TCA Notes

As you know (or may not know), the Television Critics Association (or TCA) Press Tour is underway in Los Angeles, with cable nets rolling out its programs over the next couple of days:

-Hallmark: The network's original programming on tap this fall includes stars Jane Seymour, Ed Asner, Cheech Marin, Florence Henderson, and Donna Mills (If it features Donna Mills, you know I'll be watching...)

-HD Net: Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban bores the audience about his HD Net channel and the upcoming movie he's premiering on VOD (video on demand) called Humboldt County - before it is released in theatres.

- Comcast (G4, Style, E!) The Attack of the Show crew decided to have a little fun with the press.... By the way, isn't Olivia Munn the biggest waste of talent to ever land on a TV screen? (I've seen Attack of the Show... she's couldn't host her way out of a paper bag.)

Style featured a woman who is trying to lose weight - she weighs over 500 pounds - and so far has lost 63 pounds. Her struggles will be documented in Ruby, set to debut this fall.

E! had a panel featuring Joel McHale of The Soup (formerly Talk Soup), talked about his show skewers celebrities and how reality-TV stars often contact him to be on the show (I guess your fifteen minutes of fame will never run out there...)

-TV One: There's already controversy at the tour, and no surprise - it involves Barack Obama. African-American targeted cable net TV One rankled a few critics announcing it was only covering the Democratic Convention (where Obama will be nominated) and not the Republican Convention. Sitting on the panel was comedian Sheryl Underwood, who is about as funny as Olivia Munn.

As for programming, TV One will feature unsolved '50's civil rights crimes as part of its fall line-up, as well as a new program featuring Judge Greg Mathis, who examines life in high-crime areas of Oakland and Newark.

- BBC America: Meanwhile, BBC America announced it has hired Ted Koppel and one of the net's honchos warned about Obama-Mania, i.e., over-coverage of Obama. The network will be at the Democratic and Republican Convention.

Yours truly will post more news from the tour from his house tomorrow... In the meantime, I've added a link to The Sidebar for websites you can go to for the latest up-to-the-date info on the press tour and more links will be added throughout the week. I've also added the latest TV Week Critics Poll to the sidebar as well, under Must Click Archive Posts. Yours truly will dissect the poll later in the week.