Television review

NBC’s ‘Smash’ is a guilty pleasure. VERY guilty.

Smash. 10-11 p.m. Monday. WTVJ-NBC 6.

New Super-PACs flooding the airwaves with political ads

Special-interest-group spending on TV ads has skyrocketed in the first presidential race since a U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturned a ban on campaign spending by corporations and labor unions, a study released Monday says.

WSVN, DirecTV reach deal

A corporate spat over money that kept WSVN-Fox 7 off DirecTV’s satellite dishes for nearly two weeks ended Thursday when the two sides signed a deal on retransmission fees.

Cable TV’s mad-as-hell guy comes to South Florida

MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan, who made his mark with a wild rant against — well — everything, is doing his show from Miami Beach. Keep your head down.

SHOWBIZ

Video daze: Confused TV execs gather on Miami Beach

As TV executives gather on Miami Beach for their annual convention, no one knows where their industry is going.

A short — very short — truce between WSVN, DirecTV

Television viewers, who’ve mostly been collateral damage in the contractual crossfire between WSVN-Fox 7 and DirecTV over the past week, caught a break Thursday when WSVN announced it will lift its blackout of DirecTV satellite dishes Sunday night to air an NFL playoff game and American Idol special.

television

Reporter’s age-bias win reversed

An appellate court tossed a jury award of nearly $1 million to former WSVN-Fox 7 reporter Marilyn Mitzel.

WSVN, DirecTV still slugging it out

The scorched-earth financial battle between WSVN-Fox 7 and DirecTV continued Wednesday, with WSVN blacked out for a fifth straight day on the satellite company’s dish-shaped antennas, and no cease-fire in sight.

Television reviews

Two puzzles, one worth a shot

Napoleon Dynamite. 8:30-9 p.m. Sunday. WSVN-Fox 7.Alcatraz. 8-10 p.m. Monday. WSVN-Fox 7.

DIRECTV

No TV deal means no Fox for some South Florida homes

A quarter of a million South Florida homes lost access to WSVN-Fox 7 Saturday when the station yanked its signal from DirecTV’s satellite service in a dispute over retransmission fees that’s getting uglier by the minute.

Television Reviews

See ‘Rob’ and ‘The Finder’ before they go to cancellation heaven

'Rob.' 8:30-9 p.m. Thursday. WFOR-CBS 4. 'The Finder.' 9-10 p.m. Thursday. WSVN-Fox 7.

Confessions of a TV critic

Ten years and one day ago, my byline ran for the first time on a Miami Herald column about television. I didn’t see it. I was aboard an airliner flying to Los Angeles, where TV critics from all over the country were gathering to get a look at the spring season shows. When I got off the plane, I discovered that slumping ABC had fired all of its top programming executives.

Tv review

TV review of Stephen King’s ‘Bag of Bones’

Stephen King’s Bag of Bones. 9-11 p.m. Sunday. A&E.

Holiday giving

Have yourself a mobile Christmas: Gifts that go from 0 to 200 mph

So there you are, creeping along the Palmetto, enduring the contemptuous stares of insects flying by at 10 times your velocity and wondering about your chances of being struck by lightning and turned into The Flash.

Television Review

TV’s fall season ends with a teenage reign of terror

I Hate My Teenage Daughter. 9:20-10 p.m. Wednesday. WSVN-Fox 7.

Television commentary

The shot still heard ’round the world

JFK: The Lost Bullet. 10-11 p.m. Sunday. National Geographic Channel.

television

‘Homeland’ creator: Right show for right time

When Howard Gordon takes the stage at the Alper Jewish Community Center Thursday night, he will show a clip of his new TV show Homeland, about an Al Qaida mole planning a murderous attack on Washington. He’ll probably get some questions about his last show, 24, about a counterterrorist super-hero who saved the world 192 times in eight years. And of course he’s appearing at the Jewish Book Festival, so he’ll want to talk for a while about his last novel ( Gideon’s War, about a terrorist attack on an offshore oil rig) or his next one ( Hard Target, about a terrorist campaign by a home-grown American militia).

Television review

‘Vietnam in HD’ gives a searing look at war

Vietnam in HD. 9-11 p.m. Tuesday. History Channel.

Television Review

AMC’s ‘Hell on Wheels’ a compelling tale of the transcontinental railroad

Hell on Wheels. 10-11 p.m. Sunday. AMC.