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'Damages' Filmed in New York by KZK Prods. in association with Sony Pictures Television. Executive producers/writers, Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler, Daniel Zelman; co-executive producer, Mark A. Baker; producer, Lori Jo Nemhauser; director, Matthew Penn.

"The Newsroom," HBO's new drama from Aaron Sorkin, possesses all the trappings expected of premium cable: adventurous subject matter, a high-profile cast and dialogue crafted by an Oscar- and Emmy-winning writer.

Sometimes it's helpful to hear how the sausage gets made -- in this case, my latest column, about whether HBO is becoming perceived as a "liberal elite" network. I wrote the column after watching "The Newsroom," Aaron Sorkin's new drama (pictured), which comes on the heels of the flak the network received from Sarah Palin apologists for its movie "Game Change."

Bush Presented by HBO Documentary Films. Executive producers, Jerry Weintraub, Stephen Beck; producer-director, Jeffrey Roth; writers, Beck, Roth; editor, Janice Hampton; writer, Mark Kilian. With: George H.W. Bush. Produced by his friend Jerry Weintraub -- the subject of his own livelier HBO documentary -- "41" is a dutifully admiring tribute to George H.W.

Larry Hagman, right, returns to 'Dallas' as the scheming J.R. Ewing, with Josh Henderson as son John Ross. CREDITS: Filmed in Dallas by Cyntax in association with Warner Horizon Television. Executive producers, Cynthia Cidre, Michael M. Robin; co-executive producers, Bruce Rasmussen, Robert Rovner; supervising producer, Taylor Hamra; producer, Ken Topolsky; director, Robin; writer, Cidre; based on the series by David Jacobs.

There's nothing wrong with "Untamed Americas," a four-hour National Geographic Channel documentary, which offers the increasingly standard HD-quality footage of wild beasts. It's just that this handsome effort, which will air June 10-11, doesn't quite measure up to the bar Discovery Channel has set with a series of internationally produced nature docs, including "Planet Earth," "Life" and "Frozen Planet."

Give him credit: Stephen Hawking doesn't pussyfoot around with the little stuff. Instead, the theoretical physicist tackles two imponderable questions -- "The Meaning of Life" and "The Theory of Everything" -- as part of his latest Discovery Channel "Grand Design" specials, airing back to back on June 9.

For the three nights, "Hatfields" averaged 13.8 million viewers overall, including 6 million adults 25-54 and 4.9 million adults 18-49. Auds stayed glued to the feud Wednesday, as History's finale of miniseries "Hatfields and McCoys" drew a whopping 14.3 million viewers.

Robert Taylor in "Longmire" Filmed in New Mexico by the Shephard/Robin Co. in association with Warner Horizon Television. Executive producers, Christopher Chulack, Hunt Baldwin, John Coveny, Greer Shephard, Michael M. Robin; producers, Chris Donahue, Alton Walpole; director, Chulack; writers, Baldwin, Coveny; based on the "Walt Longmire Mysteries" book series by Craig Johnson.

Nicole Kidman and Clive Owen in "Hemingway & Gellhorn" Filmed in San Francisco by Attaboy Films and Walrus & Associates. Executive producers, Peter Kaufman, Trish Hofmann, James Gandolfini, Alexandra Ryan, Barbara Turner; co-executive producers, Nancy Sanders, Mark Armstrong; director, Philip Kaufman; writers, Jerry Stahl, Turner.

Kevin Costner in "Hatfields & McCoys" Filmed in Romania by Leslie Greif Prods. and Thinkfactory Media. Executive producers, Greif, Nancy Dubuc, Dirk Hoogstra; supervising producer, Barry Berg; producers, Kevin Costner, Darrell Fetty, Herb Nanas; director, Kevin Reynolds; writers, Ted Mann, Ronald Parker; story by Bill Kerby, Mann.

Not to say I told you so (seriously, what kind of jerk would do that?), but I'm wondering if the New York Times has any regrets about rather prematurely stating "The X Factor" -- despite falling short of expectations -- was "a clear success."

CBS drew an estimated 12.7 million viewers Sunday with its latest Jesse Stone movie, starring Tom Selleck, which on its face ought to be cause for cartwheels. Drill a little deeper, though, and the movie's geriatric skew -- with adults over 50 accounting for the vast majority of its audience -- underscores the problem the major networks are wrestling with as their profiles keep getting older.

It's been famously said that no one knows anything in Hollywood, which helps TV executives unveiling new schedules -- as various networks just did at their annual upfront extravaganzas -- send new pawns into battle with high hopes, each one resembling a potential knight in shining armor..

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Sleepover is less a fully realized artistic expression than an able reworking of a well-worn genre. Claire Sloma, Marlon Morton, Amanda Bauer, Brett Jacobsen, Nikita Ramsey AUSTIN -- It takes either courage or ignorance for a first-time director to tell the kind of story John Hughes, Richard Linklater, Judd Apatow and George Lucas have already done so well, but David Robert Mitchell nearly pulls it off in The Myth of the American Sleepover.

The world of science fiction and fantasy art and design has lost one of its true legends as Ralph McQuarrie died today at the age of 82. McQuarrie began his design career after moving to California from Indiana in the early 1960s.

EXCLUSIVE: Fresh off their Oscar win for THE DESCENDANTS, scribes Nat Faxon & Jim Rash have sold an original action-comedy pitch to Indian Paintbrush that has Kristen Wiig attached to star. Sale was a competitive situation which drew multiple offers from studios. Wiig’s deal is being negotiated. More to come...

Posted: Tue., Feb. 21, 2012, 10:00am PT Following in the footsteps of his "Fast Five" co-star, Paul Walker has inked a two-year first-look production pact with Universal Pictures to house his Laguna Ridge Pictures. The first project under this agreement is the action thriller "Skyscraper," based on an original idea by Mike Sobel.