Recent stories by David Zurawik

3:14 PM EDT, April 12, 2013

'VEEP' goes deep in Season 2, and there's more Julia Louis-Dreyfus to love

"Deep" and "sitcom" are not words often used in the same sentence.

5:34 PM EDT, March 15, 2013

CNN's Tapper says he aims coverage beyond politics

Jake Tapper's new show on CNN, "The Lead," is premiering at a time when cable TV keeps moving further down the road of partisan news presentation. But ask him about it, and there's no waffling.

4:17 PM EDT, March 22, 2013

Al Pacino, Helen Mirren and David Mamet pool their collective talents in HBO's 'Phil Spector'

Executive producer Barry Levinson urges viewers to think of his HBO film "Phil Spector" as a two-person play —not a docudrama about the first murder trial of the rock producer.

11:49 PM EST, February 3, 2013

Super Bowl broadcast marred with excess commercialism, scripted approach

UPDATE (1 a.m.) at end of post with review of NFL Network's excellent post-game show and comment on Flacco profanity after game.

9:50 PM EST, January 8, 2013

Baltimore native Jason Winer talks about '1600 Penn' on eve of White House visit

Baltimore native Jason Winer knows something about family comedy. He's been an executive producer on ABC's "Modern Family" and won a Directors Guild Award for his direction of the hit series' Emmy Award-winning pilot.

8:36 PM EST, January 2, 2013

Ray Lewis will have plenty of entertainers in TV land

If Ray Lewis is looking for a high-paying, high-visibility job after he leaves the Baltimore Ravens, he's not going to have much trouble getting a shot at one in sports television.

9:57 PM EDT, September 10, 2012

ESPN's Monday Night crew had me at hello

The ESPN "Monday Night Football" crew earned my respect before the game between the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals even started.

12:25 PM EDT, September 8, 2012

Grand Prix TV viewing down 21 percent

The national TV audience for the Grand Prix of Baltimore declined by about a fifth from last year's inaugural event, according to Nielsen Media data released Friday.

9:01 AM EST, December 17, 2012

'1600 Penn' inherits 'Modern Family' comedic DNA

NBC is promoting "1600 Penn," a midseason sitcom from Baltimore native Jason Winer, as " 'Modern Family' meets 'The West Wing.' "

12:12 PM EDT, August 19, 2012

What Al Jazeera thinks of Baltimore

Baltimore-area viewers won't see it in their TV listings, but this week a program will premiere on the Al Jazeera English channel that could do more to shape the world's image of their city than any other media coverage or civic promotion done all year.

5:47 PM EDT, July 21, 2012

O'Malley becomes regular figure in Sunday talk

It might have been back in February when he got under the skin of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on CBS' "Face the Nation."

3:51 PM EDT, September 9, 2012

Ravens ready for prime time

The Baltimore Ravens will probably never be "America's Team," as the Dallas Cowboys came to be known in the 1970s, thanks to their frequent appearances in nationally televised games.

7:05 PM EDT, May 4, 2012

Awash in news, much of Baltimore media rises to the challenge

If you want to get a real sense of a TV newsroom's priorities and values beyond all the "we're on your side" hype, check it out in times of stress.

7:26 AM EDT, July 26, 2012

Established storytelling, new-media outlets for Olympics on NBC

Baltimore's Jim McKay anchored the first American telecast of the Summer Olympics in 1960 from a primitive CBS studio in Grand Central Terminal in New York City. Coverage of the Rome Games totaled 20 hours and cost the network $394,000 in rights fees.

3:20 PM EDT, June 24, 2012

Duff Goldman goes beyond TV in latest foodie media venture

From Baron Ambrosia dueling with John Waters on the Cooking Channel on Friday, to Adam Richman featuring Faidley's crab cake sandwich this week on the Travel Channel, Baltimore has been getting its share of foodie TV lately.

12:34 PM EDT, May 17, 2012

Q&A with ESPN's Jeannine Edwards

ESPN's Jeannine Edwards started her TV career as an in-track host at Pimlico and Laurel in the early 1990s.

5:00 PM EDT, April 27, 2012

Sunday night TV is DVR overload

With the arrival last week of HBO's "VEEP," it is official: Sunday night TV is out of control, but in a good way.

7:25 PM EDT, March 23, 2012

Worldstarhiphop.com makes a name for itself with violent viral videos

The video is arresting.

4:31 PM EDT, May 18, 2012

How Josh Gad was almost Cameron, and Sarah Palin led Jason Winer to '1600 Penn'

Talk about instant success. Baltimore native Jason Winer doesn't even have a name yet for his Hollywood production company. But he and his two co-creators, "The Book of Mormon" Broadway star Josh Gad and former White House speechwriter Jon Lovett, already have an order for 13 episodes of their first production, a new NBC sitcom titled "1600 Penn."

8:19 AM EDT, April 21, 2012

Known to millions as 'Oprah's Boyfriend,' Stedman Graham talks about issues of identity

Stedman Graham is one self-help author who practices what he preaches almost every day of his life.

12:33 PM EDT, April 20, 2012

Review: 'VEEP' shines a hilarious light on often dim-witted world of politics

"VEEP" is the kind of series that separates HBO from almost every other channel or network making television these days.

6:06 PM EDT, March 30, 2012

UM students help launch Dan Savage's new TV show

At the start of his new MTV series, "Savage U," Dan Savage introduces himself to a group of University of Maryland students as a "big jerk" and a sex advice columnist.

11:22 PM EDT, April 13, 2012

Budget impasse in Annapolis threatens thriving local TV industry

After four tough years, these are heady days in the world of Maryland TV and film production.

9:00 PM EDT, March 21, 2012

Managing news editor Sunni Khalid out at WYPR-FM

Sunni Khalid, managing news editor at WYPR-FM, has been dropped by the public radio station after more than nine years on the job there.

March 17, 2012

Can Baltimore's 'Ball Boys' be the next 'Pawn Stars?'

The new ABC reality TV series "Ball Boys" opens with the motto: "Every great moment in sports leaves something behind."

2:07 PM EDT, March 11, 2012

With new shows in the works, TV is awash in Washington

After weeks of partisan sniping, the public finally gets to judge HBO's Sarah Palin docudrama "Game Change" for itself this weekend. But the campaign for more politics as TV drama has only begun.

6:54 AM EDT, March 21, 2012

From Sun Magazine: First look -- 'VEEP' set visit

It's a cold, gray Friday afternoon in a dark and drafty concrete warehouse at an industrial park in Columbia. Not exactly the setting in which anyone would expect to find glamour, wit or the next big thing in pop culture.

10:31 PM EDT, March 21, 2012

'House of Cards' brings Hollywood to Harford County

Being on TV is nothing new for Baltimore. Think of the recent political dramas like "Game Change" and "VEEP" or earlier crime shows like "Homicide" and"The Wire."

11:41 AM EST, March 9, 2012

Palin TV-movie 'Game Change' pushes the limits of docudrama

Sarah Palin says it's a lie.

4:35 PM EST, February 27, 2012

PBS treats Baltimore's Cab Calloway as an American Master

It's not often in judging the biography of a great artist that you can just pick up the phone and call one of the people who knew him best — and remains a principal keeper of the historical flame.

6:08 PM EST, February 4, 2012

WBAL news may be losing its edge

Local TV news ratings in Baltimore are rarely news.

5:37 PM EST, January 27, 2012

African-American focused 'Find Our Missing' aims to fill the void left by mainstream media

Everyone who has ever tuned into a cable channel has heard the names Natalee Holloway and Laci Peterson. Show hosts like Nancy Grace have used their TV pulpits to chronicle the disappearance of such white, female victims night after night.

1:38 PM EST, January 20, 2012

'Ring of Honor' wrestling gets a stranglehold on Baltimore

It's Saturday night at Canton's Du Burns Arena, and Mike "The Prodigy" Bennett flexes and preens as his opponent, Ring of Honor champion Jay Lethal, staggers across the mat.

8:40 PM EST, January 5, 2012

Maryland has a new go-to role on television — Washington

For almost two decades, Baltimore was mainly seen by the TV industry as a place to make shows about cops and crime. But now, the city is looking more like the nation's capital to some of Hollywood's top producers.

9:45 AM EST, November 26, 2011

A community reaches out to show its affection for Ron Smith

WBAL radio show host Ron Smith doesn't hesitate when asked if anything has changed since he announced he has Stage Four pancreatic cancer and will no longer undergo chemotherapy.

6:01 PM EST, January 6, 2012

Netflix, other Web networks vie to be new HBOs of TV drama

With a reported $100 million price tag and a big-name star like Kevin Spacey, "House of Cards" looks like a drama series that should be headed for HBO or AMC.

11:39 PM EST, December 19, 2011

Ron Smith, 'Voice of Reason,' dies

Ron Smith, who came to Baltimore 38 years ago as a weekend TV anchorman but found his greatest success on radio as WBAL's "Voice of Reason," died Monday night of pancreatic cancer at his home in Shrewsbury, Pa.. He was 70.

2:52 PM EST, December 16, 2011

CBS-Showtime pays tribute to Navy/Army football with 'A Game of Honor'

Duty, service and honor are big words. They are also ones that are often abused these days by Washington politicians who thank each other for their "service" even as they sink deeper into partisan gridlock.

5:01 PM EST, November 23, 2011

NFL Network sees Ravens-49ers game as one of channel's biggest ever

It might be hard to imagine that anyone is more psyched-up for Thursday night's matchup between the Ravens and 49ers than Baltimore and San Francisco fans.

12:04 PM EST, November 22, 2011

From Sun Magazine: Behind the scenes with 'Modern Family,' the sitcom's new savior

Jason Winer was directing Julie Bowen on first episode of "Modern Family" when inspiration struck.

10:15 AM EDT, October 11, 2011

PBS puts spotlight on War of 1812 on the eve of its bicentennial

While the War of 1812 might be known as "America's Forgotten War" elsewhere, that's definitely not the case in Baltimore and Maryland. Our obsession with all things 1812 is one of the regional characteristics so pronounced that it is lampooned in "The Second City Does Baltimore" satire now running at Center Stage.

11:30 PM EDT, October 21, 2011

NPR back in hot seat over opera show host Lisa Simeone's political activities

Lisa Simeone thinks the media storm over whether, as an NPR show host, she should also be an activist for an Occupy D.C. protest group is "really overblown."

7:13 PM EDT, November 3, 2011

Mac McGarry steps down after 50 years as host of 'It's Academic'

After 50 years as host of "It's Academic," the longest-running quiz show on television, Mac McGarry, the longest-tenured host, says that "it's really time" to step down.

6:07 PM EDT, October 28, 2011

With Oprah gone, WJZ takes ratings lead at 4 and 5

In the new world of endless channels and multiple ways to watch TV, you almost never see as dramatic a change in viewing as the one unfolding in Baltimore this fall.

7:44 PM EDT, September 9, 2011

Baltimore stations jockey to fill the Oprah vacuum

For stations in Baltimore and across the country, Monday is the first day of the post-Oprah Winfrey era.

3:20 PM EDT, October 2, 2011

Baltimore ready for its close up before 20 million on Sunday Night Football

Baltimore takes its TV image seriously — very seriously and at the highest levels.

July 31, 2011

Z on TV: The incredible shrinking Baltimore anchor desk

The departure last week of Marianne Banister from WBAL-TV after 15 years of co-anchoring a team that always finished first or second in its time period raised big questions about the changing face of television news in Baltimore.

11:30 PM EDT, September 18, 2011

Baltimore's Bowen earns 1st Emmy

Baltimore native Julie Bowen, of ABC's "Modern Family," grabbed the first headline of the night at the 63rd Emmy Awards — winning for best supporting actress in a comedy.

4:41 PM EDT, September 26, 2011

Story of Morgan-Grambling game, '1st & Goal in the Bronx,' worth cheering for

The 1968 football game between Baltimore's Morgan State and what was then Louisiana's Grambling College was a good one — a nail-biter that went down to the wire.

8:02 PM EDT, July 12, 2011

Baltimore's late newscasts are shifting their focus away from sports

When Scott Garceau was forced out of the sports anchor chair at Baltimore's ABC affiliate, competitors said it was a desperate move by a station trying to cut costs.

6:05 PM EDT, September 23, 2011

Michael K. Williams builds his own TV empire

Michael Kenneth Williams is feeling lucky these days.

6:47 PM EDT, August 26, 2011

Baltimore's James Blue helps BET get more socially relevant

BET has a mixed history when it comes to news, documentaries and public affairs — and much of it is for the worse.

10:34 AM EDT, September 8, 2011

TV audience for Baltimore Grand Prix falls short of projections

The national TV audience for Baltimore's Grand Prix on Sunday fell short of projections offered by the city when the deal bringing the race to the Inner Harbor was first announced.

4:39 PM EDT, September 16, 2011

Nominated for his first Emmy, Josh Charles plays it cool

Josh Charles is a very competitive guy. But he's feeling absolutely no pressure to win as he arrives for his first Emmy Awards telecast as a nominee Sunday.

3:03 PM EDT, July 22, 2011

Will Murdoch scandal make us pull back from Brit tabloid values?

As the scandal that sunk Rupert Murdoch's News of the World continued to unfold last week, one of the questions that loomed was whether there would be any fallout on this side of the Atlantic.

12:48 PM EST, January 25, 2011

Duff Goldman is California dreaming

Duff Goldman has just baked a cake of Baltimore's Washington Monument in Mount Vernon. And it looks just like the city's most famous landmark — right up to the statue of the nation's first president that stands atop its tower and down to the fine black piping that mimics the wrought-iron fence at its base.

August 12, 2011

'The Wire' has ended, but its talent is still being tapped

With Felicia "Snoop" Pearson's guilty plea last week to conspiracy to sell heroin, one question being asked by fans of "The Wire" is how other cast members of the Baltimore-based series are doing.

5:19 PM EDT, August 19, 2011

Z on TV: Uneven coverage of Baltimore's mayor race thus far

Last Tuesday, Baltimore had its first live on-air mayoral debate among all the candidates, including incumbent Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

4:54 PM EDT, June 25, 2011

Nick Charles, former WJZ-TV anchor

Nick Charles, a pioneering figure in cable TV sports at CNN and one-time Baltimore broadcaster at WJZ-TV, died Saturday at his home in New Mexico, according to the cable news network. He was 64 and had been battling bladder cancer since 2009.

10:45 AM EDT, August 27, 2010

A charmed Emmys

As the television industry comes together Sunday night in Hollywood to honor the best work of last year, there will be few creative communities better represented than Baltimore.

April 23, 2011

Music in 'Treme' takes you to another place

Last season in previewing HBO's "Treme," I said that in 30 years of writing about television, I had never heard music used as organically, wisely and powerfully as it was in the New Orleans-based series created by David Simon and Eric Overmyer. I also said I never expected to hear it done better on TV.

6:49 PM EDT, July 15, 2011

Baltimore's Josh Charles gets his first Emmy nomination

When Josh Charles first appeared opposite Julianna Margulies in "The Good Wife" on CBS in 2009, you couldn't help but wonder if this was going to be a breakthrough role for him.

8:06 PM EST, February 4, 2011

News outlets hold firm in Egypt despite dangers

At the end of a wild week that saw more than 100 attacks on journalists and press facilities in Egypt, TV news executives were left shaking their heads at the volatility and violence, but vowing to continue to find ways to cover the tumult in days ahead.

6:59 PM EDT, June 17, 2011

NBC digs deep to make the U.S. Open a ratings hit

In the Tiger Woods era, it was hard to find a better Father's Day storyline for the network announcers to ply than that of the young superstar and his dad.

4:54 PM EDT, October 8, 2010

Ehrlich, O'Malley duke it out in ads

Even in the mashed-up world of TV these days, it is a little jarring in the middle of a Baltimore Ravens game or "Late Night With David Letterman" to suddenly see the screen fill with images of Martin O'Malley and Bob Ehrlich talking about a 72 percent energy rate hike that they were fighting about in 2006, during the last governor's campaign.

6:59 AM EDT, May 18, 2011

From Sun Magazine: Oprah -- Built in Baltimore

Oprah Winfrey is one great storyteller.