Television

BBC America is airing a special two-hour version of The Office Thursday night. TV critic David Bianculli has a review.

Matt Stone is co-executive producer and co-creator (along with Trey Parker) of the popular satirical animated series South Park. Stone and Parker recently collaborated on Team America, an action film satire featuring a cast of puppets in which a rising Broadway star infiltrates a terrorist network.

Abrams is the executive producer and creator of the ABC series Lost about a group of survivors from an airplane crash marooned on an island. He also acts as the creator and executive producer of the series Alias. And he wrote the screenplays for the films Armageddon, Forever Young, and Regarding Henry.

We broadcast excerpts from a recent panel presented by The New Yorker magazine. On the panel were network news anchors Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather. They discuss the presidential campaign and network news. The panel was moderated by Ken Auletta, a contributor to The New Yorker who writes the Annals of Communications column for the magazine.

Actor Zach Braff talks about the TV comedy he stars in, Scrubs. Braff wrote and directed the feature film Garden State, which opened in theaters over the summer to critical acclaim. We also speak with the creator of Scrubs, producer Bill Lawrence.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews Desperate Housewives, a new series that takes a dark look at suburbia.

Stewart hosts The Daily Show on Comedy Central. The show has won an Emmy, the coveted Peabody Award, and most recently, the Television Critics Association award. He has a new book, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction.

Gordon, host of Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown, made big bucks in the world of hi-tech before winning more than $1 million in poker tournaments. His new book is called Poker: The Real Deal.

The acclaimed HBO series begins its third season. Simon is the show's creator and executive producer. Simon was a police reporter for The Baltimore Sun who moved to television and wrote for the show Homicide: Life on the Street. Pelecanos is a D.C.-based crime novelist who now writes for TV and film. Esquire magazine calls him "the poet laureate of the D.C. crime world."

The new reality TV series, Family Bonds follows Evangelista's bail bonds business. Evangelista lends money to post bond, and if the customer doesn't pay up, he tracks them down. The show airs on HBO Sundays at 10 p.m. ET.

Critic David Bianculli has some thoughts about the fall season and cable's impact on network television. He says ABC may have the year's two best shows: the prime-time soap opera Desperate Housewives and the action/suspense show Lost.

TV critic David Bianculli on the upcoming coverage of the Olympics.

World-renowned master chef Julia Child died Thursday at the age of 91. She spent three decades explaining the mysteries of classic French cuisine to modern American audiences. Child hosted several cooking shows on public television, earning Peabody and Emmy Awards in the process, and wrote nine cookbooks.

Maher hosts the HBO show Real Time with Bill Maher, which just began a new season. Like his previous show, Politically Incorrect, he features a roundtable of guests who make jokes and talk politics. The show is broadcast Friday nights at 11 p.m. Maher is also the author of When You Ride Alone, You Ride with Bin Laden.

He was the Weekend Update anchor on Saturday Night Live from 1998 to 2000, and was known for his satirical coverage of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. He's now starring in Comedy Central's Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn. It airs on Comedy Central (Monday through Thursday, 11:30 p.m. EST).

TV critic David Bianculli reviews the coverage of the Democratic National Convention, or lack of it.

Critic at large John Powers considers the latest programming from the cable network. HBO has become a perennial Emmy winner for shows such as The Sopranos. New offerings this season include Entourage, about a rising Hollywood actor and his childhood friends.

TV critic David Bianculli has a report from the 25th Anniversary of the Banff Television Festival. About 1,300 television professionals from around the world came together from June 13-17 to award prizes to the best in international TV programming.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews the final episode of Fraiser.