TV Diary

  • I'm a TV viewer -- get me out of here!

    Watching faux-celebrities marinate in the Australian rain forest for 15 painful hours proves that even in the alternate universe of reality TV, less is more.
    By Heather Havrilesky March 5, 2003

  • Digging their way out

    Back from the dead, the characters on "Six Feet Under" are finally learning how to live, and the effect is more devastating than ever.
    By Heather Havrilesky March 3, 2003

  • Sterling silver

    Midseason political drama "Mister Sterling" places second in Friday night ratings. Is that enough to get a good show reelected this fall?
    By Heather Havrilesky February 27, 2003

  • Big fat Greek deal

    Will a tiny little indie film survive on the small screen, armed with a big fat TV budget? Not without its teeth and claws, it won't.
    By Heather Havrilesky February 25, 2003

  • Way beyond incorrect

    With boldly obnoxious late-night shows from Bill Maher and English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen (aka Ali G), HBO is poised to conquer the inebriated landscape of Friday night.
    By Heather Havrilesky February 22, 2003

  • Last man standing

    Roses are red, Charlie is blue. Trista, the majorly stacked all-American dream girl of "The Bachelorette," chooses the shy fireman-poet over the charismatic Californian.
    By Heather Havrilesky February 20, 2003

  • Some like it hot

    Searching for "America's sexiest people" on ABC's new reality pageant -- and then ripping them a new one -- sounds like fun at first. Then the horror sets in.
    By Heather Havrilesky February 13, 2003

  • What's Spanish for "fuhgeddaboudit"?

    NBC's drug-lord miniseries "Kingpin" isn't really a crude Latino rip-off of "The Sopranos," say its creators, it's ... Shakespearean! Plus: "Dragnet" -- it's about a cop.
    By Carina Chocano February 4, 2003

  • Dark late-night of the soul

    Helpless, alone, rejected by female guests except Tammy Faye Bakker, Jimmy Kimmel drifts toward the ninth circle of talk-show hell.
    By Carina Chocano January 30, 2003

  • Brewskis, butt jokes and reefer madness

    This year's Super Bowl ads reflect a depressed nation: We need jobs, our animals don't talk anymore and we're terrified of big butts and bad drugs. How 'bout a beer?
    By Carina Chocano January 27, 2003

  • Spy vs. spy (vs. Mom and Dad)

    ABC's "Alias" features a butt-kicking espionage babe, awesome costumes and settings and possibly the most convoluted family drama in TV history. So why isn't it huge yet?
    By Carina Chocano January 23, 2003

  • TV's queen bitch

    Joan Rivers is unbelievably vile and crude -- she and daughter Melissa must get their own reality show! Plus: Kelly Osbourne gives a clinic on dealing with Dad.
    By Carina Chocano January 22, 2003

  • Scenes from the class struggle on Fox

    In "Joe Millionaire," with its lumpen-wacky TV vision of the rich, pop culture finally faces inequality in "classless" America.
    By Carina Chocano January 15, 2003

  • Reality TV's clone wars

    Yeah, "The Bachelorette" and the rest of the next-gen reality shows are the mutant offspring of deformed parents. Sometimes that's better.
    By Carina Chocano January 11, 2003

  • Ordinary people

    With "Lance Loud! A Death in an American Family," PBS closes the circle on the legendary 1973 series that mesmerized the nation and prefigured reality TV.
    By Carina Chocano January 6, 2003

  • Bureaucracy made hilarious

    Fox's absurd-yet-true office comedy "Andy Richter Controls the Universe" makes other sitcoms look as if they're die-stamped by robots. (Which they are.)
    By Carina Chocano December 12, 2002

  • Divorce Italian style

    No major characters got whacked in the season finale of "The Sopranos." The destruction was way bigger than that.
    By Carina Chocano December 10, 2002

  • Lightening up the graveyard shift

    On Comedy Central's "Insomniac," join stand-up comic Dave Attell on his boozy journey through a late-night world of drunks, strippers, cops, sewage workers and just plain folks.
    By Carina Chocano December 4, 2002

  • Oprah's hulking stepchild

    No-nonsense "Dr. Phil" has struck a national nerve with his bootstrap psychology. But can he escape the shadow of his famous patron?
    By Carina Chocano December 2, 2002

  • Stardom hasn't spoiled "The Osbournes"

    America's fave TV family is back -- and ready to prove they can survive George W. Bush, Greta Van Susteren and whatever other horrors fate may bring them.
    By Carina Chocano November 27, 2002

  • Meet "The Moth"

    Manhattan's hit nightclub storytelling series comes to TV, minus the cocktails but with its intimate front-porch spirit intact.
    By Carina Chocano November 16, 2002

  • This story takes place on the day of the "24" season premiere. Bong!

    Sen. Palmer is now the president, Jack has facial hair, and North Koreans are planning to nuke L.A. Hey, and where's Nina? Tick, tick, tick.
    By Carina Chocano October 29, 2002

  • An alternate TV universe

    The Hollywood renegades at the Other Network are bringing legendary failed TV pilots to a comedy club near you. And they're better than what got on the air.
    By Carina Chocano October 24, 2002

  • Real parents, dumb kids, David Duchovny doing weather

    Bonnie Hunt discovers an unconventional path to good comedy on her extremely funny new sitcom "Life With Bonnie."
    By Carina Chocano October 22, 2002

  • How to catch a wild young king

    Hot for Prince Harry or Prince Felipe? Better learn to race cars and sail yachts, advises "Young, Sexy & Royal." And whatever you do -- don't curtsy!
    By Carina Chocano October 19, 2002
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