27 essential stories from Winter Press Tour

As many of you know, I used to shun the TV critics’ tour held twice a year in California. The reason was simple: I thought I would get more unique stories the DIY method — going out to L.A. and, by myself, arranging for set visits at the hottest shows on TV.

In theory, a great idea. But in practice, I learned what every mid-market TV critic learns: that no matter how well known you are on the Internet, no matter how friendly or persistent you are, Hollywood publicists have a death grip on access, and they tend not to grant it to mid-market Midwesterners. The pecking order seems to be the trades, the national newspapers, and magazines, then the rest of us, maybe. Oh, I'd come back with a good story or two — but the dollars-to-stories ratio made it hard to justify visiting L.A. more than once a year.

So, in 2004, I tried press tour again. Lo and behold, I came back loaded with stories that would appear in my paper, with my byline, for the next six months. Some required more enterprise than others, but the common thread was that most of these stories would have been impossible for me to cover except for TCA. (Note: In all candor, "NCIS," on whose set this photograph was taken, is not one of those stories. But it made for a nice picture, and it is a top ten show. Besides, I learned a couple of things while on the set: there really is a NCIS, and show creator Don Bellasario's picture is on the set's "most wanted" wall.)

Lately the TCA has begun asking the networks not just to feature its new shows, but to give us access to shows that are already on the air, either because they're big hits that our readers can’t get enough of, or they're shows that we, being thoughtful critics, wish our readers would turn into hits. We can ask for this access because we have power in numbers, more than Some Reporter from Kansas City would have by himself.

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But does that mean we all go back to our laptops and write the same stories? Judge for yourself. Below, I'll pulled links from 26 27 stories by my colleagues that were churned out during the two-week winter press tour earlier this month. I've chosen these stories to give you some idea of the variety of ideas that the TCA members take away from tour. They were picked because they displayed either a critic's own individual reporting from tour, a distinctive angle on a show, a profile of a TV personality with a local angle, or something else that could only have happened on press tour. I deliberately avoided linking to colleagues from L.A. and New York, who have all the access they can eat, tour or no tour. Have a look.

• Larry King: From rags to riches, Miami to CNN
• Is CBS losing money on Letterman? Sez prez Moonves, "No [bleeping] way"
• Big hero at NBC (Tim Kring)
• Secrets of showrunners’ success
• Passing out is no option in high-stakes TV world
• First series, first award ("Ugly Betty's" Becki Newton)
• “The Winner” v. Faye Dunaway
• David Milch v. coherence
• Pussycats v. the room
• The beauty of Betty
• Monkey business as usual at "Today"
• Chatting with Chiklis, Groening, and Powers (Boothe)
• The "nipple problem"
• Heavy "Studio 60" now adding heavy romance
• Very hush-hush
• Why "Smith" had to die
• Is there a designer in the house?
• Cabrera's route to "Heroes"
• "Friends of God": Haven't we met these folks before?
• Save the cheerleader, Jughead
• Terry Morrow's amazing TCA videos (Sarah Silverman, Milo V. and more!)
• Luke and Lorelai: Love at last?
• Bloggers don’t read blogs … and yet, they continue to blog
• Who needs Ashton? Here’s Mr. Jordan
• Backstage at the Golden Globes
• Critics sing "Slings" praises
• The inside man (on the set of "24")

To this haul I'll add three of my own podcasts: Jim Walton of CNN, pooh-poohing the idea that Americans deserve a global news channel; Bill Lawrence enthusing about the power of the stealth show; and Aaron Sorkin justifying the continuing existence of "Studio 60."

And that's just while we were at press tour. As the "Tonight Show" cards used to say, there's more to come.

(Photo credit and thanks: John P. Filo of CBS)

Comments

[Bill Brioux]

Hats off, Aaron, this is a terrific round up and a great idea (and I'm not just saying this because one of my stories made the cut). Wonderful to get all these different tour perspectives in one handy place. Really demonstrates how savvy and resourceful people can work the tour in so many different ways.

Cheers,
Bill