L.A. Confidential: 2006 Winter Press Tour Journal

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TV Editor Rob Owen goes behind the scenes of the Television Critics Association winter press tour in Los Angeles with this journal, written exclusively for post-gazette.com.

1/23/06: The end is finally near
The Television Critics Association winter press tour ended yesterday with a flurry of NBC programming announcements, but the real fun was in sessions for "The Office," "My Name Is Earl" and "Scrubs" . . . (Read more)

1/21/06: Back stage on the set of 'Commander in Cheif'
Several dozen TV critics descended upon the "Commander in Chief" set to talk with the cast and executive producer Steven Bochco . . . (Read more)

1/20/06: Old names, new shows
Julia Louis-Dreyfus stars in the midseason CBS comedy "The New Adventures of Old Christine" (coming in March) . . . (Read more)

1/19/06: Comedy comeback?
Already this season we've seen NBC's "My Name Is Earl" become a hit; CBS's "How I Met Your Mother" and UPN's "Everybody Hates Chris" are moderate hits, . . . (Read more)

1/18/06: Not so golden
Despite what viewers might think, covering Hollywood awards shows is anything but glamorous. . . . (Read more)

1/17/06: 'House' party in L.A.
Not to sound jaded, but once you've been on the sets of a few hospital dramas ("ER," "Chicago Hope," "City of Angels," "Gideon's Crossing," etc.) they all sort of look the same: Antiseptic with a few distinguishing touches, depending on whether the setting is a gritty urban emergency room or a more upscale research hospital . . . (Read more)

1/16/06: WQED takes its 'War' west
I knew I'd see Pittsburgher Deborah Acklin, general manager at WQED Multimedia, at the PBS portion of press tour as moderator of a press conference on the station's "The War That Made America" (9 p.m. Wednesday and Jan. 25) . . . (Read more)

1/14/06: The Sopranos return
Getting the cast and producers of "The Sopranos" to say something - anything! - about their hit HBO series is not an easy task. TV critics love the show, but some of us dread the press conferences . . . (Read more)

1/13/06: 'Flight 93' takes some poetic license
In the upcoming A&E movie "Flight 93" (9 p.m. Jan. 30), about what transpired aboard the United Airlines jet that crashed in Somerset County on Sept. 11, 2001 . . . (Read more)

1/12/06: The purpose of parties
A friend accompanied me to the E!/Style party Tuesday night and asked a very good question: "What's the point of this?" . . . (Read more)

1/11/06: A marching band! Puppies! Ryan Seacrest! Oh my!
Back on the West Coast for the winter edition of the TV critics press tour . . . (Read more)

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Here is Owen's online journal from the 2005 summer press tour:

7/30/05: Heading home
Ran into 1990 Quaker Valley High graduate Wentworth Miller III while exiting the elevator this morning . . . (Read more)

7/29/05: Counting the Days
Sure, it's fun to see celebrities and get interviews with network executives, but after 16 days -- no weekend breaks -- the quality and number of questions in press conferences have begun to wither. ... (Read more)

7/28/05: Smart = good
Contrary to the opinion of some tastemakers, really smart people work in television. ... (Read more)

7/27/05: 'Dancing' with critics
Who knew so many TV critics had an obsessive fondness for "Dancing with the Stars"? ... (Read more)

7/26/05: Who's afraid of the big, bad Wolf?
At least that's what Dick Wolf tells me, and he says it so persuasively, he must be right. ... (Read more)

7/25/05: Peacock plucked
NBC executives tried to portray themselves as humble today, and given the downturn in the network's fortunes, they certainly should be ... (Read more)

7/24/05: The Television Critics Awards
Mirroring its ratings revival this past season, ABC took the most honors at the Television Critics Association awards last night ... (Read more)

7/23/05: RIP -- Michigan J. Frog?
Executives from The WB today announced the passing of the network's original mascot, Michigan J. Frog. ... (Read more)

7/22/05: NYC in LA (but it's really all about Neptune, Calif.)
UPN's star party was held to promote "Everybody Hates Chris." But I was there to learn more about the new season of "Veronica Mars" ... (Read more)

7/20/05: You've got questions, we've got answers
Rob answers readers questions about this year's Press Tour Journal. ... (Read more)

7/20/05: Les is more
The reporters who cover TV were in a blue mood today. We got dissed by Les Moonves, CBS's grandest of grand poohbahs. ... (Read more)

7/19/05: Hot, hot, hot
We visited the sets of HBO's "Deadwood" and FX's new Iraq war drama "Over There" today. Both are located about an hour north of Beverly Hills and it was hot ... (Read more)

7/18/05: God bless the funny fabricated Americans
I'm a sucker for funny, foul-mouthed puppets ... (Read more)

7/17/05: When in Rome ...
HBO's upcoming period series "Rome" has gotten a lackluster response from many critics. Those I've talked to agree it's better than ABC's recent "Empire," but that's damning with faint praise ... (Read more)

7/16/05: She's a scream
I've gotta say, this press tour has been quite successful so far. By that I mean, most of the presentations have been pretty worthwhile, providing a wealth of future stories, assuming I can find time to write them all. (Read more)

7/15/05: The British are coming! The British are coming!
While Pittsburghers may have watched the Emmy nominations yesterday on the morning news shows at a comfortable 8:30 a.m., that's 5:30 a.m. here on the West Coast. (Read more)

7/14/05: From monkeys to monkeying around
Day two of PBS began with a visit from Oko, a monkey puppet from the upcoming kids' show "It's a Big Big World," debuting in January. (Read more)

7/13/05: Center Stage, Mickey Rooney
Here we go again ... If you're seeing that intentionally cheesy picture of me in shades, you know it's time for my semi-annual trip to Los Angeles for the television critics press tour ... (Read more)

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Here is Owen's online journal from the 2005 winter press tour:

1/23/05: Death march with cocktails comes to an end
The Television Critics Association Winter 2005 press tour ended yesterday with ABC doing a victory lap for its successful fall launches of "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives." ... (Read more)

1/21/05: Party patrol
It occurs to me that when I send e-mail to friends back home and I write something like, "It's only 4 p.m. and I'm already exhausted and have two more parties to attend," they are likely rolling their eyes and breaking out the world's tiniest violin to play for me ... (Read more)

1/20/05: Wild and wonderful
MTV's "Trippin'" attempts to raise environmental consciousness among the teen set by putting on a show that follows celebrities as they traipse through exotic locales ... (Read more)

1/19/05: Spinmeisters
Even when it's transparent, you've got to admire the ability of network executives to attempt to spin the press ... (Read more)

1/18/05: Recycled clothes
This current press tour is taking place in the shadow of Universal Studios theme park, but I rode most of the rides there last July, so I wasn't really interested in doing that again. But I was curious about a new store inside the park ... (Read more)

1/17/05: Golden assignment
I attended and covered the Golden Globes Sunday night, my first time ever getting dressed up in a tux to attend a formal entertainment industry event. I was intrigued... (Read more)

1/16/05: TV biz miscellany
Having been on the TV beat for seven years now, it's been interesting to make some realizations that only come over the long term. Here are a couple: ... (Read more)

1/14/05: Second that Emotion
When TV critics gather for the semi-annual press tour, it's not out of the question that we'll make a celebrity cry. ... (Read more)

1/13/05: Right Up Her Alley
So it's late in the afternoon and we're in a press conference for Showtime's "Fat Actress," premiering in March and starring Kirstie Alley as a slightly fictionalized version of herself ... (Read more)

1/12/05: Weird LA
This winter's press tour is being held at the Universal Hilton adjacent to the Universal Studios theme park. The 101 freeway snakes past at the bottom of the hill, and at night, the brake lights of cars in traffic on the 101 look like a lava flow. You think the Parkway East is traffic jammed? It's nothing compared to traffic in L.A., particularly this week. (Read more)

1/11/05: A busy week for TV news
What a week to observe the TV business in Pittsburgh and nationally. There's the Bruce Pompeani mess, the successful tsunami telethon staged by local stations in a rare display of cooperation, the return of former WPXI forecaster Dennis Bowman, this time as a fill-in on KDKA-TV. Pretty soon viewers should be seeing the arrival of Krista Villarreal, the new morning meteorologist on WPXI. (Read more)

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Here is Owen's online journal from the 2004 summer press tour:

7/21/04: Sun sets on the press tour
Press tour comes to an end Friday, but by the time you read this, I will have checked out, literally and figuratively. I'm flying home on the US Airways red eye Thursday night. Finally, some time to sleep. (Read more)

7/20/04: Seeing stars in the bathroom
Last week I wrote about meeting stars in the elevator, but there's a more awkward meeting place: the bathroom. (Read more)

7/19/04: Dodgers party the best yet
The pace is tiring, but a party at Dodgers Stadium livens things up. (Read more)

7/18/04: Rumors and loud parties
Real Secret Service agents and actors portraying Secret Service create their own buzz. (Read more)

7/15/04: Unreal reality chatter
It's funny how an "us against them" mentality can so quickly be put to rest. (Read more)

7/14/04: Elevator sightings, pretty people and the smoking bus
When you attend a press tour, you often find yourself riding in the hotel elevator with TV stars. (Read more)

7/13/04: Another factoid, another party
How the critics read a speech before they hear it. (Read more)

7/12/04: Trump, ego and party animals
Donald Trump loves Donald Trump, there's no question about the size of his ego. And DT loves DT even more now that DT is a TV star. (Read more)

7/11/04: Ethics and reality TV
Ethics? In Hollywood?
Yes, evidently they exist. (Read more)

7/9/04: Kids shows, cop shows and the right to say (bleep)
Today opened with a session on two new PBS kids shows and then went on to a diatribe/debate about the use of profanity in another PBS program. (Read more)

7/8/04: The tour opens and WQED makes a pitch
It was the first official day of press tour and PBS kicked things off with a session on the four-hour "NOVA" session "Origins," hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. (Read more)

7/7/04: TV critics head west
As I write this I'm on a Boeing 757, 31,000 feet up in the air en route from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles for the Television Critics Association summer press tour. (Read more)