Great story on NPR this morning about the failure of BET to provide decent programming for the community it originally targeted (and secured funds from, hat in hand). Tonight 8:00pm America's Funniest Home Videos ABC - Season Finale. The three finalists compete for the grand prize. 9:00pm Man vs. Wild: Indian Ocean DICSOVERY - Bear Grylls has to survive a week on a deserted island in the Indian Ocean 9:00pm Man Bites Dog IFC -......

Looks like the SAG and studios have dropped negotiations without reaching a deal so look for a bunch more DVD reviews from me in the next few weeks because it's time to stock up for the summer. It's still springtime and finally my young-man's fancy is turning to love just in time to check out "The Love Boat" reruns on Joost - I can't get enough soft-focus of B and C list celebrities from 25......

The LA Times has a write-up on the demise of local public Channel 36. Somehow the City of LA can't/won't come up with a measly $500k to keep local broadcast of "school sport events, public policy talks, and long-distance for-credit college classes". While it's true that there is another city-funded public channel (#35) that one seems to be a megaphone for whichever politicians are in office. Surely the megalopolis of LA is big enough to......

It looks like Time Warner Inc. will be spinning off Time Warner Cable and announcing that sometime today. No word yet on how that might affect subscribers (like yours truly) of the TV, phone, and web services that the cable entity offers. 9:00pm MI-5 BBCA - This show kicks butt over any similar US show: "CSI", "NUMB3RS", etc. 9:15pm Brief Encounter TCM - (1945) Hey romantics, this tale of unrequited love directed by David Lean......

Late night TV is looking really good this week, with at least one good guest per show per night (with the exception of the deplorable "Last Call With Carson Daly"). Was anyone at the Pacific Design Center in Hollywood last night? There was supposed to be the debut of a new TV series called "Scarlet" but in reality, according to the Wall Street Journal, the whole thing was a ruse to launch a new series......

Advertising Age is reporting on the possible end of the nightly network newscast as another 1.2 million viewers in the US stopped tuning in last year. The article points out that the reason why people aren't tuning in at 6pm is because.... they are still at work. Hey networks, instead of constantly going off on red herrings like Terri Schiavo and WMD in Iraq, how about creating a frenzy over the fact that Americans work......

This weekend it's all about BBC America's programming with new seasons of "Robin Hood", "The Graham Norton Show", and "Wire In The Blood". I've seen previews of "Robin Hood" and it's a more than worthy replacement for "Torchwood" whose season (dramatically) ended last Saturday with the (supposed) deaths of at least two main characters. Of course, you'll have to be able to emotionally handle the incredible switch from science fiction to fantasy in order to......

The TV Junkie is in New York City and will be at the above SNL taping! Tonight 9:00pm Miss USA NBC - Donnie and Marie host the event, if only they would make out like in that SNL sketch 10:00pm Battlestar Galactica SCIFI - Nerds and those with inner nerds rejoice! [I count myself in both demographics]......

We have a bit of TV on tonight but it's not much unless you like cooking, which I do. I'm waiting for Thursday and the return of some programming to NBC. 7:00pm Major Dundee TCM - (1965) A classic with Charlton Heston in a memorial marathon of his films today/tonight on TCM. 8:00pm Nova:Cracking the Maya Code PBS/KCET - Goddammit, I feel like this is an excuse for yet another National Treasure sequel. 9:00pm Dancing......

Did anyone see the plastic surgery disaster that is Renee Zellweger on Letterman last night? The skin was stretched so hard over her face I thought her skull was going to pop out. OK so maybe it isn't plastic surgery, Botox anyone? What is wrong with her?? Tracey Ullman has her dead on in "State of the Union". Also, in yesterday's Wall Street Journal, there's an article about NBC's new 52-week, wait, now "65-week" lineup,......

Did anyone watch "Top Gear" last night on BBCA? They had a fantastic contest of who could cross London the fastest: a bicycle, a several hundred horsepower boat, public transportation, or a Mercedes SUV. The bike won! Followed closely by the boat and then public transportation with the SUV dead last by more than a quarter hour after public transport. Since LA doesn't have many viable waterways it looks like it's time to sideline cars......

Is HBO really in trouble? (Speaking of HBO, check out this great movie from 1983 about the creation of the HBO Theater opening sequence). Business Week asks if the premium channel is in trouble now that "The Sopranos" are gone (also "The Wire", "deadwood", "Rome", etc.) with nothing on the horizon to step up. The fact is that Showtime, FX, and even AMC are coming up with more compelling shows as of this last year......

It looks like a lot is on tonight but as a commentor said yesterday, "TV really blows these days" - I agree. Lifetime has launched an online series hosted by Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead called "Gift Intervention", it's kind of like an Antiques Roadshow for really bad gifts combined with an outing of the bad-giftor. 7:00pm What's New Pussycat TCM - (1965) Shaga-slapa-delic classic with Peter Sellers, Peter O'Toole, Woody Allen, Ursula Andress, Capucine.......

DirecTV has finally come to the on-demand table but is it too late? Supposedly it's at least as bad as the Dish Network's offering - very limited functionality, automatically sending content to a set top box with limited storage and potential delays in viewing. Friday 8:00pm The Return of Jezebel James FOX - Series Premiere. Parker Posey in a sitcom? WTF? Fox is really planning for success with this one by putting it on a......

A new development, according to the Wall Street Journal, in the land of Big (advertising) Brother is that Nielsen is teaming up with Charter Communications to get set top box data from 320,000 set top boxes in what city?? Los Angeles! Now while no advertiser would make ad placement decisions based exclusively on the somewhat limited data that would come from set top boxes but this infusion of a large pool of subjects is a......

Naoko Mori plays science technician/alien-buster Toshiko Sato on the BBC's "Torchwood", the coolest science fiction show to come out of the UK in quite a while. In fact, when put up against a lot of the other science fiction originating on cable, "Torchwood" more than holds its own against "Stargate Atlantis", "Flash Gordon", etc. The production values are great and the stories I think are a bit more unique than some of these other......

Talk shows this week are all Natalie Portman all the time if you hadn't noticed - the charming pixie is making the rounds for her new flick The Other Boleyn Girl, a period piece that looks like a yawn to me. In terms of tonight's viewing options check out the 10 o'clock slot - way too many choices and all of them are reality TV, what a shame. 7:15pm Doctor Zhivago TCM - If you......

Torchwood is a guilty pleasure and its new season starts tonight on the BBCA. If you've ever been in a foreign land and seen a slightly dated American TV program come on and felt that queasy embarrassment then you know what watching Torchwood is like. It's cheesy and over-the-top science fiction with British accents and the odd dashing American thrown in. Everyone is hyper-sexed and they don't seem to discriminate between whichever sex they are......

Got a bit more of a schedule tonight: the Winter X Games are starting up, and there's a bunch of stuff at 8:00pm. I was sick on Sunday so I'm looking forward to catching the rebroadcast of Breaking Bad on AMC. 6:00pm Winter X Games ESPN - Special. This will be re-broadcast at 10:00pm. I'd be kind of into watching this if it didn't have all this stupid snowmobile crap in it. 8:00pm Ramsay's Kitchen......

So I spent my Sunday sick as a dog on the couch watching, of all things, football, literally because I was too wiped to find the clicker and move on. I'd forgotten how obnoxious the graphics were and how pompous and full of itself football has become. Still, gotta watch the Super Bowl for the commercials so I still have some time to devote to that. Am dismayed that the talentless hack Ryan Seacrest is......

In other news, a desperate NBC has ordered a pilot of the BBC's cars & celebs series, Top Gear. The show has been running on BBC America for a couple years now, I've seen a few episodes, notably one with Ewan McGregor. The show may be amusing depending upon which celebrities they line up, but it's no American Idol. Again, instead of coming up with something original, we're forced to watch rebranded concepts from overseas.......

Post Xmas doldrums have hit the tube big time, here's what's worth watching tonight: 7:00pm BBC World News BBCA - BBC will exclusively cover Benazir Bhutto's assassination and turmoil in Pakistan, aka "shit hits fan" 9:45pm A Guy Named Joe TCM - (1943) Featuring Spencer Tracy as the ghost pilot who shadows Van Johnson who is courting his old girlfriend played by Irene Dunne. This original is a million times better than Spielberg's piece of......

StumbleUpon is one of several Web 2.0 properties experiencing a surge in activity that could be related to the WGA strike. Listen to the LAist interview with Dave Feller, VP of Marketing @ StumbleUpon: Evidently the lack of new programming on TV, particularly late night, is causing a surge of activity online, a measurable increase that page ranker/social networking site StumbleUpon. It makes one wonder what will happen if/when the WGA strike starts to affect......

It all started with Anthony Bourdain's Mexican border episode of his show No Reservations. At one point he picks up a riding crop in a leather shop. He slaps it confidently against the palm of his hand, and says, "Yeah, this is coming home with me." I've always been attracted to his superior punk New York attitude. But the "whack" of that riding crop took it somewhere new. I confessed to my boyfriend, "I'm sorry......

Amy Winehouse got booed offstage during the opening of her new tour after ranting about her husband's incarceration - BBC Britney Spears runs over another photographer last night while leaving The Four Seasons - TMZ Rumer Willis has been named "Miss Golden Globe" by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association - Defamer Little Zahara's family wants her back in Africa! They are claiming that Angelina Jolie's adoption paperwork is wrong - Digital Spy Dave Letterman opens......

An area of Mexico larger than metro LA is almost completely underwater after two days of severe flooding. Granted, we're busy fighting a Global War on Terror and it's inconvenient to help our neighbors, not to mention our own domestic needs, but... it's probably worth knowing that 80 percent of Tabasco is underwater. More rain is on its way. Our fires were on front pages around the world. So how come when Mexico experiences......

Here at LAist, we cover many fantastic up and coming artists, as well as those who have toiled in obscurity for far too long, but continue to push new boundaries in music. If any of them are lucky, perhaps they will have a fraction of the career with the longevity and overall significance and impact on music that the incomparable Emmylou Harris has had over the last 37 years since her debut album Gliding......

Away From Her is one of the best movies I never want to see again. As if getting old and losing your mind weren't depressing enough! Still, Sarah Polley (already a superb actor) is now a director I'm planning to watch. Are you like me? Were you deeply in love with Barbara Crampton as a young lad? Has The Graduate aged well? I think not so much, but find out for yourself with this......

OUT TODAY: Junior Senior - Hey Hey My My Yo Yo (Rykodisc) [MP3]: “We R The Handclaps” via Fluxblog Eisley - Combinations (Reprise / Wea) [MP3]: “Invasion” via Lullabyes Linda Thompson - Versatile Heart (Rounder) [MP3]: “Beauty (feat Antony)” via Homo Eclectic The Wildbirds - Golden Daze (Universal Republic) [MP3]: “Way Down Low” via Come Pick Me Up You Say Party! We Say Die! - Lose All Time (Paper Bag) [MP3]: “Giant Hands” via......

Who woulda thunk? In the latest episode of BBC Radio 4's Document, host Mike Thomson investigates a purported coup orchestrated by Prescott Bush and several influential American families that sought (but obviously failed) to overthrow FDR and institute a fascist dictatorship in the U.S. of A a la Hitler and Mussolini: "Document uncovers details of a planned coup in the USA in 1933 by a group of right-wing American businessmen . The coup was......