Jack Bauer, the swashbuckling lead in 24, had a mission for Peter Liguori, the president of Fox Entertainment: present Fox’s fall programming schedule to advertisers and the media in under an hour. “I’ve neutralized terrorists, I’ve taken down rogue agents, I’d take the world in less time than that. All you need to do is shorten your speech,” said Kiefer Sutherland, playing Mr. Bauer, in a pre-taped gag from the “24” set. “Lose the charts, keep it simple.”

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What television network does Satan want you to spend your time watching? On Thursday May 17, around noon, the Prince of Darkness wandered onto stage at the Theater at Madison Square Garden and confirmed what theologians have long suspected. He wants you to watch the CW  read more »

Meet stewmurray47, the future of television! The network leader dosn't have a lot of room for new programming in its lineup, but it's doing what it can to keep up with the almost-universal television trends of 2007.  read more »

Ugly Betty’s Mark Indelicato, decked out in a tux with a candy-apple red vest, lead a Broadway-like performance of "One Singular Sensation," to open up ABC’s Upfront presentation yesterday afternoon. America Ferrera and the rest of the cast joined him, kicking up their heels in a chorus line. (We see a very special musical episode of Ugly Betty on the horizon.)  read more »

“The buzz was loud and clear, we struck a chord,” said president of NBC Entertainment Kevin Reilly at the network’s Upfront presentation yesterday afternoon. But: “Frankly, we need to be more better.”

Mr. Reilly was saying what the hundreds of ad executives milling around Radio City for the first day of the Upfronts already knew.  read more »

This afternoon, NBC goes before advertisers and the press to try to sell its 2007-2008 season to advertisers and the press. So this morning the network sent out the details of the season for previewing by the masses.

"We've got the class and next season we're ready to add some mass," said NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly, "with new shows that build on the creative accomplishments of last season and are as broad as they are good."

We take it "mass" means "more viewers," because Mr. Reilly's statement suggests what we all know: the network that was willing to take risks with some edgy material over the last couple of seasons (and had a lot of success with the critics: Friday Night Lights, Medium, Heroes) still hasn't gotten a show in the top 10 in terms of viewers.

But then, why does this season seem so of a piece with the previous ones?

Given that NBC only picked up one comedy and renewed Scrubs, it looks like comedy development, once a Must-See TV staple, is in trouble (though that's true everywhere).

Chuck sounds cute and funny, and Lipstick Jungle is a no-brainer even if working-women dramedys are a tough sell on television these days (how to avoid both cliché and dirtiness in a show like this?)

But with Journeyman, it sounds like they are ripping off their own Heroes, taking the Masi Oka character (who time travels) and building a show on that. People love the supernatural these days!

If Bionic Woman is a success we'll be seeing these woman-superhero shows all over the place on the small screen. Get Linda Carter!

And the IT Crowd–about the eccentrics who fix your computer and what life is like in the room next to the supply room--hello, Office?

Life, we assume, is made possible by the banishment of Law and Order: Criminal Intent to USA. They needed another quirky detective, but maybe not one with quite such an annoying speech pattern.

The burning question: Why won’t NBC ever cancel ER? (And why do people continue to watch it?)

Click "READ MORE" to read the full announcement.  read more »