Feb 2014
More serial murdering in A&E's Those Who Kill
02/28/14 05:07 PM
Chloe Sevigny from HBO’s Big Love segues from polygamy to crime-solving in A&E’s Those Who Kill, which premieres on Monday, March 3rd. Our review is here.
The latest D-FW Nielsen ratings “snapshot” also is on the page.
Ed Bark
The latest D-FW Nielsen ratings “snapshot” also is on the page.
Ed Bark
History's Vikings returns and rises higher on the charts of TV's better dramas
02/27/14 04:01 PM
Vikings returns to the History channel on Thursday, Feb. 27th for a 10-episode Season 2. Our review is here.
Ed Bark
Ed Bark
Skiing the slalom through a tricky, Olympics-skewed February "sweeps"
02/27/14 12:17 PM
The February “sweeps” ratings competitions have skated to a close, with NBC5 reigning in the late local news skirmishes, but with an asterisk. That’s because of the Olympics. We’ll give you the real ratings picture, not a snow job, on the Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Ed Bark
Ed Bark
A standout from Game of Thrones stands out anew in SundanceTV's The Red Road
02/26/14 05:43 PM
Jason Momoa made quite a striking impression during his relatively short stint on Game of Thrones as Dothraki tribe chieftain Khal Drogo. He also cuts an imposing figure in civilian clothes as the overriding reason to watch the new SundanceTV series The Red Road. Our review is here.
Ed Bark
Ed Bark
Legit goes from FX to FXX
02/26/14 02:50 PM
Seen Legit yet? I’d make the effort, although it might well take more than one episode to make the sale. Season 2 starts on Wednesday, Feb. 26th, segueing from FX to FXX. Our review is right here.
Also, Tuesday’s D-FW Nielsen ratings “snapshot” is in.
Ed Bark
Also, Tuesday’s D-FW Nielsen ratings “snapshot” is in.
Ed Bark
From unseasonably warm Sochi to the frigid Cold War of FX's The Americans
02/25/14 01:23 PM
Sochi was fun while it was lasted. But now it’s back to the Cold War in Season 2 of FX’s The Americans, which returns on Wed., Feb. 26th. Our review is right here.
Ed Bark
Ed Bark
ABC's Mixology is short for, "Buy you a drink, take you to bed?"
02/25/14 09:28 AM
Guy walks into a bar . . . and ABC turns it into a comedy series. Our review of Mixology is here.
Monday’s D-FW Nielsen ratings “snapshot” also is in.
Ed Bark
Monday’s D-FW Nielsen ratings “snapshot” also is in.
Ed Bark
ABC's Mind Games very loudly assaults your senses
02/24/14 02:31 PM
ABC rush-premieres Mind Games on Tuesday, Feb. 25th after pulling the rejected Killer Women earlier than planned. Our review is right here.
Also, the rain-delayed Daytona 500 found itself unexpectedly matched up with NBC’s closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics Sunday night. We break down the D-FW Nielsen numbers for the weekend’s major TV attractions.
Ed Bark
Also, the rain-delayed Daytona 500 found itself unexpectedly matched up with NBC’s closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics Sunday night. We break down the D-FW Nielsen numbers for the weekend’s major TV attractions.
Ed Bark
Ewing family values again come calling in Season 3 of TNT's Dallas
02/21/14 03:25 PM
Maybe TNT’s version of Dallas isn’t quite played out yet, despite the death of Larry Hagman. Season 3, premiering on Monday, Feb. 24th, is still showing some vital signs. Our review of the first two episodes is right here.
Ed Bark
Ed Bark
NBC's second post-Olympics shot blind sides viewers with Growing Up Fisher
02/20/14 03:51 PM
J.K. Simmons, currently known as the guy pitching Farmers Insurance, plays a sightless divorced dad in the new NBC comedy Growing Up Fisher. Our review is here.
Ed Bark
Ed Bark
NBC's About a Boy deserves a chance to grow on you
02/20/14 01:30 PM
NBC takes another crack at the comedy genre with About a Boy, adapted from the 2002 Hugh Grant movie and getting a commercial-free, post-Olympics preview on Saturday, Feb. 22nd before skating over to Tuesdays. Our review is here.
Ed Bark
Ed Bark
Cynthia Izaguirre on her new dawn at WFAA8
02/20/14 10:50 AM
Cynthia Izaguirre talks about taking up residence on Dallas-based WFAA8’s 10 p.m. newscasts after mainstay anchor Gloria Campos leaves in early March. She also discloses how her family will be following in Campos’ footsteps on the home front. Izaguirre’s comments to unclebarky.com are on the Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Plus, Wednesday’s D-FW Nielsen ratings are in the house.
Ed Bark
Plus, Wednesday’s D-FW Nielsen ratings are in the house.
Ed Bark
Gloria Campos talks about leaving WFAA8 and TV news behind
02/19/14 10:40 PM
WFAA8 anchor Gloria Campos, soon ending a 30-year tenure at the Dallas-based station, talked to unclebarky.com Wednesday night about a decision whose time had come for her. The interview is on our Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Ed Bark
Ed Bark
Cynthia Izaguirre to replace Gloria Campos as WFAA8's 10 p.m. co-anchor
02/19/14 06:57 PM
Gloria Campos’ official 10 p.m. end date at Dallas-based WFAA8, announced Wednesday, preceded a flurry of in-house activity at the ABC affiliate. The big news: early morning co-anchor Cynthia Izaguirre will take Campos’ spot, effective on March 10th. But there are some other notable changes, too. Details are on our Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Ed Bark
Ed Bark
WFAA8 anchor Gloria Campos makes it official, sets end date
02/19/14 03:55 PM
As previously reported on unclebarky.com, WFAA8 anchor Gloria Campos has been nearing the end of her 30-year tenure at the Dallas-based station. She now has an official last day -- and details are on our Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Plus the Tuesday D-FW Nielsen ratings also are posted.
Ed Bark
Plus the Tuesday D-FW Nielsen ratings also are posted.
Ed Bark
Propelled by U2, Fallon's Tonight Show gets off to memorable start
02/18/14 01:59 PM
Jimmy Fallon hosted his first Tonight Show on Monday. And he couldn’t have picked a better musical guest than U2. Our extended take on how it all went down is on the Network News & Reviews page.
Plus, the Friday through Monday D-FW Nielsen ratings include a breakdown of Fallon’ opening night numbers.
Ed Bark
Plus, the Friday through Monday D-FW Nielsen ratings include a breakdown of Fallon’ opening night numbers.
Ed Bark
House of Cards: A Season 2 review after the full 13-episode experience
02/17/14 02:38 PM
Following a weekend of power-watching, we have a review of Season 2 of Netflix’s House of Cards based on watching all 13 episodes. You can find it right here.
Also, both Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel are taking their shows to Texas during times when production of on-location scripted dramas has hit a dry spell. Details on our Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Ed Bark
Also, both Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel are taking their shows to Texas during times when production of on-location scripted dramas has hit a dry spell. Details on our Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Ed Bark
Hansen feels the Valentine's Day love on Ellen
02/14/14 03:59 PM
WFAA8 anchor Dale Hansen’s appearance on Ellen DeGeneres’ Valentine’s Day show just couldn’t have gone any better for him. In part because his wife, Chris, got to go with him. Our commentary, following Tuesday’s previous commentary on Hansen’s gone viral “Unplugged” segment, is on the Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Plus, the Wednesday/Thursday D-FW Nielsen ratings find only Fox really trying opposite NBC’s Olympics coverage.
Ed Bark
Plus, the Wednesday/Thursday D-FW Nielsen ratings find only Fox really trying opposite NBC’s Olympics coverage.
Ed Bark
Creepy crawlies need not apply in CW's alien invasion-themed Star-Crossed
02/13/14 03:10 PM
The CW continues its otherworldly way with the Monday, Feb. 17th premiere of the drama series Star-Crossed. As expected, the featured teen visitors from another planet are without any green drooling lizard tendencies. Our review is right here.
Also, CBS’ Late Show with David Letterman has announced its first week of guests opposite the debut of NBC’s Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. We contrast and compare on the TV Bulletin Board page.
Ed Bark
Also, CBS’ Late Show with David Letterman has announced its first week of guests opposite the debut of NBC’s Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. We contrast and compare on the TV Bulletin Board page.
Ed Bark
TV pathfinder Sid Caesar bows out
02/12/14 05:15 PM
Premiering: Friday, Sept. 23rd at 7 p.m. (central) on CBS
Starring: Patrick Wilson, Jennifer Ehle, Margo Martindale, Pablo Schreiber
Produced by: Susannah Grant, Neal Baer, Carl Beverly, Sarah Timberman
By ED BARK
CBS hasn't had a hit medical drama in ages.
It's done OK in recent years with the supernatural, though. Ghost Whisperer ran for five seasons on Friday nights and then Medium hung in for a year-and-a-half after CBS rescued it from NBC's cancellation.
So what to do next? Pair a hard-charging, career-obsessed doctor with an ex-wife who's returned from the dead. And lead off Friday nights with them in hopes that CBS viewers will have missed seeing ghosts on this night and at this hour.
A Gifted Man, the only one of five new CBS series to be "updated" with a revised inaugural episode, is still falling short of making a dynamite first impression. Still, it's a fairly affecting opener in which someone dies but at least isn't murdered. On crime-choked CBS, that qualifies as a stroll through the park on a beautiful day -- with benefits.
Patrick Wilson stars as Manhattan-based Dr. Michael Holt. He's first seen brow-beating co-workers in the operating room, making him initially seem like Dr. Gregory House or, for TV viewers with long institutional memories, Ben Casey.
But what if either of those guys were to be revisited by a beaming, sweet-tempered ex-wife who looks like a younger Meryl Streep? And what if they got along great despite their breakup in Alaska? And then what if Michael learned that Anna Paul (Jennifer Ehle) in fact had died two weeks earlier on the eve of taking a director's job at the Clinica Sanando in a poor NYC neighborhood?
Well, Michael at first is more than a little spooked. But Anna's soothing and recurring visits start to take the edge off his brusque behavior. He even starts behaving humanely, bringing a poor Hispanic mom and her sick kids to his high-toned hospital for some on-the-house health care.
First do no harm -- as they say in the medical profession. A Gifted Man won't kill any brain cells if you want to give it a try. But it's not all there yet with an unwieldy mix that also includes two life-threatening cases, a few scenes with Michael's frazzled sister, Christina (Julie Benz) and her problematic teen son and an attempted exorcism of sorts by a mystic named Anton (Pablo Schreiber). Publicity materials say he'll be a series regular, as will Michael's sharp-tongued aide, Rita Perkins-Hall (Margo Martindale fresh off her best supporting actress Emmy win for Justified).
There's also this central question: why did Michael and Anna break up in the first place? Yeah, he was starting to put his career first and she obviously was more of an idealist. But this is the sweetest woman on the face of the earth -- or so we have every reason to believe. And she's gorgeous, too.
In death, she's also life-affirming.
"I have all these things to finish. All these doors I left open," Anna tells Michael. Won't he help her close them? By the way, she asks him very, very nicely.
"You don't fit into who I am," he replies. "I can't be delusional."
"Why can't I be the one thing in life you don't understand?" she counters.
But he says that's always been the case.
Don't worry, though. She's not going anywhere, because CBS may well need a friendly ghost to make one of its medical dramas finally click.
Your Friday night alternatives at this hour on the other four major broadcast networks are ABC's transplanted Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, NBC's on-its-last-legs Chuck, Fox's hell-raising Kitchen Nightmares and The CW's ass-kicking Nikita.
In that realm, CBS' spirit is willing and a viewer's flesh is weaker if you're lucky enough to have reached the end of another long work week. Soothing the soul with an otherworldly massage may not be such a bad idea under the circumstances.
GRADE: C+
CBS11 anchor/reporter Sharrie Williams moving up a market size from D-FW to Philly
02/12/14 01:07 PM
Sharrie Williams, who’s been CBS11’s weekend co-anchor for the past three years, is leaving the station and heading to Philadelphia. Details are on our Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Plus, NBC’s Tuesday night Olympics coverage rolls in the D-FW ratings opposite token opposition.
Ed Bark
Plus, NBC’s Tuesday night Olympics coverage rolls in the D-FW ratings opposite token opposition.
Ed Bark
Hall of . . . well, she meant to say Famer
02/11/14 05:54 PM
Dallas-based KTXD-TV’s (Ch. 47) The Broadcast was home to a classic gaffe Tuesday involving lead host Lisa Pineiro and two prominent Michaels -- Sam and Irvin. Details are on the Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Ed Bark
Ed Bark
An "Unplugged" Dale Hansen again unsparingly speaks his mind -- this time on the NFL and Michael Sam
02/11/14 01:35 PM
WFAA8 sports anchor Dale Hansen’s opinions are his own. And he definitely still has them. The station’s new ownership hasn’t changed that, as Monday 10 p.m. newscast “Unplugged” commentary clearly showed. Our thoughts, and the full video, are on the Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Also, Monday’s D-FW Nielsen ratings put NBC’s prime-time Olympics coverage firmly back in charge.
Ed Bark
Also, Monday’s D-FW Nielsen ratings put NBC’s prime-time Olympics coverage firmly back in charge.
Ed Bark
De-romanticizing Butch and Sundance in another Wild West edition of American Experience
02/10/14 03:38 PM
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are best known in the popular culture as Paul Newman and Robert Redford. PBS removes a good deal of the varnish in its new American Experience film on the Wild West duo. Our review is here.
Ed Bark
Ed Bark
Longtime Fox4 weathercaster Ron Jackson opts for early retirement
02/10/14 10:49 AM
Meteorologist Ron Jackson, a 32-year veteran at Dallas-based Fox4, announced his retirement on Sunday’s 9 p.m. newscast. Details are on the Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Also, NBC’s weekend prime-time Olympics coverage met its match from 8 to 9 p.m. Sunday in D-FW. Wasn’t The Beatles, but the Zombies among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds. Ratings wrap-up is here.
Ed Bark
Also, NBC’s weekend prime-time Olympics coverage met its match from 8 to 9 p.m. Sunday in D-FW. Wasn’t The Beatles, but the Zombies among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds. Ratings wrap-up is here.
Ed Bark
Leno's last Tonight: star-studded, heartfelt
02/07/14 02:04 PM
Jay Leno called it a night Thursday, even it again wasn’t his call. For the second and almost assuredly last time, NBC evicted him while he was still No. 1 in every key audience measurement. Our last impressions are on the Network News & Reviews page. (The final national ratings for the show are now included at the bottom.)
Also, how did Leno and NBC’s opening night of Olympics coverage do in Thursday’s D-FW Nielsen ratings? All the details are on the Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Ed Bark
Also, how did Leno and NBC’s opening night of Olympics coverage do in Thursday’s D-FW Nielsen ratings? All the details are on the Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Ed Bark
From chills in the air to shills on the air: ex-weathercasters Troy Dungan, Rebecca Miller team up for home flooring company
02/06/14 03:03 PM
In what must be a D-FW television market first, not one, but two former weathercasters join forces to sell the merits of a home flooring company. Uncle Barky can’t resist having some fun with this. Check out the Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Ed Bark
Ed Bark
Leno's last Tonight Show is nigh (presumably)
02/06/14 11:38 AM
Jay Leno’s second eviction notice as host of NBC’s Tonight Show comes due on Thursday, Feb. 6th. He’ll welcome final guests Billy Crystal and Garth Brooks, with some “surprises” also in store.
Your friendly content provider has a cnn.com commentary on Leno’s legacy, NBC’s treatment of him and the upcoming changing face of late night TV. You can find it right here.
Also, on our Back Channels page, we reprise an extensive 1995 interview with Leno in his Tonight Show office. It pre-dated Tonight’s Hugh Grant ratings explosion by just a few months. But Leno was steadily gaining on CBS’ Late Show with Letterman when we went one-on-one. You can find that piece right here.
Plus, Wednesday’s D-FW Nielsen ratings gave Fox one last ratings boost before NBC’s Winter Olympics coverage kicks in Thursday night.
Ed Bark
Your friendly content provider has a cnn.com commentary on Leno’s legacy, NBC’s treatment of him and the upcoming changing face of late night TV. You can find it right here.
Also, on our Back Channels page, we reprise an extensive 1995 interview with Leno in his Tonight Show office. It pre-dated Tonight’s Hugh Grant ratings explosion by just a few months. But Leno was steadily gaining on CBS’ Late Show with Letterman when we went one-on-one. You can find that piece right here.
Plus, Wednesday’s D-FW Nielsen ratings gave Fox one last ratings boost before NBC’s Winter Olympics coverage kicks in Thursday night.
Ed Bark
Ex-NBC5 reporter/congressional candidate Grant Stinchfield ramps up to 21-hour a week radio talker
02/05/14 02:50 PM
Grant Stinchfield, who spent seven years reporting for Fort Worth-based NBC5 before opening an auto lube shop and running for Congress, will soon be talking his way through a weekday program on KLIF radio. Details and an interview with Stinchfield are on our Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Ed Bark
Ed Bark
CBS scores with new Thursday night NFL package
02/05/14 12:53 PM
CBS and cable’s NFL Network are now partners in a new mix of Thursday night games, starting next season. We have all the details and ramifications on our Network News & Reviews page.
Plus, the Tuesday D-FW Nielsen ratings are posted. And just scroll down on the Dallas-Fort Worth TV page to see Monday’s numbers as well.
Ed Bark
Plus, the Tuesday D-FW Nielsen ratings are posted. And just scroll down on the Dallas-Fort Worth TV page to see Monday’s numbers as well.
Ed Bark
D-FW's Super Bowl ratings: lookin' up despite blowout
02/03/14 12:02 PM
Our complete Super Bowl XLVIII ratings report is in the books. And in newscast “sweeps” parlance, “Some of the D-FW numbers may shock you.” It’s all on the Dallas-Fort Worth TV page.
Also, the national Super Bowl XLVIII ratings are in, and are on the Network News & Reviews page.
Ed Bark
Also, the national Super Bowl XLVIII ratings are in, and are on the Network News & Reviews page.
Ed Bark