Bob Newhart made me laugh so many times over the years, especially on his first hit TV sitcom, The Bob Newhart Show (1972-78). I’ll never forget, therefore, the one time I made him laugh. It was at a Television Critics Association Awards presentation, at least a dozen years ago. I believe our group were bestowing
Eleven years ago, in 2012, Tony Bennett put on a show for TV critics in Pasadena, Calif. The legendary singer, who passed away Friday in New York City at 96, was brought to the Television Critics Association during a January press tour by PBS. The U.S. public broadcaster has often treated reporters to a musical
Robert Blake, who died March 9 of heart disease at the age of 89, almost didn’t get to be Baretta. The gritty cop series, which ran on ABC from 1975-78, began a season earlier when it was called Toma. That series was based on a real-life New Jersey police officer named David Toma, who was
The first star I met at the first Television Critics Association press tour I ever attended was Angela Lansbury. In 1984, the stage, screen and television star, who passed away Tuesday in Los Angeles at 96, was promoting a new CBS series called Murder. She Wrote. I was a raw rookie from TV Guide Canada
“We didn’t create the wave; we’re just surfing the wave.” So says FX Networks Chairman John Landgraf, the guy who coined the phrase “Peak TV” five or so years ago. He doesn’t always sound like John From Cincinnati, or the creator of that series, David Milch. It is just that Landgraf is a thoughtful fellow
Holy Schitt’s! Canada swept the comedy categories this year at the 36th annual Television Critics Association Awards. It was announced Monday that the CBC/Pop-TV sitcom Schitt’s Creek, for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy, and Catherine O’Hara, for Individual Achievement in Comedy (playing Creek’s richly eccentric Moira Rose), were the tops in their categories as deemed by
Finally, a Television Critics Association press tour where I stand an even chance of not gaining any weight. Tuesday marks the start of three days of virtual press conference sessions from the viewers like you who run and program PBS. This will kick off the very first virtual, at home version of a TCA press
I swear that when I got picked up by Uber driver Tajinder at 5:30 a.m. this morning the streets were empty, dark and dry. By the time 289 of us were hearded onto AC791, however, it was already getting pretty wild outside Pearson International Airport’s Terminal 1. The ice storm, predicted the night before with