Author Biography | Full-Length Samples
Tune in Tonight
by Kevin McDonough
Tune in Tonight delivers brief, accurate highlights of nighttime programming on broadcast and cable television seven days a week through United Feature Syndicate. Author Kevin McDonough brings a witty, insightful and occasionally offbeat approach to TV commentary, providing a lively and comprehensive overview of all nightly programs and giving readers each evening's major television events at a glance. Every day, McDonough discusses two or more notable programs airing in prime time, as well as a rundown of the guests and highlights of the evening's comedies, dramas, documentaries, news magazines and late night talk shows. In addition to prime time features and listings, Tune in Tonight features a daily "Cult Choice." Tune in Tonight complements newspapers' increasingly detailed television coverage. Its unique modular format makes it flexible and allows editors to give their readers an entertaining, informative way to plan evening viewing and to keep on top of what is happening on the TV scene.
Now a full-time writer, McDonough worked in book publishing for fifteen years. He is the author of The Seventies: From Hot Pants to Hot Tubs (E.P. Dutton, 1991) and A Tabloid History of the World (Hyperion, 1997). As a book editor, McDonough specialized in film, television and popular culture projects. He has worked with celebrity authors including Bob Denver and Dwayne Hickman. McDonough graduated from Hamilton College and now lives in upstate New York.
Current Samples
February 8th, 2010
Monday, Feb. 8, 2010 United Feature Syndicate
EDITORS: Please be sure that the e-mail address at the end of this column has an "at" sign in it. The symbol may not transmit over the wire. The address should read: kmcdonough(AT SIGN)unitedmedia.com.
TUNE IN TONIGHT
Cuddy takes over 'House' for one night
By Kevin McDonough
"House" (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14) deviates from formula tonight and offers an entire episode as seen through the eyes of Dr. Lisa Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein), the hospital's beleaguered dean of medicine.
Over the course of her day, Cuddy contends with a sick baby, a young lover, House's impetuous immaturity, a turf war between surgeons, suspicious activity in the pharmacy and a battle with a major insurance provider.
This last tussle dominates the proceedings and allows at least this episode of "House" to comment on the fiasco of health care funding and delivery.
One patient demands to avoid vital surgery, not because he doesn't need it but because ...
February 6th, 2010
Weekend, Feb. 6-7, 2010 United Feature Syndicate
EDITORS: Please be sure that the e-mail address at the end of this column has an "at" sign in it. The symbol may not transmit over the wire. The address should read: kmcdonough(AT SIGN)unitedmedia.com.
TUNE IN TONIGHT
Surely, 'Temple' is Emmy bound
By Kevin McDonough
Claire Danes triumphs in "Temple Grandin" (8 p.m., Saturday, HBO, TV-PG), the true story of an autistic young woman as she navigates the difficult corridors of family, school and professional life.
With a startling use of graphics and music, "Temple" not only relates Grandin's story but attempts to show us her particular vision of the world. Hypersensitive to noises and sights, Grandin perceived the world in pictures, combining a photographic memory with a unique clarity of insight and analysis.
This being a true story, it goes further than fiction and to strange, unexpected places. Most of the first half concerns her difficult adjustments to scho ...
February 5th, 2010
Friday, Feb. 5, 2010 United Feature Syndicate
EDITORS: Please be sure that the e-mail address at the end of this column has an "at" sign in it. The symbol may not transmit over the wire. The address should read: kmcdonough(AT SIGN)unitedmedia.com.
TUNE IN TONIGHT
Extreme skiing: Where death is not always defied
By Kevin McDonough
You don't have to love skiing to enjoy the sports documentary "The Edge of Never" (8 p.m., Showtime). Shot in high definition, "Edge" looks at the rarified subculture of extreme skiing. These athletes climb the steepest and most remote mountains in the world in order to descend through harrowing weather and ever-shifting glacial terrain. Along the way, they dodge rock slides and crevices. They trigger avalanches and -- all too often -- die.
The film focuses on the legend of skier Trevor Petersen, killed in 1996 in Chamonix, France, the world epicenter of the sport. Nine years later, his baby-faced son Kye, 15, attempts to ski in his f ...
February 4th, 2010
Thursday, Feb. 4, 2010 United Feature Syndicate
EDITORS: Please be sure that the e-mail address at the end of this column has an "at" sign in it. The symbol may not transmit over the wire. The address should read: kmcdonough(AT SIGN)unitedmedia.com.
TUNE IN TONIGHT
'30 Rock' returns to the mother of all issues
By Kevin McDonough
Tonight's "30 Rock" (9:30 p.m., NBC, TV-14) returns to its theme of mothers and strong female role models. Jack's (Alec Baldwin) mother (Elaine Stritch) sends him into near homicidal rage. A few seasons back, Liz attached herself to an older mentor (Carrie Fisher) from the 1970s' heyday of highly charged political humor (the golden age of "SNL," produced, like "30 Rock," by Lorne Michaels). Liz worshipped her until she saw her heroine for what she was: lonely, unemployable, broke and out-of-touch with both comedy and other people.
Another strong figure arrives tonight when Verna (Jan Hooks, "SNL"), Jenna's (Jane Krakowski) low-rent mon ...
February 3rd, 2010
Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2010 United Feature Syndicate
EDITORS: Please be sure that the e-mail address at the end of this column has an "at" sign in it. The symbol may not transmit over the wire. The address should read: kmcdonough(AT SIGN)unitedmedia.com.
TUNE IN TONIGHT
Snip, snip here, snip, snip there ...
By Kevin McDonough
It's been some time since Bravo lost "Project Runway," but the series remains the network's most influential show. Now in its third season, "Shear Genius" (11 p.m., Bravo) transfers the "Runway" template to the hair salon. Despite, or perhaps because of, its paint-by-number imitation, "Genius" continues to entertain.
This season introduces Camila Alves as host. We're told that she's an accomplished model and handbag designer. As with "Runway's" Heidi Klum, it's clear that English is not her native tongue, but both speak the language of fashion and fabulousness.
Jonathan Antin arrives to play the Michael Kors role, the experienced judge who ...
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