Browse Stories

Going down: Eddie Griffin's broke, Conan isn’t and Sarah Palin's fool status

By Jim McFarlin

Published: 1/27/2010

Types: Screens, Television

Think being the centerpiece of a TV reality series sounds like a ton of fun? Having a gaggle of cameras recording your every move as if you were some kind of Kardashian appeal to your fantasies of fame? Consider the other side of the picture, as presented by vinegar-tongued comedian Eddie Griffin. ...[MORE]

In the midnight hour: Will America ever let Jack Bauer retire? Plus, a Jackie Earle Haley sighting!

By Jim McFarlin

Published: 1/13/2010

Types: Screens, Television

Every time television's favorite action figure appears ready to get out of CTU and its dizzying world of espionage, betrayal, torture and murder in the name of patriotism and blowing up big-ass stuff, they pull him back in. As the eighth season of Bauer's Hours, 24, dawns with a four-hour, two-night...[MORE]

Idols, survivors & Bauer: My so-called reality TV decade

By Jim McFarlin

Published: 12/30/2009

Types: Screens, Television

Hundreds of years hence, media historians seeking to learn about American society in the early 21st century will stumble across evidence of our TV viewing habits — maybe from the remnants of a cable listings schedule, or the flickering images of an antiquated 60-inch flat screen — and wo...[MORE]

TV Motown: A local pawn shop could be America's newest reality star; the Jackson 5 become a blubbering girl group; and more

By Jim McFarlin

Published: 12/16/2009

Types: Screens, Television

The massive American Jewelry and Loan on Greenfield, whose 50,000 square feet of everything from watches and rings to cars, boats and things make it one of the largest pawnbrokers in the nation, is accustomed to accepting virtually anything of value. How much value they'll receive from being America...[MORE]

Boob tube androgen: TNTs new boomer-dude fest disarms but Jesse Ventura appalls

By Jim McFarlin

Published: 12/2/2009

Types: Screens, Television

I cannot tell you the last time I was more geeked to preview a new television series than Men of a Certain Age, TNT's latest original effort premiering at 10 p.m. Monday. This heavily hyped hour unites three of the more sublime performers from our TV happy days: Ray Romano, who's spent most of his f...[MORE]

Muchas gracias!: Let us thank, from the glorious TV altar, Hoarders, Southland, old Matt Millen and any Dick Wolf production

By Jim McFarlin

Published: 11/25/2009

Types: Screens, Television

With two turkeys dominating our thoughts tomorrow — the one on our dinner table and the other playing the Packers at Ford Field — it's time for your idiot box watcher to perform his annual holiday rite of celebrating those things for which he is truly thankful.  I give thanks for: &bul...[MORE]

Night moves: George Lopez makes his bid for late-night talk supremacy

By Jim McFarlin

Published: 11/11/2009

Types: Screens, Television

I count myself extremely fortunate to have been writing about television, and working in Los Angeles for long stretches, during the late '80s. I got wind that comedian Arsenio Hall was grooming his own syndicated late-night series, and since no other folks of color were hosting anything close to tha...[MORE]

In the Midnight Hour: A real Detroit horror anthology with a Rod Serling doppelgänger! Plus, some recommended frights in the night

By Jim McFarlin

Published: 10/28/2009

Types: Screens, Television

It's frightening the lengths to which some people will go to realize their dream. Lee Martin, the creator-producer-director-writer-host and namesake of Lee Martin's Midnight Hour, the made-in-Detroit horror anthology series that celebrates Halloween with a two-hour marathon of episodes from 9 to 11 ...[MORE]

It's Miller time!: Classic Detroit TV show is back, mustache intact; plus, horror in the midnight hour wants you!

By Jim McFarlin

Published: 10/14/2009

Types: Screens, Television

You may remember the mustache. TV talk hosts rarely sport fuzzy lips (potentially distracting to viewers, consultants tell 'em), but Jeffrey Miller's whiskers were tight, dashing and distinctive — just like the newsmaker interviews he conducted for a dozen years on the locally produced series ...[MORE]

Fall TV, come on: Leno proves ratings rule and a jaundiced glimpse at television's new season

By Jim McFarlin

Published: 9/23/2009

Types: Screens, Television

Well, what did we expect The Jay Leno Show was going to look like? Despite NBC's monumental hype and the months-long buzz suggesting fresh and different prime-time entertainment, last week's debut of Leno at Ten-o was startlingly identical to The Tonight Show from which he was unseated so the netwo...[MORE]

Lauching Leno: Idiot Boxing: Will prime-time NBC kill Jay?

By Jim McFarlin

Published: 9/9/2009

Types: Screens, Television

When Jay Leno played the Palace last April, his stated purpose was to provide a "comedy stimulus plan" for unemployed Detroiters by appearing in concert for free, and no doubt his motives were sincere. But he was also here to rehearse for next week. The Hardest Working Man in Show Busines...[MORE]

Mad Menning: Gosh! How dare our TV critic diss Mad Men!

By Jim McFarlin

Published: 8/26/2009

Types: Screens, Television

My friends, aware of my avocation, have been coming from all corners this month urging me to "Mad Men Myself" and create my swingin' '60s avatar alongside the cast of AMC's celebrated ad agency drama, as can be accomplished on the show's website. Reluctantly, I built my computerized doppel...[MORE]

Gaspin' for air: How NBC stacks ’em up — and shouldn’t Gordon Ramsay shut his trap?

By Jim McFarlin

Published: 8/12/2009

Types: Screens, Television

The answer is: U-S-A! U-S-A! The question up for discussion today is, which cable channel is best? And choosing between the pool of possible candidates is as subjective as deciding which act dominated last night's America's Got Talent. Those who read this idiot-box-watcher's opinions may have disce...[MORE]

... like a horse: Wow, HBO's Hung blows its load all over the Motor City

By Jim McFarlin

Published: 7/29/2009

Types: Screens, Television

The Renaissance Center, a towering phallic symbol! The Joe Louis fist, suddenly a massive black dildo! And the Dodge Fountain at Hart Plaza? Oh, one can only imagine what wild sexual images that might suggest! Funny how your city's landmarks take on an entirely different symbolism when an HBO series...[MORE]

Creepy cops: Shady heroes and villains grace Dark Blue; Detroit native rises on Engvall

By Jim McFarlin

Published: 7/15/2009

Types: Screens, Television

 If I had the pocket change in Jerry Bruckheimer's tailored slacks right now, I'd be livin' way too large to write this column.  It's no exaggeration to suggest that few people in the history of TV have had more impact on its history than our impossibly successful Mumford High alum (an alma mater h...[MORE]

Take 2 nurses and ...: TV nurses snorting Percocet, shtupping co-workers and railing against lunacy; plus, Fox’s new season

By Jim McFarlin

Published: 7/1/2009

Types: Screens, Television

I recently completed an extended work assignment for a college of nursing and got to know many nurses in professional and casual situations. TV has taken a few years to catch up to the notion that nursing's a booming and valuable profession worthy of dramatization, but clearly its time is here.  Th...[MORE]

Life-altaring TV: A Detroit couple’s wedding-day jitters debuts on national TV

By Jim McFarlin

Published: 6/17/2009

Types: Screens, Television

America, you are cordially invited to witness the wedding of Miss Jaénelle Burnette and Mr. Nykolas Jones of Detroit at 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 23, 2009, at the Belle Isle Conservatory. RSVP not required. Gifts are optional, since the actual marriage took place 10 months ago. But what a receiving line ...[MORE]

Crime show rumblings: Ruminations of a professional vidiot …

By Jim McFarlin

Published: 6/3/2009

Types: Screens, Television

Ruminations of a professional vidiot … The most pressing challenge facing NBC this summer — besides trying to make The Jay Leno Show at 10 o'clock five nights a week not look like The Tonight Show Lite, so Conan O'Brien won't figure out he got screwed — is what to do about Chris Meloni ...[MORE]

Mad, mad, mad, world: Late-night comedy show bows out, but how 'bout those Motor City Alfred E. Newmans?

By Jim McFarlin

Published: 5/13/2009

Types: Culture, Media

When it exploded on the scene, nobody gave it a Mine That Bird chance of winning TV's popularity derby. Its network had a biblically horrific record in late-night programming, its competition was too entrenched — legendary, even — and the branding device upon which it decided to ha...[MORE]

Unreal: How councilwoman Monica Conyers is becoming a TV star

By Jim McFarlin

Published: 4/29/2009

Types: Culture, Media

TV hosts just ain't what they used to be. If Flavor Flav, Donald Trump and Dog the Bounty Hunter can star in their own series, and Octomom Nadya Suleman is negotiating for a reality program, why can't Monica Conyers have a show? The weekly Ask the Councilwoman exhibition, showcasing Detroit's ...[MORE]

Copping a feel: Men in blue make their presence felt; some locals invade Tinseltown TV, again

By Jim McFarlin

Published: 4/8/2009

Types: Screens, Television

If there were as many cops on the street as on our TV sets, wouldn't we all feel better served and protected? Since the days our remote control also was known as Dad, television has had an incurable affliction for taking a popular genre and beating it to a pulp. Once it was medical dramas (now...[MORE]

TV Marches on: Recession? In Tinseltown? You kiddin'?

By Jim McFarlin

Published: 3/25/2009

Types: Screens, Television

Television used to be so simple. The big networks (anybody remember when there were only three?) unveiled all their shiny new programs in September. Some would be hits. Most would fail. Then in January, they would trot out a mess of fill-in series to plug their open holes until summer, when re...[MORE]

TV party: Bill Bonds and classic Motor City TV, celebrated!

By Jim McFarlin

Published: 3/11/2009

Types: Culture, Media

Bill Bonds may or may not be a classic, but there's no denying he's a doozy. "Got a second?" Detroit's most legendary TV newsman asks, laying down his phone to riffle through some papers. "Here's some names for you. Jimmy Hoffa. John F. Kennedy. Robert Kennedy. Ronald Reagan. George Wallace. R...[MORE]