As the Beijing Olympics draws to a close, I herewith humbly submit eight observations gleaned from NBC's coverage:

1. Be the window, not the image. Too many reporters interject themselves into the interviews or stories they're doing (although I do have a soft spot for Matt Lauer and Al Roker's attempts at sports that require close-fitting [...]

The "Harry Potter"-like frenzy building for the midnight release of Stephenie Meyer's novel "Breaking Dawn" — the conclusion of her teen vampire romance series — is but a taste of things to come.

On Sept. 7, HBO premieres "True Blood," a sultry vamp series from the folks who gave us "Six Feet Under" by way of [...]

What's up with writer Andrew Davies, TV's Mr. Adaptation? His many triumphs include the definitive "Pride and Prejudice" (A&E) and a riveting "Bleak House" (PBS) that remains one of the most moving productions I've seen on the tube.

Recently, however, the runner has stumbled. Earlier this year, he recast PBS' "A Room With A View"  as [...]

Just a quick shout-out to "Sunday Arts," the new magazine show that airs on Thirteen/WNET at noon Sundays. It's shaping up to be an enjoyable mix of coming events, exhibit tours and stellar rebroadcasts, like yesterday's repeat of a 2006 concert from the Salzburg Festival. Mozart's always so inspiring.

Alan Cumming – the elegant, knowing new host of PBS' "Masterpiece Mystery" – showed a decidedly cheekier side of himself at the Lincoln Center Festival over the weekend.

As Dionysus in the ingenious National Theatre of Scotland production of Euripides' "The Bacchae," Cumming pranced around the stage in a gold-lamé kilt, kohl-rimmed eyes, vamp nail polish [...]

When I was a child, Bobby Murcer – who died Saturday of complications from brain cancer — was my favorite ballplayer.

Those who grew up with the New York Yankees of the 1990s — or for that matter, the '20s through early '60s — tend to see them through the lens of greatness. Whereas I, coming [...]

"Stargate Atlantis" returns to Sci Fi at 10 tonight, and while I'm thrilled to have the series back, I wish the fifth-season opener didn't resolve everything so quickly.

There's so much going on — what with a kidnapped Teyla (Rachel Lutrell) about to have her baby, who's destined to bring great change (Is there any other [...]

Perhaps it's because I never had kids, never wanted them and — truth be told — was extremely unsuccessful at being a child, but I'm am just loving every minute of "The Baby Borrowers," which is on for two blissful hours on NBC tonight beginning at 8.

In this series, several teen couples play house in [...]

You don't have to love opera to revel in Laurent Pelly's production of "La Fille du Régiment," which was simulcast in theaters in April and is airing on PBS' "Great Performances at the Met" at 8 tonight. Being a fan of '30s screwball comedies or '40s musicals will do.

The good news is that PBS' "Masterpiece Mystery!" is back for the summer, with new cases and a new face: The marvelously arch Alan Cumming is now the series' host.

The bad news is that the series' return marks the swan songs of two of its stalwarts — Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle (Michael Kitchen), who's [...]

After deconstructing "The Incredible Hulk" in a previous blog, I am pleased to report that the new "Hulk" lived up to my expectations. (I was half-inclined to like it, though, since I'm such an Edward Norton fan.)

Norton does his usual excellent job of inhabiting a character. But what particularly impressed me is the way he [...]

With the passing of Tim Russert, a few thoughts occur to me.

The first is that he was preparing to leave this world and didn't even know it. Much like Princess Diana divesting herself of her gowns at a public auction before she died, Russert was engaged in saying goodbye — having his staff on "Meet [...]

This has been a week of electrifying artistry for me. On Sunday, I saw retiring New York City Ballet principal Damian Woetzel — the best dancer of my experience — give one of his last performances in George Balanchine's haunting "Prodigal Son." Anyone can be naked on a stage. But to be emotionally naked in [...]

What's the biggest movie of the summer that no one seems to be talking about?

That would have to be "The Incredible Hulk," which Yours Truly will be front and center for when it opens next Friday.

To be sure, there's a little of what we entertainment experts — yeah, right — like to call "buzz". The [...]

After watching Sen. Barack Obama give the keynote speech at the Democratic convention in 2004, I told my friends, colleagues and just about anyone who would listen to me for five seconds that Obama would succeed President George W. Bush after his second term. Some scoffed. Others laughed.

I'm both proud and pleased to say [...]

As "The Tudors" (9 p.m. Sundays, Showtime) nears the finish of its second season, it's getting better — more urgent dramatically as it is more accurate historically.  What a surprise.

Notice how no one cares about the arts until they suddenly need them? A recent NBC report on children traumatized by the Chinese earthquake showed them painting their thoughts and feelings or listening as a story was read to them.

In tragedy, the arts offer solace, distraction, inspiration, self-expression and transcendence. Would that the media would [...]

CBS may have pulled the plug on "Moonlight" for its fall sked, but that doesn't mean we can't continue to enjoy the reruns. For TiVo and tape buffs, tonight's episode (9 p.m.) is probably the best, with Mick (Alex O'Loughlin) and Beth (Sophia Myles) at the height of their sensual chemistry and Josef at his [...]

Truth is stranger than fiction — except, of course, when fiction is stranger than truth.

The recent season finale of NBC's "Law & Order" offered viewers a terrific riff on the Eliot Spitzer scandal. A fictitious New York governor — younger and better-looking than Spitzer, for this is TV, people — found himself involved in a [...]

"Life was his sentence," defense attorney Contance Griffiths (Brooke Langton) says of exonerated client Charlie Crews (Damian Lewis) on NBC's "Life." "And life was what he got back."

But fans of the drama — which returns this fall in the 10 p.m. Friday time slot, where it has the potential to become the Peacock Network's "House" [...]