Hot Off The Press: The Latest TV News and Information - Page 2761

Critic's Notes
Bianculli's Best Bets
By David Bianculli, TVWorthWatching.com - Oct. 13, 2012

THE WALKING DEAD MARATHON
AMC, 10:00 a.m. ET
It’s a zombie jamboree! Tomorrow night at 9 ET, AMC presents the Season 3 premiere of The Walking Dead – and as a perfect prelude to that new episode launch, presents a marathon showing of every episode from the first two seasons. It begins at 10 a.m. ET today with the unforgettable opening episode, then goes on from there, right up to tomorrow’s fresh installment.

THE DESCENDANTS
HBO, 8:00 p.m. ET
What a wonderful movie. George Clooney dons Hawaiian shirts (and no, that’s not why I like this 20122 drama) to play a largely oblivious family man suddenly faced with a severely ill wife and some unexpected adversities and realizations. It’s a delightful film (great soundtrack, too), and writer-director Alexander Payne brings out an entirely different side of Clooney.

2012 MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYOFFS
TBS, 8:00 p.m. ET
The New York Yankees, exactly 24 hours after notching their do-or-die Game 5 victory against the Baltimore Orioles, face the Detroit Tigers in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series. The Tigers, too, had to go the distance with a five-game series to reach this point, so both teams are tested, and fired up.

THE THIRD MAN
TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET
Graham Greene wrote both the story and screenplay for this 1949 Carol Reed movie, which stars Joseph Cotton as a pulp novelist poking around in Vienna, investigating the death of an old friend (played, with panache, by Orson Welles). A film noir classic.

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
NBC, 11:29 p.m. ET
Tonight’s new episode features Christina Applegate as guest host, and Passion Pit as the musical guest. Let’s just hope the writing is sharper than last week’s show, a season low, and, so far, a decade low.

http://www.tvworthwatching.com/

Probably. Though I imagine broadcast and public-access channels won't be encrypted. But who wants to steal those? And I don't see this going into widespread implementation overnight. Got a lot of households with a lot of TVs just jacked into the wall.

This could be good news for the stagnant CableCard "industry." God knows I don't want to rent an HD box for every set and cable tuner I have.

OTOH, it might finally force my nearest Hooters to actually put HD on their HDTVs. Yep, it's still analog cable. God forbid a game is on ESPNU. Gotta find a different bar to watch it.

The FCC is a grooming ground for future leadership at media conglomerates.

Yep, they are. This enables the holy grail of Comcast et al, the ability to charge outlet fees and/or STB fees for every TV in your house. If you don't pay, you get nothing. Even the DTAs that used to be free are no longer so, and my guess is that the upcoming HD DTAs will be $5/month or so.

Cablecard is the other option for whole home viewing, but it's not cheap to do nor is it as easy as plugging a cable into your TV.

The really sad part is that Cablecard sucks and everyone knows it, but the FCC doesn't have the balls to require the MSOs to develop an easy-to-use IP-based standard for TV delivery, aka AllVid, in exchange for allowing them to encrypt everything.

TV Notes
Not quite a prime time for black families on network TV
Cedric the Entertainer's new sitcom 'The Soul Man' underlines the rarity of seeing a black family on prime-time television decades after 'The Cosby Show.'
By Greg Braxton, Los Angeles Times - Oct. 13, 2012

On a recent Sunday at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church, an overflow crowd gathered hours after services to see a screening of TV Land's "The Soul Man," starring Cedric the Entertainer as a Las Vegas singer who uproots his family and moves to St. Louis after hearing a divine calling to become a pastor.

The well-dressed congregants gave a hero's welcome to Cedric, costar Niecy Nash and TV Land head Larry Jones. Their accomplishment? Putting on one of the few television shows that spotlights an African American family.

"We're excited about seeing role models for our community and for America," FAME Pastor John J. Hunter said. "It's very important for our youth to see the moral foundation of a family. 'The Soul Man' has to succeed so we can have more shows like this."

Despite the rally, Hunter's faith may be tested in the coming months. "The Soul Man" may not return — executives have yet to give a green light for a second season. And that uncertainty underscores a chronic complaint: More than two decades after "The Cosby Show" broke new ground in the pop-culture mainstream with its portrayal of a loving two-parent black family, shows featuring nuclear black families or families of color have all but vanished.

"The conventional wisdom in Hollywood is that building a show around a black family would be a liability in terms of attracting a wider audience," said Darnell Hunt, director of UCLA's Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies. "The executives

feel that the mainstream or larger groups just would not be interested in a black family."

In some ways, TV has gotten more diverse. A study released last week by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) concluded that the number of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender characters on the five broadcast networks — ABC, NBC, Fox, CBS and the CW — are at their highest levels ever, with 31 roles. However, the vast majority of those characters are white; only seven are black.

It's also true that depictions of family life in general have been on the decline for years in television. But those that remain, including the returning "Parenthood," "Up All Night," The Middle," "Last Man Standing" and "Raising Hope," typically revolve around white families. (One notable exception is ABC's "Modern Family," which includes a white and Latina couple.)

The only returning shows with ethnic families at the center are TBS' "Are We There Yet?" and Fox's animated "The Cleveland Show."

Of the new series among the major networks' lineups with a substantial family component, including NBC's "The New Normal" and "Revolution," ABC's "Malibu County" and Fox's "Ben and Kate," only one — NBC's "Guys With Kids," about three new fathers trying to hold on to their youth while confronting the responsibilities of parenthood — features a black family.

But that family, with parents played by Anthony Anderson and Tempestt Bledsoe, are only one-third of an ensemble dominated by white characters. In the pilot episode, the black family was given relatively short shrift, while the white couples had more developed story arcs.

Subsequent episodes of the series, which so far has drawn lackluster ratings, have given more focus on the black family. But the near-absence of black families in prime-time spotlights how race and cultural issues continue to shadow the TV arena, more than a decade after the four major networks were blasted by civil rights groups for fostering a "white landscape" in prime time.

The void continues even though African Americans rank as one of TV's most devoted audiences: A recent report by Nielsen revealed that the average African American viewer watches nearly seven hours of TV daily, more than any other single demographic.

Among the slate of new fall shows just launched by the major networks, there is only one African American lead in a new drama: Andre Braugher of ABC's thriller "Last Resort."

Last month's Emmy Awards didn't help burnish the industry's diversity credentials. The vast bulk of the show's audience, nominees and presenters were white. No black female performers were nominated in the major categories, and the three black actors nominated in marquee categories were shut out.

The trend among scripted programming runs counter to other areas of entertainment, such as film and music, where blacks and other minorities have a more prominent role. Despite

Will Smith and Denzel Washington's status as major box office draws, television executives have less confidence that a black lead will have crossover appeal to a mainstream audience, industry experts say. As a compromise, blacks are often integrated into a larger white cast where they are usually limited to a supporting role.

"There's a perception at the networks that shows that feature minority leads involve an element of risk in the marketplace," said Ron Taylor, a former diversity and programming executive at Fox. "And the networks are risk-adverse."

To be sure, the major networks, particularly NBC, which was once the home of "The Cosby Show," "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," and other black shows, have largely ceded the development of ethnic-oriented programming to smaller, niche cable networks such as

BET (Black Entertainment Television) and ABC Family. (For four seasons, the latter network aired "Lincoln Heights," a drama about a black police officer and his family living in a rough Los Angeles neighborhood.)

Another factor is the lack of minority producers and creators in television — the vast majority of show creators are white, and they typically envision whites as their main character, insiders said.

"The pipeline of projects that involve black writers and producers is also exclusionary of people of color," said Hunt, who is working on a study with the Writers Guild of America, West that examines multicultural involvement in TV. "The numbers are worse than they were years ago."

Cedric the Entertainer, who created "The Soul Man" with Suzanne Martin ("Hot in Cleveland"), said that though industry executives still have interest in including minorities in shows dominated by whites, "TV by and large is not interested in African American culture. They always want us to fit in."

TV Land's Jones said his network is trying to step into the programming void in an effort to attract an underserved demographic.

"We wanted to create a show about a family you don't really see," he said. "That was one of our main priorities."

Still, TV Land's effect on the diversity landscape is relatively small. The network averages close to 800,000 viewers in prime time, and the first episodes of "The Soul Man" averaged about 1.1 million viewers. By contrast, even a struggling series like "30 Rock," which returned last week to the NBC lineup, drew 3.4 million viewers.

Occasionally, of course, a show featuring black families, such as "The Cosby Show" and "The Bernie Mac Show," emerges as a major hit. Tim Brooks, a television historian, said that if a show like "Soul Man" were to gain a huge following, viewers would likely see more of the same.

"That would be a very hard feat to pull off," he said. "But it's not impossible."

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-black-family-tv-20121013,0,2120013,full.story

FRIDAY's fast affiliate overnight prime-time ratings -and what they mean- have been posted on Analyst Marc Berman's Media Insight's Blog

Critic's Notes
CBS Friday Lineup Rebounds After ‘Made In Jersey’ Exit
By Nellie Andreeva, Deadline.com - Oct. 13, 2012

CBS’ Friday lineup is starting to repair the damage caused by the two-week run of Made In Jersey, which not only dragged down CBS’ nightly average with its woeful ratings (most recently 0.8 in adults 18-49 last week) but also pushed down CSI: NY and Blue Bloods, which were separated to make room for the newbie. Now back together at 9 PM and 10 PM, both series perked up, each drawing a 1.4/4 in adults 18-49, up 17% from last Friday, and 9.4 million and 10.5 million total viewers, up 11% and 7%, respectively. CBS opened the night with a NCIS repeat at 8 PM (1.2/4, 7.4 million), which finished second in the hour in 18-49 and first in viewers. For the night, CBS finished tied with NBC for second place in 18-49. It is not quite yet ready to challenge the night’s new demo leader ABC, but when Undercover Boss joins the lineup in three weeks, it may be. (CBS continues to be the undisputed leader on the night in total viewers.)

ABC had another great Friday night paced by Shark Tank (1.7/6, 6.2 million) at 8 PM, which was up a tenth in 18-49 from last week’s fast national (even with the final). The reality series was the top program of the night in all key demos for a second straight week and tied its highest 18-49 rating and largest viewership for a regular telecast. Primetime: What Would You Do? (1.3/4) was down a tenth from last week in 18-49, while 20/20 (1.4/4) shot up 17%. ABC won the night in 18-49 with a 1.5 rating, ahead of NBC and CBS’ average of a 1.3. Following a Voice repeat, NBC’s Grimm (1.5/5) was down a tenth from last week but may be adjusted up in the finals. Dateline (1.3/4) was flat. Ditto for Fox’s Fringe (1.0/3).

http://www.deadline.com/2012/10/ratings-rat-race-cbs-friday-lineup-rebounds-after-made-in-jersey-exit/

Those that watch the ClearQAM HD local affiliates even though they're only paying for HSI - AND BRAG ABOUT IT. Once again, it's those that do things illegally that are making things more difficult for those that take the legal route.

Technically not illegal. It is up to the cableco to disable the ability to tune in the QAM channels if the subscriber only buys internet. When the cableco feeds the signal into your dwelling, it is yours to watch.

When you go out and connect your dwelling to the cable system, without paying for anything, then it is illegal.

In Phoenix, the installer tends to forget a lot to install the trap. My daughter has gotten the QAM channels and has lost the QAM channels.

Comcast, charges more for just Internet, you get the discount on internet if you sub to basic tv or higher. It's basically the same price, around here, you are going to pay for tv one way or the other.

Nonsense, that is like saying if I leave my keys in the car it is OK for you to steal it, when it only means I'm an idiot and your a thief.

What about if you sub to digital cable and internet yet your cableco makes it impossible to watch ClearQAM?

I pay for both yet I cannot use my clear QAM equipment to watch local broadcasts because TWC keep moving channels out of the receivable range.

So do I, but they don,t make it impossible, just difficult, so I use Direct for locals.

Apples and oranges.

Please elaborate.

I'm with mrvideo here.

It's more like you paying for a basic car wash and it adds in the Rain-X and Wax cycles without you manipulating the system at all.

If I had parked the car on your property and left the keys in it, I sort of gave you permission drive it. To take away that permission is to remove the keys, and/or lock the car. Yes, it i a very gray area when it comes to vehicles. Just don't leave a car in my driveway and not remove the keys, or lock it.

When the cableco does a connection to your house, they are responsible for what is provided on that cable. If they forget to trap out the clear QAM channels, it is their problem.

If, you go out and remove the trap, then it is theft.

More like parking it in your garage than the driveway.

The only reason cable companies need to put traps on their drops is to thwart dishonest subscribers. The only reason you need a key to drive a car is to thwart car thieves. You don't have to lock your car to prevent me from driving it off, because I know it doesn't belong to me.

Double nonsense. The cableco is charged by the networks they carry by how many subscribers they have for that channel. If you have internet only service from them they wouldn't be charged for anything, therefore you're not causing them any material loss. Besides which I thought the only thing left on clear QAM were locals that are free to air anyways, and garbage channels that pay to be on their service (home shopping etc).

Anyone want to take bets on how long before this conversation is deleted?

The CC has one price for internet/phone and a higher price to include TV, so the bottom line is you are using something you didn't pay for.

Nope, it is to remove what the customer didn't pay for,

So what. It is the cableco's responsibility to provide what you pay for. If they screw up and give you extra, it is their mistake. No one has ever been prosecuted for tuning in channels they didn't order via their legally connected cable. Nor will they ever. If an installer catches that the trap is missing, they'll just install the trap and be done with it.

It would be no different than D* or Dish enabling HBO on your STB, even though you didn't order it. It is their own damn fault.

They don't here, it is a higher price for internet if you don't have TV, it's basically the same price. You get the locals(clear QAM) with an internet only connection, but it costs 10 to 15 more dollars if you don't include at least basic Cable TV service, if you pay the extra $10 or 15 for cable tv you get the $10 or 15 dollar less internet cost.

Critic's Notes
Bianculli's Best Bets
By David Bianculli, TVWorthWatching.com - Oct. 14, 2012

2012 MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYOFFS
Fox, 8:00 p.m. ET
The National League Championship Series opens tonight, with Fox providing prime-time coverage (up to now this postseason, it’s been all TBS, TNT and MLB). The San Francisco Giants enjoy home-field advantage for Game 1, against the St. Louis Cardinals.

THE GOOD WIFE
CBS, 9:00 p.m. ET
There are so many fine dramatic series vying for attention on Sunday nights – in addition to the ones listed in Bianculli’s Best Bets, others deserving of note, and of viewers, include Once Upon a Time, Boardwalk Empire, Treme, and The Mentalist. But The Good Wife edges those out, if only marginally, because of its finely tuned calibration of sharp acting, unpredictable writing, and effortlessly classy direction. This week, Will returns to court – and Alicia learns of the identity of the firm’s other new client.

THE WALKING DEAD
AMC, 9:00 p.m. ET
SEASON PREMIERE: Between seasons on The Walking Dead, there’s the danger of taking this zombie show for granted, and forgetting just how intense a drama it really is. But tune in for this Season 3 opener, and your memory will be jolted, along with many of your senses, within a few seconds. And before this opening hour is over, you’ll encounter a gasp-worthy moment or two. For me, it was two. For a full review, see Ed Bark’s Uncle Barky’s Bytes.

DEXTER
Showtime, 9:00 p.m. ET
This season of Dexter has been a little disappointing to this point, but this third episode introduces a character who not only will play a bigger part in weeks to come, but may play a part in getting this drama back on course. Dexter meets the former abductee (or was it cohort) of a long-ago serial killer, and she’s played by Yvonne Strahovski, formerly of Chuck. His first meeting with her throws him a bit – and I expect that may be a trend.

HOMELAND
Showtime, 10:00 p.m. ET
Carrie (Claire Danes) was proven right in last week’s episode, and her long-dormant contact came through with what could have been some key information – if not for some last-second action from Brody (Damian Lewis). And, speaking of Brody, what happens now that his pre-terrorist video message has been discovered? I don’t know – but I can’t wait to find out.

http://www.tvworthwatching.com/

Business Notes
Wall Street worried about fall TV season
By Joe Flint, Los Angeles Times' 'Company Town' Blog

Wall Street is not thrilled with the new fall television season.

On Thursday, two prominent media analysts issued reports expressing concern about the new season. So far, few new shows have taken off and ratings have tumbled at ABC, CBS and Fox in the adults 18-49 demographic that advertisers covet. Both CBS and Fox are off by more than 20% while ABC is down 13%.

NBC, which has struggled for years, is the only network to improve in that key demographic, thanks to its move of "The Voice" to the fall, the early success of the drama "Revolution" and new comedies "Go On" and "The New Normal." Overall, NBC is up 12% in 18-49 viewers compared with last season.

"There is little doubt that early 2012-13 network results have been disappointing," wrote Nomura Equity Research analyst Michael Nathanson. While Nathanson notes that it is usually best to judge a network's performance after ratings information that includes digital video recorders is factored in, he thinks those numbers won't entirely make up for the dramatic drop the networks are experiencing.

Media analyst Anthony DiClemente, with Barclays Equity Research, says the new shows are the problem. "We believe the weakness in the broadcast ratings is primarily a content-driven issue; most of the freshman shows have been a disappointment."

So far, the only new show to be canceled is CBS's Friday night legal drama "Made in Jersey." But other offerings that have failed to find an audience include Fox's "Mob Doctor," NBC's "Animal Practice" and "Guys with Kids," and CBS's "Partners."

Another factor hurting the networks is the NFL. Not only are ESPN's "Monday Night Football" ratings up slightly this season, the NFL Network is now carrying Thursday games all season.

"We believe the uptick in viewership, particularly on Thursday night, is having a cannibalistic effect on original program live ratings, as football now competes with originals three nights a week [Sunday, Monday, Thursday]," DiClemente said.

To be sure, the growing popularity of DVRs is also changing the way people consume television. Sometimes a show's audience grows by as much as 50% when recorded viewing is factored in.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-tv-ratings-wall-street-20121011,0,1692174.story

Critic's Notes
Female Stars Step Off the Scale
By Alessandra Stanley, The New York Times - Oct. 14, 2012

On her new show, “The Mindy Project,” Mindy Kaling plays a single doctor who is irked but not undone by a male colleague telling her she should lose 15 pounds.

Neither is Hannah, the character Lena Dunham plays on her HBO comedy, “Girls.” When a boyfriend asked her about her tummy flab, Hannah replied: “No, I have not tried a lot to lose weight. Because I decided I was going to have some other concerns in my life.”

On the MTV show “Awkward” it’s the high school bully, Sadie (Molly Tarlov), who is a little overweight, not her victims, and her avoirdupois doesn’t diminish Sadie’s power or confidence.

Self-acceptance has become a new form of defiance on television, especially among younger female comedians. Partly that’s because it’s refreshingly unusual. There’s little comic shock value left in profanity, obscenity or intolerance, but it’s still quite rare and surprising to see a woman not obsess about her waistline.

And gaining weight, it turns out, is the most outrageous stunt Lady Gaga has pulled to date. Instead of wearing raw animal flesh at a public event this summer, she wore her own — the one metamorphosis that even Madonna wouldn’t dare undertake. “I am not going to go on a psycho-spree because of scrutiny,” the singer stated after admitting she gained 25 pounds. “This is who I am. And I am proud at any size.”

Lady Gaga isn’t the first to fill out; if anything she is a follower in the sudden rise of the unapologetically not-thin. A few performers have flouted convention by flaunting a curvy figure, notably Kat Dennings, a star of “2 Broke Girls,” Christina Hendricks of “Mad Men” and Christina Aguilera on “The Voice.” But it’s most evident in female comedians like Ms. Dunham and Ms. Kaling, who have more power to break rules: by writing their own material and creating shows inspired by their lives, they can set their own standards of beauty and defy the dictate of stylists and casting directors in a way that other actresses cannot.

A lot of rules are being broken in romantic comedy. It used to be that plain, stocky fellows like Seth Rogen surprised everyone and got the gorgeous girl. Now Rebel Wilson, an Australian actress and comedy writer, is the plus-size bride who gets a dashing, adoring groom in “Bachelorette.”

And in that sense this license to eat marks a generational shift from comedians in their 40s like Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who made their mark by being funny and also more feminine and pretty than comedy pioneers like Phyllis Diller and Joan Rivers. Ms. Fey has said she lost some 30 pounds to make the move from “Saturday Night Live” writer to performer. Ms. Dunham and her cohorts — a generation raised on Tyra Banks don’t-judge-me rants and after-school programs about anorexia — are rebelling against the ever more exacting standard of beauty in show business.

They don’t go on diets or have liposuction to fit into red-carpet outfits; they let out a seam. (Ms. Dunham actually did one better: in a skit for the Emmy Awards last month, she posed unclothed on top of a toilet seat, eating an entire cake.)

Ms. Tarlov said in Seventeen magazine that Sadie is interesting because she isn’t defined by her figure or hampered by it socially: “When people talk about characters who struggle with their weight or with food they go to either end of the extreme; there are rarely characters who are just a little bit heavy. That’s what I think is really incredible about this show; it’s not like Sadie is in danger or anything.”

Theirs is a celebration of moderate immoderation that clashes with the prevailing tendency to go always to the furthest edge of excess, especially when the subject is weight.

Fat is perhaps the most overexamined problem in America, where there is no right or wrong, just yo-yo extremes. One second women are encouraged to embrace their fuller selves in ads for Pond’s and in talk shows, women’s magazines and reality series like “Curvy Girls,” which follows a group of plus-size models.

And the next, talk show hosts, women’s magazines, Hollywood, health experts, the first lady and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg sound the alarm about the obesity epidemic.

Fashion has it both ways: models and actresses are stick-thin on runways and red carpets, but department stores have entire sections dedicated to plus-size designer clothes by the likes of Michael Kors and Calvin Klein.

Accordingly, society makes a show of supporting people who make peace with their extra pounds, but we really celebrate those who declare war on their bodies. Jennifer Livingston, a news anchor in Wisconsin, went on the air to publicly scold a viewer who wrote her an e-mail suggesting that her excess weight made her a poor role model, and she became a cause célèbre. But on its daily news crawl, CNN gives the same breaking-news urgency to an item about the death toll in Syria and a comedian who underwent gastric surgery (“Lisa Lampanelli loses 80 pounds”).

Somewhere in between there are women coming forward to claim the category “none of the above.” But it still requires some explaining. In a collection of essays, “Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns),” Ms. Kaling put it this way: “Since I am not model-skinny, but also not superfat and fabulously owning my hugeness, I fall into that nebulous ‘Normal American Woman Size’ that legions of fashion stylists detest. For the record, I’m a Size 8 (this week, anyway). Many stylists hate that size because, I think, to them, I lack the self-discipline to be an aesthetic, or the sassy confidence to be a total fatty hedonist. They’re like ‘Pick a lane.’ ”

And that Manichaean scale is all too evident on the screen. Actresses and reality-show stars are either whippet thin or startlingly large, especially after “The Biggest Loser” turned massive displays of weight into a politically palatable spectacle, shaping what could look like a freak show into a self-help manifesto.

There was always room in comedy for a fat friend, but it’s only recently that overweight women started being cast as romantic heroines or sexual temptresses. Donna on “Parks and Recreation,” who is played by the actress and comedian Retta, has an active love life and a naughty streak. (She reads “50 Shades of Grey” at the office.) Ms. Wilson of “Bachelorette” also has a star turn in the movie “Pitch Perfect” as a plump and uninhibited college a cappella singer who cheerfully calls herself Fat Amy so others won’t have to behind her back.

Society is beginning to be more honest about the price some women pay to stay thin, helped along by celebrities who almost daily confess to eating disorders like bulimia, most recently Nicole Scherzinger, former lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls.

On the recent USA channel mini-series “Political Animals,” the beautiful, perfect and petite fiancée Anne (Brittany Ishibashi) leaves her engagement dinner to slip into the ladies room and put her fingers down her throat to toss up her meal.

“Drop Dead Diva” was a breakthrough hit for Lifetime when it began in 2009, because the lead character, Jane Bingum, played by Brooke Elliott, was plus-size. But fat was still a touchy subject; writers posited a woman who is obese only because of a twist of fate: a slim, bubbleheaded blonde dies and comes back to life switched into the physique of a smart, Rubenesque lawyer.

“Mike & Molly” (CBS), which co-stars Melissa McCarthy, is a comedy about very overweight lovers, but the joke isn’t really about flab, it’s about the odd-couple romance of people who met at Overeaters Anonymous.

These characters reflect a changing American norm: just as many designers chose in the 1990s to deregulate dress sizes (a Size 8 is now a 10, adjusted for body inflation), entertainment producers have had to find room for women in sizes that are familiar to most of America — then double them for comic or dramatic effect.

And that is what’s so seditious about comedians like Ms. Dunham and Ms. Kaling: Their weight is no big deal. They can be a little defensive when people ask about their extra few pounds, but they don’t let it deter or define them. To prepare for a blind date Mindy changes her outfit, not her dress size. Ms. Dunham has Hannah prance around her apartment in her underwear, unself-conscious.

Ms. Dunham’s success has made her a literary it girl, and her proposal for a book about life, love and sex, “Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She’s Learned,” sold to Random House for over $3.5 million last week.

In one episode of “Girls,” Hannah tells her parents that she thinks she may be a voice of her generation. Turns out she may actually be its body type.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/14/arts/television/women-on-tv-step-off-the-scale.html?ref=television&_r=0

TVNotes
Stephen Colbert, Tom Brokaw on ‘Meet the Press'
By Hal Boedeker, Orlando Sentinel's 'TV Guy' Blog - Oct. 14, 2012

Now for something completely different Sunday morning: Stephen Colbert will bring his comical outlook to NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

The program starts at 9 a.m. on WESH-Channel 2. The star of Comedy Central’s “Colbert Report” will get to promote his new book, “America Again: Re-becoming the Greatness We Never Weren’t.”

The “Meet the Press” panel will be Gov. Bob McDonnell, R-Va.; Mayor Kasim Reed, D-Atlanta; former Gov Jennifer Granholm, D-Mich.; GOP strategist Alex Castellanos; and NBC’s Tom Brokaw.

Also Sunday morning:

CNN’s “State of the Union” will feature Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., who is chair of the Democratic National Committee; and Al Cardenas, former chairman of the Florida Republican Party and chairman of the American Conservative Union. The program starts at 9 a.m. and noon. A discussion on the debates brings together Bill Burton, senior strategist, Priorities USA Action; Grover Norquist, president, Americans for Tax Reform; Susan Page of USA Today; and CNN’s Jim Acosta.

“Fox News Sunday” welcomes David Axelrod of the Obama campaign and Ed Gillespie of the Romney campaign. The program starts at 10 a.m. on WOFL-Channel 35. The panel will be Brit Hume, Bob Woodward of The Washington Post, Laura Ingraham of “The Laura Ingraham Show” and Jeff Zeleny of The New York Times.

CBS’ “Face the Nation” looks at the latest on the Libyan consulate attack with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.; and Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md. The program starts at 10:30 a.m. on WKMG-Channel 6. A panel on politics brings together David Corn of Mother Jones, Republican pollster Frank Luntz, Romney adviser Bay Buchanan, Katrina vanden Heuvel of The Nation and CBS’ John Dickerson.

Candy Crowley, who will moderate the second presidential debate, will offer a preview on “Reliable Sources” at 11 a.m. on CNN. Assessing the vice presidential debate will be Keli Goff of TheRoot.com, Steve Roberts, professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University and David Frum of Newsweek/The Daily Beast. Another guest is Buzz Bissinger, author of “Friday Night Lights.” He talks about “switching politics loyalties,” CNN said.

ABC’s “This Week” talks to Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, son of Joe Biden. The program starts at 11 a.m. on WFTV-Channel 9. The panel will be George Will, Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Sen. Chris Dodd, ABC’s Martha Raddatz and presidential historian Richard Norton Smith. Raddatz was moderator for the vice presidential debate.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2012/10/stephen-colbert-tom-brokaw-on-meet-the-press.html

TV Notes
NBC’s ‘Next Caller’ Not Going Forward
By Nellie Andreeva, Deadline.com

EXCLUSIVE: NBC has pulled the plug on midseason comedy series Next Caller. The network in May had given the Dane Cook-starring project a six-episode order. After filming four of them, I hear network brass had decided that creatively the series was not going in the direction they had hoped for. Production on the series, produced by Lionsgate TV and Universal TV, has stopped, and the produced episodes won’t air.

Created and executive produced by Stephen Falk, Next Caller stars Cook as a foul-mouthed satellite radio DJ forced to share the mic with a chipper NPR feminist (Collette Wolfe). Jeffrey Tambor, Joy Osmanski and Wolé Parks co-star. NBC recently gave two of its freshman comedy series, Go On and The New Normal, full-season pickups, while fellow freshmen Guys With Kids and especially Animal Practice, have been struggling.

The network has two other comedy series on tap for midseason, 1600 Penn and Save Me.

http://www.deadline.com/2012/10/next-caller-cancelled-nbc-series/