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3 By Drew Grant 2/08 11:19am

Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama vs. Jimmy Fallon (NBC)

Michelle Obama’s Talk Show Challenge: Is the First Lady in Better Shape Than the Rest of the World? (Video)

If you're a fan of talk shows where famous people talk to other famous people so that the second famous person can promote their latest whatever, then you might have noticed an odd trend: First Lady Michelle Obama has been making the rounds lately: first on Ellen, then Jay Leno, and now Jimmy Fallon, all in an effort to raise awareness for the Let's Move! health initiative. Or is it?
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By Daniel D'Addario 2/02 4:00pm

tonight in dvr

Amy Poehler (Getty Images)

Tonight In DVR: ‘Parks’ Indulges Itself

This season of Parks and Recreation shows troubling signs that the writers no longer believe new audiences are going to discover Leslie and her gang. With the addition of a ludicrously winnable election plot, every episode congratulates its characters for being so terribly lovable, rather than expanding many new dimensions. One character told Leslie she Read More

1 By Kat Stoeffel 2/01 10:06am

Features

Brian Williams_Dale_#2453A9(1)

The Man With Two Brians! Can NBC’s Personality Industry Save the Anchor from Irrelevance?

On a recent post-NFL season Monday night, 7.3 million people watched a remake of Hawaii 5-0. Another 6.7 million watched Castle, a crime procedural that’s safely avoided buzz for four seasons. A crowd less than half that size, 3.2 million, watched an American furniture manufacturer tearfully repent for outsourcing the family business, met a real-life moon colonist, and saw a chimpanzee flip through a children’s book. “They like to look at the pictures,” the voiceover explained.

They had landed on the three-month-old newsmagazine Rock Center, NBC’s prime time bid to recapture an audience for TV news by offering a looser format in which to showcase Brian Williams’s formidable charisma. Mr. Williams’s sensibility is so deeply ingrained in the programming that Rock Center executive producer Rome Hartman likes to say that, when it’s working, it feels like “Brian’s playlist.” Read More

4 By Kat Stoeffel 1/28 6:19pm

Mitt Romney Makes Tom Brokaw ‘Extremely Uncomfortable’

NBC and Tom Brokaw have criticized Mitt Romney's campaign for using NBC Nightly News footage from 1997 in a Newt Gingrich attack ad.

"The NBC Legal Department has written a letter to the campaign asking for the removal of all NBC News material from their campaign ads," NBC News said in a statement to Politico, adding that a similar note had gone out to all other campaigns that had used NBC materials. Read More

By Drew Grant 12/08/11 3:01pm

Ryan Seacrest

Ryan Seacrest: New York resident? (Getty Images)

Could NBC Offer Enough to Lure Ryan Seacrest Off the West Coast and Onto ‘Today’?

With a fair amount of speculation and anonymous sourcing, The Wall Street Journal reported today that Ryan Seacrest may take over for Today show host Matt Lauer, who reportedly made some exit noises to Today executives earlier this year after Meredith Vieira announced her departure. But could Mr. Seacrest--who is the brand embodiment of E!--leave for NBC's more East Coast pastures?

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26 By Drew Grant 9/15/11 4:05pm

Female Comedy

Whitney Cummings in her new show about lady stuff.

Internet Attacks Whitney Cummings’ Pilot Prior to Premiere

Ouch. Here we thought were in the post-Bridesmaid era of empowering female comedy, what with TV's new fall lineup revolving around such quirky leading ladies as Zooey Deschanel (Fox's New Girl), Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs (CBS' 2 Broke Girls) and Whitney Cummings (NBC's Whitney). But maybe America just isn't ready to have a sitcom where boys aren't the main focus, since despite not airing until September there is already an online petition to get Whitney canceled.

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3 By Foster Kamer 7/15/11 4:35pm

Texas Forever

friday_night_lights_tv_show

The Friday Night Lights Series Finale Reading List

After five seasons, NBC's critically adored and ever-embattled drama Friday Night Lights is coming to an end. The show has endured despite impressively low ratings due in no small part to obsessive (and media-driven) fandom. There's a certain irony in this: a show ostensibly about high school football in Texas—flyover country doing flyover country things—ended up capturing the hearts and minds of coastal elites (and landlocked coastal elites). And nobody else. Read More