Fourth-Place Peacock Goes Light on New Shows

Why NBC should pull the plug

(NEWSER) - Sure, sure, The Office is still funny, but it’s becoming increasingly obvious that it’s running out of steam, and should just close up shop when Steve Carell departs. “You can sense a weariness and desperation setting in,” writes Matt Zoller Seitz on Salon . “Are we seeing yet another example of network TV's factory mentality (26 episodes a year, series run extended indefinitely) squeezing the vitality and focus from a once-great show?” 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»

Jim and Pam are the height of bland

(NEWSER) - After 5 years of the will-they-or-won't-they dance, Jim and Pam of The Office will tie the knot in the Oct. 8 episode, and the prenuptial PR blitz has sent one blogger around the bend. "We're already sick of these two insufferable lovebirds," enemy of drawn-out romance Brian Moylan writes for Gawker. "Christ, it took them two years just to freakin' kiss! And now their engagement, which has been prolonged since last season's premiere, is the same way." More»

Breast cancer will take more treatment than initially thought

(NEWSER) - Treatment for breast cancer has forced a "deeply disappointed" Maura Tierney to withdraw from a leading role in the NBC series Parenthood, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The show was originally scheduled to start airing this month, but production was pushed back to allow Tierney, 44, to undergo treatment. The former ER and NewsRadio star said in a statement she and her doctors are "confident that the outcome of her treatments will be positive." More»

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.