Television

SNL’s Goals: Funny and Evenhanded

“Saturday Night Live,” which won praise for a recent sketch depicting Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Gov. Sarah Palin, aims to to be an equal opportunity satirist.

Reruns Make CBS No. 1

CBS’s comedy reruns led Monday’s prime-time television ratings race as “Two and a Half Men” earned 9.9 million viewers at 9 p.m., according to Nielsen’s estimates.

MTV Is Ending TRL

Dave Sirulnick, executive producer of the MTV video-countdown show “TRL,” said that its final episode would run in November, The Associated Press reported.

A Stylist Devoted to Making Idleness Look Chic

“The Rachel Zoe Project,” which can be seen Tuesdays on Bravo, is the latest in the recent wave of reality programming about mad consumption.

It’s the Gods of Norse Myth Against a Plague of Robots

More than a decade in development, Too Human, an action role-playing game created by Silicon Knights and published by Microsoft for the Xbox 360, is flawed but fun.

• Trailer: Too Human for the Xbox

Palin Lifts ABC

ABC’s hourlong “20/20” special featuring Charles Gibson’s interviews last week with Sarah Palin, earned Friday’s highest ratings.

American Schools: Troubles and Hopes

“Where We Stand: America’s Schools in the 21st Century,” a look at American education, isn’t exactly brimming with fresh insights.

Limiting, and Watching, What Children Watch

Instead of talking only about time limits for television watching, researchers are zeroing in on trouble spots and taking content into account.

Early Emmy Winners

The first round of prime-time Emmy Awards has already taken place.

Far From Hollywood, Red Hook’s Grit Sells

A new TV pilot uses the Brooklyn neighborhood as a setting for teenage drama.

Bruce Campbell’s Prime-Time Moment

After a career spent outside the mainstream, a B-movie fixture reaches beyond his cult on basic cable.

• More on Bruce Campbell

A Show That Transcended Taste, and Species

Eight years after its single season ended, Robert Smigel’s “TV Funhouse” still shocks as it defiles.

Really, Really, Big in Britain

How a topless pinup girl climbed to the pinnacle of celebrity in England while remaining utterly unknown in the United States.

The Beat Goes On

Hanging out with Carlton Cuse, an executive producer of “Lost,” and Damon Lindelof, his fellow executive.

A Survivor Whose Armor Was a Little Black Dress

Lifetime’s “Coco Chanel,” which stars Shirley MacLaine and airs Saturday, is a loopy work of hagiography that never gets its subject right.

Grim Tales Describing Hard Times in Tibet

“Tibet: Beyond Fear,” on Saturday on the satellite channel Link TV, is advocacy filmmaking but it has an emotional pull rather than a manipulative feel, thanks to the two personal stories at its center.

Political Comeback on ‘Saturday Night Live’

The most chatted-about television premiere of the fall may prove to be that of a 33-year-old series, “Saturday Night Live.”

‘CSI’ Buoys CBS

On a slow Thursday for network television, a repeat of “CSI” gave CBS the most-watched hour of the night as 9 million viewers tuned in to the crime drama at 9 p.m., according to Nielsen’s estimates.

On the Web, a Nonpartisan Look at Those Partisan Campaign Ads

The Living Room Candidate, produced by the Museum of the Moving Image, is a site that provides an impartial and lingering look at political ads dating from 1952 to the present.

• Video: Bush Campaign's 1988 Horton Spot
• Video: Obama 2008 Ohio Campaign Ad

The Mental Gymnastics of a Phys Ed Teacher

“Gym Teacher: The Movie,” which has its premiere on Nickelodeon on Friday, occupies an amiable and amusing middle ground between adult slacker comedy and frenetic children’s farce.

• Video: An Excerpt From 'Gym Teacher: The Movie'

Showing a Confidence, in Prepared Answers

Gov. Sarah Palin’s talking points flowed out a little too much by rote to satisfy her interviewer that she was giving his questions serious consideration.

Minute by Minute: Real Terror in Real Time

History’s “102 Minutes That Changed America,” which airs Thursday, is a harrowing, painful reconstruction of that morning compiled from professional and amateur video and audiotapes.

Like ‘The Real World,’ With More Computers

MTV’s mtvU channel and Hewlett-Packard will present “Engine Room,” a TV series that will follow contestants as they produce digital art using products sold by H.P.

‘Fringe’ Numbers

“Fringe,” Fox’s new science fiction drama series from the producer J. J. Abrams, garnered winning ratings on Tuesday but not by much.

Singers Aid a Charity and the Man Who Runs It

“The Imus Ranch Record” pairs artists and material that are inspired, and often inspiring, and nothing if not eclectic.

Spooky Conspiracy on Sci-Fi Frontier

“Fringe,” which premieres with an artful 90-minute pilot on Fox on Tuesday, invokes some silly devices — teleportation, psychokinesis — but still manages to seem smart and stylish.

• Video Excerpt: 'Fringe'