Jenna Bush Hager Joins Today as Contributor

Both Battleground and Lilyhammer get mixed reviews, as streaming services branch out

(NEWSER) - Online streaming sites Hulu and Netflix both launched original series this week, as both services take baby steps toward competing with regular television, reports Gigaom . A look at each:

• Hulu's Battleground is the more conventional of the two, a 13-episode comedy about a Senate campaign in Wisconsin that started today, with a new 22-minute episode airing each Tuesday. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has solid praise for Battleground, saying it is "a smart, well-written comedy series you might find on a premium cable network." The AP is less kind, however, calling it "a light, watered-down knockoff of The Office," while the New York Daily News comes down somewhere in-between.

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.

Police believe the 75-year-old committed suicide

(NEWSER) - Soul Train creator and longtime host Don Cornelius was found dead this morning in his Sherman Oaks, Calif., home, in what police are calling an apparent suicide. Law enforcement sources say the 75-year-old died from a single gunshot wound to the head, which they believe was self-inflicted. Cornelius' Soul Train holds the title of the "longest-running first-run nationally syndicated show in television history," reports the Los Angeles Times . Its 35-year run began in 1971, and in 2010 Cornelius told the paper that he was working on a sort of biographical movie about the show. More»

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»

The Office firm to put 'quabity first' in Staples deal

(NEWSER) - Fans of the Office will soon be able to buy paper made by their favorite company—though instead of purchasing it from Dwight Schrute, they’ll have to get their reams through Staples. The office-supply giant’s Quill.com has reached a licensing deal with NBCUniversal to sell Dunder Mifflin paper, the Wall Street Journal reports. The letterhead must have been approved by Michael Scott: It carries slogans like "Quabity First" and "Get Your Scrant On." More»