'Dr. Greene' to Return to ER

NBC musical dazzles critics... mostly

(NEWSER) - If you watched the Super Bowl, you just might have heard of Smash, NBC's new drama about the making of a Broadway musical. It premiered last night, and critics are (mostly) giving it a standing ovation:

• The buzz has gotten so intense that the conversation isn't even about whether it'll be good. "Good? Darling, it's great!" gushes Mary McNamara of the LA Times . The creators have "managed to capture the grand and sweeping gesture that is musical theater and inject it with the immediate intimacy of television," an impressive, unprecedented feat.

NBC gives Handler a lot of freedom: 'LAT'

(NEWSER) - If you were worrying that a Chelsea Handler sitcom on network TV would tame the bawdy comedian, you can stop. Tonight's NBC debut of Are You There, Chelsea? features bartender Chelsea, played by Laura Prepon, behind bars for drunk driving, where she prays (to vodka) and promises to change her life. No, not to quit drinking ... just to relocate within walking distance of the watering hole. The show also includes the sex term "lady wood," the Los Angeles Times notes. More»

As anchors fawn, foreign athletes described with 'hoary cliches'

(NEWSER) - Shaun White may be introducing new tricks during these Games, but NBC’s coverage of him, and Team USA in general, remains an unchanged lesson in "network heavy breathing," writes Alessandra Stanley. “Hyped-up commentators” explain the action “often incomprehensibly,” but once the race is over the cameras are “instantaneously intrusive.” Take Lindsey Vonn’s moment with her husband after her downhill win. Touching, yes, but also like a “convict trying to talk to a visiting spouse.” More»

This year's network pilots include four with non-white stars

(NEWSER) - The upcoming crop of pilots for network TV offers hope that the industry taboo against minority leads in dramas can finally be put to rest. Four of the most high-profile projects in the works feature non-white actors, notes the Hollywood Reporter , including Forest Whitaker in a spinoff of Criminal Minds for CBS. More»

Leno switch is the just latest in a string of dismal decisions

(NEWSER) - He used to be network television's wunderkind, but now Jeff Zucker might go down as the man whose misguided moves dealt a death blow to NBC. The flip-flop over Jay Leno—"shaping up to be one of the biggest debacles in television history"—is just the latest of "several costly miscalculations" by the CEO of NBC Universal, write Meg James and Matea Gold in the Los Angeles Times . More»