers was much less smarmy than his endless braggadocio had led me to expect.
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TV Review: Ricky Gervais' Golden Globes Implosion

  • By Caryn James
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  • January 17, 2011 6:58 AM
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  • 37 Comments
If you were watching Ricky Gervais host the Golden Globes on Sunday, for the first hour you could tell you were watching a go-for-broke performance that would become -- and I‘m not exaggerating – legendary, a benchmark by which other flameout hosting gigs are measured. In his opening monologue Gervais took on Scientologists and accusations of bribery in the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the group that hands out the Globes.
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More: TV Reviews

Well-Matched, Well-Played, Robert Downey: Watch Him at the Globes

  • By Caryn James
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  • January 17, 2011 6:10 AM
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  • 1 Comment
Ricky Gervais' monologue and Robert Downey Jr.'s comeback were the most talked-about moments at last night's Golden Globes, for good reason. While most of the audience seemed so flummoxed by Gervais' often brilliant skewering that they couldn't decide whether to laugh, Downey volleyed back with the same kind of mockery, sending up one of Hollywood's biggest cliches, sleeping with your co-stars.
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More: TV Reviews

TV Review: MTV's "Skins" Takes on "Gossip Girl"

  • By Caryn James
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  • January 17, 2011 3:00 AM
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  • 1 Comment
MTV may have missed a marketing opportunity for its brash, engrossing American remake (yet another one!) of Skins, the hit British series about a group of teenaged friends who have sex, do drugs, drink and ... well, that’s pretty much what they do. The MTV slogan could have been: Come for the social anthropology, stay for the characters.
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Golden Globes Preview: What To Look For (I Mean Laugh At) On TV

  • By Caryn James
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  • January 16, 2011 5:54 AM
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  • 12 Comments
I stand by my idea that the show's the thing, so here are a few moments I hope will be eye-opening as we watch the awards tonight (NBC at 8 ET):
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TV This Weekend: Golden Globes and More

  • By Caryn James
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  • January 14, 2011 7:30 AM
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  • 0 Comments
Predict the Golden Globe winners? I’d never try to fathom those unfathomable Globes voters. Besides, while I may cheer on some favorites in film and TV (Black Swan, Boardwalk Empire) I don’t own stock in the production companies; their wins won't change my life. For me it’s all about the show, and whether the star-gazing and comedy will be entertaining enough to be worth my time. I’m optimistic about host Ricky Gervais, who has promised to be even less reverent than last year. I’ll have a full review when the show is over, and highlight clips on Monday. For instant reaction while it's happening, please follow me on Twitter: @carynjames
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