Two Cents

"Granted, most viewers probably won't care about that whole 'innocent until proven guilty' jazz or other nitpicky details. This is television, after all, a medium that exists to tantalize and tease with embellishment. If the product stirs our emotions, it's a success—why quibble over the blurring of fact and fiction?"

Melanie McFarland, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, on USA's D.C. Sniper: 23 Days of Fear.

"But Simpson is such a whiny, low-rent diva that you don't feel bad about laughing at her misadventures. Regular guys dig the show because it illustrates that life with a fantasy babe isn't necessarily a dream come true, and regular gals are fans because it confirms that at least some blond bombshells are complete idiots."

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times, on pop singer Jessica Simpson, star of MTV's new reality series Newlyweds.

"Fame at 16, had we experienced it, might have twisted us into freakish balloon animals until we couldn't so much as buy groceries without a personal assistant."

Linda Holmes, MSNBC.com, on Jessica Simpson and her MTV reality show Newlyweds.

"It's the curse of the smart series, the kiss of death that comes with rave reviews and lofty awards. Art loses to commerce every time in the pop cultural numbers racket that is prime-time television."

Joanne Ostrow, Denver Post, on NBC's Boomtown.

"NBC suits are very busy these days yanking the guy who's running the production of failing Sunday drama The Lyon's Den, whacking ratings-starved drama series Boomtown in favor of Law & Order reruns, scrapping The West Wing for a Law & Order rerun, deciding which three Law & Order reruns to air on Saturday nights, etc."

Lisa de Moraes, The Washington Post, on NBC's fall schedule, specifically the network's move to drop Coupling temporarily.

"The Simpsons provides a cameo of issues faced by modern families and individuals and the dilemmas of different generations. It sounds like a good way of putting today's questions to the gospels.''

A spokesman for the Church of Scotland, in London's Daily Record. Rev. George Cowie uses the cartoon family to help get his message across.