Television

The year in television started with a bust — or to be more precise, a writer's strike — but Fresh Air's TV critic says there were plenty of TiVo-worthy programs in 2008. Prominent among them: AMC's Mad Men.

The veteran actor Robert Prosky was perhaps best known for his role as the big-hearted desk sergeant Stan Jablonski on Hill Street Blues. He died Monday at the age of 77.

TV critic David Bianculli shares his thoughts on the final episode of Boston Legal — and the announcement this week that Jay Leno will begin a new nightly prime-time talk show on NBC next year.

A two-hour self-contained 24 movie on Fox follows Jack Bauer to Africa, where he's hiding out from his own government and working at a charity boys' school. But as reviewer David Bianculli reports, wherever Bauer is, trouble surely follows.

The latest film from Trainspotting director Danny Boyle follows an uneducated Indian youth who hits the jackpot on the Hindi version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

Self-proclaimed "broadcasting legend" Stephen Colbert talks about his upcoming Christmas special on Comedy Central. According to Colbert, it will include goats dressed as reindeer and his own original Christmas songs.

British director Danny Boyle's newest film, Slumdog Millionaire, tells the story of an orphan boy who wins the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Boyle's previous credits include Trainspotting and 28 Days Later.

Jane Lynch may be most well-known for her recent roles as Sue Sylvester on Glee and as Julia Child's sister in Julie & Julia, but she's a movie and TV veteran, with a long list of delicious character parts under the belt.

Tina Fey's impersonation of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin helped draw record audiences to Saturday Night Live this fall. Now, the former head writer for SNL opens up about politics, satire and her Emmy Award-winning sitcom, 30 Rock.

Emmy-winning director and producer Larry Charles has a penchant for the ridiculous — witness his credits, which include Borat, Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Now, Charles wants to turn his latest film, Religulous, into an HBO series.

Fans of NBC's Friday Night Lights might want to look into DirecTV; the show, about a small Texas town and its high-school football team, begins its third season exclusively on DirecTV's "The 101," and won't hit broadcast TV until 2009. David Bianculli has a review.

TV's most charming serial killer is back for a third season on Showtime. With new murders, new dangers and new characters, TV critic David Bianculli says the new season is a real thrill.

On Sept. 21, the AMC series Mad Men became the first basic cable program to win an Emmy Award for outstanding drama. Executive producer Matthew Weiner and actors Jon Hamm and John Slattery discuss the madness of Madison Avenue circa 1960.

NBC's 30 Rock cleaned up the major comedy prizes, but the big drama awards went to basic-cable breakouts like AMC's Mad Men and FX's Damages. TV critic David Bianculli recaps the evening.

In the ABC series, Pushing Daises, co-executive producers Barry Sonnenfeld and Bryan Fuller combine romance, fantasy and mystery to tell the story of a man who can bring the dead back to life. The first season of the show is now out on DVD.

First he created Six Feet Under, the HBO series about a family that runs a funeral home and is steeped in death. Now he's created an HBO series about the undead: True Blood, about vampires who've emerged from the shadows.

Lost creator J.J. Abrams discusses his latest television show, Fringe. The show, which Abrams describes as having a "a slight 'Twilight Zone' vibe," focuses on the unnatural occurrences in the world of a brilliant but mentally-unstable research scientist.

The new HBO series centers on a vampire clan living in a small Louisiana town. It's by Alan Ball, creator of the hit series Six Feet Under, and based on a series of novels by Charlaine Harris. Anna Paquin stars.

TV critic David Bianculli considers the impact of the FX drama series The Shield, which begins its seventh and final season.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews Mad Men, the drama about advertising execs during the Kennedy years. Season two of the Emmy-nominated series begins on Sunday night on AMC.