FOX Broadcasting Company

The Screwball Economics of Major League Baseball

As another season begins, MLB faces an unsustainable future - and you're picking up the tab.

Harris County Seeking Relatives for Unclaimed Bodies

In the Fox show Bones, unreasonably attractive forensic experts spend countless hours identifying murder victims in a high-tech facility for the FBI. Harris County may not boast the kind of facilities or model-like attractiveness (though they may have a hot lab tech lurking somewhere over there) the ... More >>

Beaumont Fox, ABC Affiliates Pitch in During CBS Anchor Bill Leger's Memorial Service

People tuning into Beaumont's CBS affiliate, KFDM, for the news at noon will notice something unusual: It will be anchored by a newscaster from the local Fox affiliate. And here's why: KFDM's beloved anchor Bill Leger was killed in a car accident in Louisiana December 22, and other newscasters are ... More >>

Turning 10, American Idol Struggles to Make New Stars -- But Mostly Misses

It's hard to imagine it now, just a shade less than a decade later, but at one time American Idol was able to crank out star after star in a succession of seasons. Most people couldn't name at least one of the last five winners of Fox's cash-cow pop show, even as ratings have remained healthy (if no ... More >>

Say No to Cee Lo: 5 Musicians Who Should Get Sitcoms Instead

This past week, it was announced that Cee Lo Green and NBC are working together to develop a new autobiographical sitcom based on and starring the soul singer. This is, of course, a terrible idea. Sure, Cee Lo is a great singer and he's done some acting, but would his life really make a great sitcom ... More >>

Top 5 People Who Should Be Judging American Idol

Over the weekend American Idol, struggling to remain relevant in the face of the televised singing-competition series it spawned like The Voice and X Factor, announced its final judges' panel for the upcoming 12th season that begins in January. According to Entertainment Weekly, joining the previous ... More >>

Ted

Seth McFarlane's new film is stuffed with more of the same.

Look Out, Sheyla Hershey & Your 38KKK Rack: Lacey Wildd Thinks You're A Member Of The Itty-Bitty Tittie Committee

It was bad enough when Florida beat us in crazy-ass crimes, but now they're leaving us in the dust in breast enhancements? Texas, we don;t even know who you are anymore. For years, Lone Star residents have looked on proudly and in horror (well, mostly in horror -- jaw-dropping, WTF horror) at Shey ... More >>

5 Reasons You Should Be Watching Bob's Burgers

Bob's Burgers entered Fox's Sunday evening programming quietly last year, filling the void left by the cancellation of King of the Hill. It looked as bad as Fox's other non-Simpsons/Family Guy animation (see: The PJs and Sit Down, Shut Up). And pun-filled reviews like this one from Entertainment Wee ... More >>

Occupy Houston: Where Everything Is An Emergency That Local Media (Including Us) Fall For

Photo by Brittanie SheyOccupy Houston holds an impromptu assembly.​Hair Balls now has something in common with the local Fox and CBS affiliates. We're all suckers. On Tuesday afternoon, in light of the recent shutdown of Occupy Oakland, Hair Balls did some recon by contacting one of our sourc ... More >>

Texans/Browns -- 4 Winners, 4 Losers

Photo by Marco TorresTough day for Colt McCoy​The Texans beat the Browns soundly yesterday by a score of 30-12, and for the first time in the history of the franchise, your hometown team is three games over .500. The Texans have never tasted this rarefied air before, so I don't really know w ... More >>

The Simpsons' Top 11 Musical Guests

​When The Simpsons completes its last (contracted) season in 2014, it will have set staggering new broadcast records for longest running sitcom (over 550 episodes) and longest running prime time scripted TV series (25 seasons). These are all American records, of course, because the Japanese co ... More >>

The X Factor: Rain Delay and Judges' Houses

Photo by FOXJust wait until the "Judges' moms' houses" round!​First, this recap was delayed because the Wednesday night baseball playoff game was rain delayed, canceling that night's X Factor episode--yet another reason for me to hate baseball. Second, naming the latest round of competition "t ... More >>

The X Factor: Mentoring, Mentoring & More Mentoring

Last night I was officially annoyed with The X Factor. To be fair, the show suffered from my having to wait until the Yankees lost, and my husband was done swearing and stomping around the living room, so I had to stay up really late (for me) to watch. And then I realized that the show went from 90 ... More >>

The X Factor: Simon Cowell's Softer Side

Fox​Wednesday night, Fox's highly-anticipated The X Factor debuted, and though as of this writing I was unable to find any ratings numbers I have to imagine they were stellar. Not too good - Ed. Simon Cowell has massive appeal, and even if numbers continue to decline throughout the season, I ... More >>

Idol Beat: The Doom That Came To Haley

May the best...oh, who am I kidding?​Two hours. We're down to three contestants and the program last night lingered for two freaking hours. It's hard to blame Fox. NBC is coming up on the outside with The Voice, ABC has a slew of new programs debuting in the fall (a reboot of Charlie's Angels ... More >>

Idol Beat: Here We Go Again...

​Finally, after months of anticipation (or dread, depending on your pain tolerance), the new and *cough* "improved" American Idol made its debut. At long last we can start to put an end to the speculation about the show's 10th season: will Jennifer Lopez out-diva Ryan Seacrest? Can the show su ... More >>

CBS, Dish Network Settle: Two And A Half Men Fans Can Again Sleep At Night

CSI: Whatever will remain on Houston's Dish Network TVs​Fast on the heels of settling a dispute with Fox, Dish Network has now worked out a a deal that will keep CBS shows on the air in Houston.KHOU president Susan McEldoon said in an open letter that a tentative agreement has been reached over Di ... More >>

Ten Rejected Glee Episodes

Fox​It seems like Glee can make any song, no matter how trite, terrible, or just inappropriate for singing by high-school-age children into a runaway smash pop hit. However, Rocks Off would like to hypothesize that there are artists that are beyond even Fox's ability to mold into mainstream. ... More >>

Christopher Titus

He puts the "fun" in dysfunctional

American Idol: The Tumor is Removed...Eventually

​This is my first season of American Idol, and thus my first brush with the behemoth that is "Idol Gives Back." This is the third time the show has staged its charity event, and there were far fewer celebrities this year. The goal was ostensibly to educate viewers about the plight of the needy ... More >>

American Idol: The Tumor is Removed... Eventually

​This is my first season of American Idol, and thus my first brush with the behemoth that is "Idol Gives Back." This is the third time the show has staged its charity event, and there were far fewer celebrities this year. The goal was ostensibly to educate viewers about the plight of the needy ... More >>

Glee: Highway to Hell-O

​ We're over the halfway point in Glee's inaugural season, having just overcome a three-month hiatus following the New Directions' (the William McKinley High School glee club) victory at sectionals. The last episode ended on such a high note -- the club triumphant, Will and Emma together at ... More >>

Glee: Highway To Hell-O

​ We're over the halfway point in Glee's inaugural season, having just overcome a three-month hiatus following the New Directions' (the William McKinley High School glee club) victory at sectionals. The last episode ended on such a high note -- the club triumphant, Will and Emma together at ... More >>

The Week In TV: Jay Leno's Flagpin And, For Some Ungodly Reason, An Animated Joe Dirt

​Winter's back, the sun is gone, and Fox just put another Joss Whedon show out to pasture. This was the week in TV Land:• So, Jay Leno went on Oprah's show last week to talk about his side of the whole late-night debacle. (Out of every weird thing about the interview, tops was the American flag ... More >>

This Week In TV: Idol's Coming, Whether You're Ready or Not

My car's in the shop, I can't figure what season it is, and I don't know what to do about the Indians in the lobby. This was Thanksgiving week in TV Land: • Glee is going bye-bye for a while. The last episode of the year will air on December 9, completing the original 13-episode order, and the s ... More >>

Pop Rocks: Is Avatar Doomed?

​Catch James Cameron talking about Avatar on 60 Minutes last night? I thought it was awfully sporting of Viacom to throw some publicity at a movie it doesn't appear to have any stake in for once. Cameron, as usual, exuded confidence about the project. He explained his desire to make the film sinc ... More >>

Beaumont TV Station Warns Of Pirate Attacks: We Investigate!!!

Back in November, Hair Balls indulged itself in some utterly sub-Swiftian satire on the possibility of Ike-wracked Galveston reconstructing itself as a haven for pirates. We suggested that Galveston apply for a Federal License to Plunder, citing advantages such as ease of access to all the booty ... More >>

Idol Beat: Wild Card Wildout

Frank Micelotta/ Fox Lucky 13: the American Idol season 8 finalistsFirst off, I'd like to extend a hearty Idol Beat way-to-go to the Fox minion or technological gremlin responsible for causing last night's episode of American Idol to cut out while Simon Cowell and Tatiana Del Toro were quibb ... More >>

Idol Beat, Part 1: More Hollywood Week

Photos courtesy FoxYou thought the funeral was over? You thought all those tears were dried up? You were wrong, my friends - so very, very wrong. Aye, verily, the bloodletting continued unabated as Hollywood Week wound down. Hey, Ryan Seacrest warned us at the outset: "The stakes are as high ... More >>

Celebrating Houston's MasterMinds

We pass on a bit of luck to the recipients of our first creativity awards

American Idol Returns Tonight... Yawn

Come back Kelly Clarkson, all is forgiven... If you've been lucky enough to spend the past several months in a media-deprivation tank - or maybe you just don't read the Houston Chronicle - then you no doubt know Fox's shrill-singing flagship series American Idol returns tonight at 7 p.m. (As ... More >>

The Shredder

One Show, One Sentence

Astros-Giants: Bad Calls from Cecil Cooper and Richard Justice

The NFL Pregame Shows Suck. Here's How to Save Them.

Kentucky Derby vs. Stanley Cup

A Day in the Life of Cable Sports Programming

The Sympathetic Spy

Why We Need DVDs

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Gang Signs

Booker-Lowe Gallery showcases "Hot" young aboriginal art

Gut Buster

The sun is shining on Ralphie May, and he's making hay

TV or Not TV?

That's no longer the question for visionary Stephen J. Cannell, who now lives the novel life

Back to School

Judd Apatow's Freaks and Geeks grow up, more or less, and move to a dorm

"Look! I Made This!"

Robert Altman wants your attention, if not your affection

Win, Lose, or Draw

Or: How do you bring a comic book to life without killing a superhero?

Dawn of the Dead

Sci Fi's brilliant good vs. evil is a corpse in search of a burial

X-Filer Fun

Plot holes aside, Scully and Mulder once again manage to entertain

Press Picks

Sugar High

The Power Rangers movie is sweet, junky fun