Real cabbies take their 'Hacks' -- Philly series does get some things right, they say
JORGE LAMBRAKIS knows a New York taxicab when he sees one. Before he started taking fares in Philadelphia in 1992, the United driver spent 19 years working the streets of the Big Apple, and to him, that P-2626 atop the cab used in CBS' Philadelphia-based drama "Hack" is a dead giveaway.
( By ELLEN GRAY, elgray@phillynews.com, 10/24/2002 08:35 AM EST)

Turturro lends a hand
We can't imagine Janice Soprano doing windows, but Aida Turturro, the actress who plays her on HBO's "The Sopranos," isn't afraid to get her hands a little dirty.
( By ELLEN GRAY, elgray@phillynews.com, 10/24/2002 08:34 AM EST)

Morse's taxicab confessions
He only plays a taxi driver on TV, but like many once-struggling actors, "Hack" star David Morse has logged time behind the wheel of a cab.
( 10/24/2002 08:59 AM EST)

Fare vs. unfair
If "Hack" writers want to get real with their fictional Philadelphia cabdriver, they might consider looking into some of these issues, raised by Reformed Taxi Movement President Jorge Lambrakis and a couple of his colleagues in a meeting last week at the Daily News:
( 10/24/2002 08:36 AM EST)

Ellen Gray | 'Without' a doubt, NBC's got reason to worry about 'Trace'
WITHOUT A TRACE. 10 tomorrow night, Channel 3. JUST CALL it must-flee TV. Faced with the possibility that tomorrow's episode of CBS' "Without a Trace" might beat a rerun of "ER" - a show that's notoriously weak in repeats - NBC's opted to substitute a rerun of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," ensuring that whatever happens, Friday's headlines won't read " 'ER' loses."
( By Ellen Gray, elgray@phillynews.com, 10/23/2002 01:09 PM EST)

Ellen Gray | David Kelley won't let his lawyer 'girls' grow up
GIRLS CLUB. 9 tonight, Channel 29. WHEN the New York Post reported earlier this month that Saks Fifth Avenue had struck a deal to dress - and promote - the characters on Fox's new David E. Kelley series, "girls club," a lot of things fell into place.
( By Ellen Gray, elgray@phillynews.com, 10/21/2002 04:22 PM EST)

Ellen Gray | 'Frontline' examines case of law and disorder
FRONTLINE. 10 p.m. tomorrow, Channel 12. IT'S NOT a good time to be considered soft on crime. There's a Republican from death penalty-happy Texas in the White House, a sniper loose in metropolitan D.C. and canny, winning prosecutors all over the airwaves.
( By Ellen Gray, elgray@phillynews.com, 10/16/2002 08:56 AM EST)

Ellen Gray | 2 shows go from not-too-bad to not-so-good
7TH HEAVEN. 8 tonight, Channel 17. WE'VE ALL seen good shows go bad: "Ally McBeal's" meltdown, "Roseanne's" removal from reality, "ER's" extended torture of the late Mark Greene.
( By Ellen Gray, grayel@phillynews.com, 10/14/2002 12:11 PM EST)

Ellen Gray | WB revisits Batman country with 'Birds of Prey'
BIRDS OF PREY. 9 tonight, Channel 17. GIRLS JUST want to fight evil. I'd like to think that motto's scrawled - in red lipstick, perhaps - across the wall of the WB's executive washroom, a daily reminder that the spirit of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" still lives at the network, even if Buffy herself has left the building.
( By Ellen Gray, elgray@phillynews.com, 10/09/2002 09:42 AM EST)

Dinosaurs, dumb luck and beer
THE LOST DINOSAURS OF EGYPT. 8 tonight, A&E.; MAYBE SOMEDAY there'll be a historic marker outside the New Deck Tavern at 34th and Sansom on the University of Pennsylvania campus.
( 10/08/2002 07:42 AM EST)

Ellen Gray | Garrett as Gleason: Pow! Right in the kisser
EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND. 9 tonight, Channel 3. GLEASON. 9 p.m. Sunday, Channel 3. If Jackie Gleason was the Great One, then Brad Garrett might be described as the Great Big One.
( 10/07/2002 08:14 AM EST)

Ellen Gray | 'Dawson's' too tired to run an 'Amazing Race'
DAWSON'S CREEK. 8 tonight, Channel 17. THE AMAZING RACE 3. 9 tonight, Channel 3. HAS "Dawson's Creek" run dry? The teen soaper, now entering its sixth season - late middle age in WB years - had been teasing viewers with the prospect of a Dawson-Joey coupling for so long that most of its target audience, like most of its characters, left for college long ago.
( 10/02/2002 11:35 AM EST)

Ellen Gray | 'Less Than Perfect' is heavy on the fat jokes
LESS THAN PERFECT. 9 p.m. tomorrow, Channel 6. CALISTA FLOCKHART'S "Ally McBeal" is gone, but there's still not much room for women with hips on television, where any size over 6 is considered a laughing matter.
( By Ellen Gray, elgray@phillynews.com, 09/30/2002 01:14 PM EST)

Ellen Gray | TV brings us Philly, both dark and light
HACK. 9 p.m. tomorrow, Channel 3. AMERICAN DREAMS. 8 p.m. Sunday, Channel 10. ONE OF THE nicest things that can be said about Mike Olshansky, the title character in CBS' "Hack," is that he's not always a very nice guy.
( 09/26/2002 09:08 AM EST)

Ellen Gray | NBC hopes to win some friends with 'Good Morning Miami'
WITHOUT A TRACE. 10 p.m. tomorrow, Channel 3. GOOD MORNING MIAMI. 9:30 p.m. tomorrow, Channel 10. ONCE, THERE wasn't much difference between NBC's "must-watch TV" and "nothing-else-to-watch" TV."
( 09/25/2002 08:31 AM EST)

'Friends' in high places
IF YOU'D only watched the first few minutes of the 54th annual Primetime Emmy Awards, you might have thought that MTV's "The Osbournes," whose members opened the show with host Conan O'Brien, was television's first family.
( BY ELLEN GRAY, graye@phillynews.com, 09/23/2002 08:04 AM EST)

Ellen Gray | Talky 'CSI' spin-off sinks below the original
CSI: MIAMI. 10 tonight, Channel 3. IT'S LESS than a minute into the premiere of one of the fall's most anticipated shows, CBS' "CSI: Miami." A plane has crashed in the Everglades and all I'm thinking is: What's the SPF on David Caruso's sunscreen and could that possibly be enough?
( By Ellen Gray, elgray@phillynews.com, 09/23/2002 08:08 AM EST)

Ellen Gray | Christopher Reeve gives no-holds-barred view of his life
CHRISTOPHER REEVE: COURAGEOUS STEPS. 10 tonight, Channel 6. CHRISTOPHER Reeve has a message, and he's willing to do whatever it takes to get it across.
( By Ellen Gray, elgray@phillynews.com, 09/18/2002 09:25 AM EST)

'Boomtown' or bust? Even if many new shows are duds, old faves point to strong season
THE BROADCAST networks begin rolling out their nearly three dozen new shows this month, and if TV series were automobiles, I'd be pointing you toward a good used-car lot about now.
( By Ellen Gray, elgray@phillynews.com, 09/16/2002 12:58 PM EST)