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Dish Network's AutoHop ad-skipping feature sparks lawsuits

By Meg James and Joe Flint, Los Angeles Times — Fri, 25 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Fox, NBCUniversal and CBS seek to block Dish's AutoHop, which removes commercials in broadcast TV shows.

Fox Broadcasting, NBCUniversal and CBS Corp. have sued Dish Network to try to sink the satellite company's controversial new ad-skipping feature AutoHop, which makes it possible for subscribers to automatically remove commercials in broadcast TV shows.

'Men at Work' isn't very ambitious

By Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times Television Critic — Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

The new TBS sitcom 'Men at Work' centers on four guy friends who work at a magazine while they try to work on life issues. The series has moments of charm that break through the conventional story line.

TBS, whose slogan is "Very Funny," has built its house out of sitcoms — most of them reruns (currently including "Seinfeld," "The Office," "Friends," "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and "The Big Bang Theory"), but with an increasing emphasis on the new. (It's also acquired "Cougar Town" from ABC.) It's like TV Land for viewers whose sense of nostalgia is rooted in the '80s, '90s and early '00s: a demographic that includes the characters in its new original series, "Men at Work."

'Hemingway & Gellhorn': Love is a battlefield in the HBO movie

By Scott Timberg, Special to the Los Angeles Times — Sun, 20 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Stormy lovers Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn are played by Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman in the film directed by Phil Kaufman.

Most writers can only daydream about meeting — in the flesh — the characters they've imagined. But for Ernest Hemingway, one afternoon in Key West, Fla., it came close to actually happening. One day when the writer was in his mid-30s, hanging out at a local fisherman's bar, he spotted a woman uncannily similar to the strong-willed, sexually liberated heartbreaker from his first novel.

Critic's Notebook: TV's focus on childhood obesity hits home

By Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times Television Critic — Sun, 20 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Take it from someone who knows: The struggle with childhood obesity, illustrated vividly on television, is a battle of both the mind and the mouth for an overweight kid.

I was a pioneer of childhood obesity.

The Sunday Conversation: Jeremy Irons digs in to 'Borgias' darkness

By Irene Lacher, Special to the Los Angeles Times — Sun, 20 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

As the brutal pope in the Showtime drama, the actor enjoys the play of contradictions that he says mirrors the real world.

Jeremy Irons stars as the ruthless Rodrigo Borgia, who became Pope Alexander VI, in Showtime's period drama"The Borgias," now in its second season.

Krysten Ritter just wants to have fun

By Lisa Rosen, Special to the Los Angeles Times — Sun, 20 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

The actress relishes her role in the subversive comedy 'Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23.' Her character, Chloe, has the 'morals of a pirate,' and Ritter likes it that way.

Behold a scene of lust and betrayal between a young woman and another woman's fiancé, on top of a kitchen table. Make that on top of a birthday cake. On the betrayed woman's birthday. Oh, and the women are roommates. Then discover that it's not only excusable behavior but also actually a kinky act of kindness.

Dish Network ad-skipping feature Auto Hop irks network TV execs

By Joe Flint, Los Angeles Times — Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

An NBC executive called the satellite broadcaster's new offering enabling customers to block commercials from certain recorded shows 'an attack on our ecosystem' while a Fox executive described Dish's decision to offer the feature 'a strange thing to do.'

NEW YORK — Satellite broadcaster Dish Network Corp.'s new Auto Hop feature, which makes it easier for viewers to avoid watching commercials, is not winning the company any fans in the television business.

NBC hopes you find its schedule funny

By Scott Collins, Los Angeles Times — Mon, 14 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

The network's fall schedule includes four nights of comedy, sci-fi drama 'Revolution' from J.J. Abrams, drama 'Chicago Fire' from Dick Wolf and Season 3 of 'The Voice.'

NBC evidently believes laughter is the best medicine: The struggling network will have a strong dose of comedy on four nights in its fall lineup plus the Season 3 return of"The Voice."

Review: HBO's 'Weight of the Nation' pounds away at obesity

By Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Television Critic — Mon, 14 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

The four-part 'Weight of the Nation' continues HBO's crusade for change, with a look at how obesity has affected Americans and what can be done for the long run.

"The Weight of the Nation," HBO's new four-part documentary exploring the rising obesity rates among Americans, does not pussy-foot. Americans, we are told early and often, are simply too fat and their collective girth is straining more than seats in coach. Obesity, inevitably accompanied by a grim posse of ailments including diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, sleep apnea and many cancers, affects the nation's collective state of physical health, mental health, productivity, brain development and life span. At the rate we're going, children of today may become the first generation to die younger than their parents. And forget the brouhaha over math scores; if we don't get our weight under control, the majority of the population will soon be too fat and too sick to get off the couch, much less compete internationally.

'Johnny Carson: King of Late Night' takes an in-depth look

By Greg Braxton, Los Angeles Times — Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

A PBS 'American Masters' documentary investigates the mystique of the elusive 'Tonight Show' host, 20 years after he left TV.

Barbara Walters, Peter Jennings and Diane Sawyer all made their best pitch but were turned down. Johnny Carson, the man who changed forever the world of late-night talk, wasn't talking.