Television
30 Rock' opts for humor; Lithgow for 'Twenty Good Years
By ROB OWEN
Already this fall, NBC's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" has peered behind the scenes at a "Saturday Night Live"-like sketch comedy show, but it's done so as a drama. "30 Rock" (8 p.m., EDT/PDT, Oct.
'The Nine' gives us a cast, and a show, to believe in
By TERRY MORROW
Sometimes all it takes to bring us together is the right situation.
And, suddenly, we're bonded, which is the point so eloquently played out in "The Nine" (10 p.m. EDT/PDT, Wednesday, Oct.
'Friday Night Lights' readies for kickoff
By DUSTY SAUNDERS
Local stations present Friday-night highlights and scores of local prep games.
The screen is inundated seemingly day and night with college contests.
The NFL dominates Sunday and Sunday night.
Michael C. Hall sees dead people once again
By TERRY MORROW
Michael C. Hall, who played troubled mortician David Fisher on HBO's "Six Feet Under," is back on series television _ and in a morgue no less _ with "Dexter" (10 p.m. Sunday, EDT/PDT, Showtime).
He plays the title character, a crime scene investigator who is secretly a serial killer.
Michael C. Hall helps 'Dexter' avoid stereotypes
By TERRY MORROW
Michael C. Hall is a hard one to read.
He doesn't wear his emotions on his sleeve, and in some ways, that trait makes him the perfect fit for the lead role in Showtime's new drama "Dexter," airing 10 p.m.
Rosie O'Donnell's body issues get a going over on 'Nip/Tuck'
By TERRY MORROW
Rosie O'Donnell's own body issues came up when she was asked to do a guest stint on "Nip/Tuck."
"I was concerned about being naked," she says in her trailer during a break from shooting.
Kyle Chandler just one of 'Friday Night's' many lights
By ROB OWEN
You don't have to love football to enjoy NBC's "Friday Night Lights," one of the fall's brightest new dramas. Even in a TV season filled with plenty of quality shows, "Lights" and NBC's "Heroes" compete for superlatives above all others, even the more heavily promoted "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip."
Among a certain set of obsessive TV-philes (myself included), "Friday Night Lights," airing Tuesdays at 8 p.m.
ABC loads up on Tuesday night sitcoms
By TIM GOODMAN
If you are of the mind that your comedy should come with a lot of rough edges and dark pop-culture callbacks, "Help Me Help You," the new Ted Danson sitcom on ABC, might not be for you.
Web's mini-episodes hold viewers' attention
By ADRIAN McCOY
Think of webisodes as you would afternoon tea or an after-school snack _ something designed to tide you over until dinner or, in this case, a new prime-time TV season.
Two highly addictive shows _ Sci Fi Channel's "Battlestar Galactica" and NBC's "The Office" _ have been running a series of short, online-only webisodes in the weeks before the new seasons launch.
"The Office" has 10 short webisodes online that served as segue to Thursday's season premiere.
And now, special episodes of TV shows for viewing on Web
By ROB OWEN
Think you've seen every episode of "The Office" if you watched them weekly on TV? Think again.
Over the summer, NBC produced 10 "webisodes" of the comedy for NBC.com. Webisodes are short, three-minute "episodes" made for and available for viewing on the Web.
In recent years, networks have begun offering additional online content that supplements TV shows (character's blogs, chats with actors, etc.); now some networks are encouraging _ or demanding _ additional online content, including webisodes.
Last year networks began offering full episodes of their series online, but a recent Associated Press-America Online poll found that only 1 in 5 online video viewers has watched or downloaded a full-length movie or TV show.
In the YouTube.com era of short, user-generated online videos, the brevity of webisodes may be a better bet for networks until computers and TV sets merge more completely into a single home entertainment center.
