Ed Martin

NBC kicked off the 2012-13 broadcast upfront season with a move that may have alienated millions of people -- the cancellation of legal drama Harry's Law, this despite the fact that it often was the network's most watched entertainment series during its two-year run. The trouble with Harry's Law, as...

It's been two months since executive producer Frank Valentini and head writer Ron Carlivati took control of ABC's General Hospital -- long enough by any measure for a creative team to make its mark on a soap opera and make clear what they intend to do with it.

Now, I...

I'm not sure what to make of the big surprise on General Hospital this week -- but then again, I haven't known what to make of GH in a very long time (years, actually). Robin Scorpio is alive -- and looking very tanned and rested, I might add, even if...

The year is still young, but my early choice for most improved returning series of 2012 is TNT's gritty cop drama Southland, currently finishing up its fourth season. I can't recall another series that made several key changes so far into its run and emerged much better than it had...

Watching General Hospital these last two weeks, as the energetic efforts of One Life to Live veterans Frank Valentini and Ron Carlivati to save the show from almost certain doom begin to play out, it occurs to me that my time as a fan of this once-formidable serial has come...

You'll be hearing a lot about something called Battleground during the next week or two. Don't dismiss it as the latest big-budget bomb-drop at your local multiplex. Instead, pay close attention to it, because this awesome little production is actually a very solid entertainment property that might occupy a permanent...

Super Bowl weekend is closing in -- and with it the true beginning of broadcast's midseason, heralding the arrival of a number of new scripted series that many critics believe to be collectively superior to last fall's freshman class. Specifically, I'm talking about two on NBC -- Smash and Awake...

Current TV hasn't had much of a presence at the twice-yearly Television Critics Association gatherings since its initial presentation near the time of its launch at the Summer 2005 tour. That changed Friday with a panel featuring former Vice President and Current TV Chairman and Co-Founder Al Gore; Current TV...

Television critics started compiling year-end top-10 lists back when there were only three networks. Aren't longer lists called for by now? Allow me to break with time-honored tradition by offering my choices for the 12 best series' of 2011, plus eight very deserving runners-up.

Downton Abbey (PBS) -- I never...

By now you've read a number of year-end columns by television critics naming their choices for the ten best programs of 2011. Here are ten that haven't shown up in many (if any) of those lists yet still deserve special recognition as the year draws to a close.

Revenge (ABC)...

ABC Daytime's One Life to Life, a series with more creative energy coursing through it than much of what passes for bigger-budget Primetime fare, won't breathe its last until January 13, but the show is already giving itself a grand send-off with a storyline that has shaken many of its...

Ten years later, is it too soon for television to have some fun with the events of September 11, 2001? I've been wondering about this since the November 20 episode of Fox's often controversial Family Guy, a hugely popular animated comedy series that is known not only for its razor-sharp...

Black Friday is upon us once again, this year spreading like black plague into Thanksgiving Day itself as retailers try with unprecedented gusto to move as much merchandise as possible in this ever-corrosive economy. One can't turn on a television or go online without being reminded of Black Friday sales...

With the success in recent years of such consistently smart situation comedies as ABC's Modern Family and The Middle, CBS' The Big Bang Theory and NBC's The Office and Community, I started to think that broadcast sitcoms might finally be getting beyond the frat humor and all-around crudeness that seeped...

Every new television season comes with an unexpected development, but this fall's big surprise is a true stunner: Powered by the strength of ABC's Revenge and The CW's Ringer, primetime serials are enjoying a surge of renewed popularity. The healthy ratings for the first two episodes of ABC's fanciful Once...

With all eyes on primetime during the first few weeks of the new season it has been easy to lose sight of everything that is happening in daytime, a day-part that is either falling to pieces or rebuilding itself, depending on one's point of view.

A lot has changed in...

Syfy's fifth annual Digital Press Tour last week reinforced what regular attendees of this confab have known for years: That it is one of the most efficient and innovative publicity and promotion events in the business.

One might suggest that press conferences in the digital age that are specifically targeted...

Is it possible for a series that fits squarely into the horror genre to survive on television? The debut of FX's American Horror Story and the second season of AMC's The Walking Dead will provide answers in the weeks to come.

Of course, horror is in the eye of the...

The most interesting television news of Premiere Week 2011 is the comparatively modest performance of The X Factor, which Fox and series creator Simon Cowell figured was going to be the ratings behemoth of the fall season. While 12-plus million viewers for its Wednesday opener are nothing to sneeze at,...

Few will dispute that voting members of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences largely got it right this year. In most categories they chose the best shows and performers for Emmy nominations and kept their usual oversights to a minimum. That makes the competition tougher than usual and the...