The entertainment world (or at least that portion of interest to TV writers), as it relates to the fortunes of the NBC TV network, has been greatly affected during the month of January by major events.

First of all, there was the endurance run of the biannual TV critics press tour, where lowly scribes get the lowdown on upcoming programs from network and cable brass.

On the larger stage, TV writers and the general public have seen the nation’s largest cable operator, Comcast, moving forward with acquiring a majority stake in the broadcasting company NBC Universal.

Though the Comcast-NBC merger has now been approved by the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice, the matter was still pending when TV critics had their day with the NBC TV network earlier in January.

For the first time in memory, the NBC Universal press tour day did not include a session with the network’s top executives.

Last summer, we had the give-and-take conversation with Jeff Gaspin, chairman of NBC Universal Television Entertainment.

This month, you were lucky to talk to one of the ubiquitous NBC pages who wear blazers sporting at least multiple NBC lapel pins – kind of like that guy on the “30 Rock” show.

I guess no one wanted to talk about the then-pending final approval of the Comcast-NBC merger. Or maybe they just wanted to avoid unpleasant chatter about former president and CEO of NBC Universal, Jeff Zucker, who was probably one of the least popular TV executives of all time and was unceremoniously dumped last fall.

Another reason not to talk to executives is that apparently all of the NBC midseason shows have been launched.

First, there’s “The Cape,” which should excite fanboys of the superhero genre in a big way. The show has a unique combination of campy, cheesy fun and dark superhero drama.

In the premiere episode of “The Cape,” Vince Faraday (David Lyons) is a cop framed for crimes he did not commit, forcing him to team up with a group of carnival misfits to take a new identity, fight crime and win his family back.

Fueled by a desire to reunite with his wife Dana (Jennifer Ferrin) and son Trip (Ryan Wynott), Faraday becomes “The Cape” – his son’s favorite comic book superhero – taking the law into his own hands and battling the criminal forces that have overtaken the fictional Palm City.

Evil billionaire Peter Fleming (James Frain) is The Cape’s nemesis, who moonlights at a twisted killer named Chess. Political intrigue also comes into the picture when Fleming’s corporation seeks to privatize Palm City’s prisons.

Now that “Boston Legal” had ended its run, writer and producer David E. Kelley returns with “Harry’s Law,” a show that is billed as a legal “dramedy,” a term that implies the combination of drama and comedy.

From what I can tell, this new series, starring the talented Kathy Bates, is more unintentionally ludicrous than it is either a comedy or drama.

The premise is that Harriet “Harry” Korn (Bates) is a curmudgeonly ex-patent lawyer abruptly fired from her blue-chip law firm, forcing her to search for a fresh start.

This leads her to team up with a young legal hotshot (Nate Corddry) that she meets in a car accident and a ditzy assistant (Brittany Snow).

They set up shop in a former shoe store located in a ghetto neighborhood of Cincinnati. It’s a bit lame that they are selling shoes and providing legal services in the same storefront.

One little known fact is that David E. Kelley wrote the part of Harry for a cantankerous grumpy old man. To her credit, Kathy Bates does a good job of turning the grouchy Harry into a crabby Harriet.

“Perfect Couples” is a romantic comedy that is new only in the sense that it stars a bunch of people who did not appear in “Friends.” Otherwise, the story about three flawed couples sounds an awful lot like “Traffic Light,” which will get its start in early February on the FOX network.

At least in the FOX series, one of the three guys has trouble maintaining a relationship any longer than three weeks.

“Perfect Couples” involves three couples struggling through various stages of commitment, whether ideal or not.

Olivia Munn’s Leigh is a self-appointed relationship guru who makes it her duty to mold her jock husband Rex (Hayes MacArthur) and the other couples into her ideal of marriage.

For his part, Rex is a reformed party guy channeling his athletic energy into a competitive drive to be the ideal mate.

Kyle Bornheimer’s Dave and his wife Julia (Christine Woods) appear to be the fun couple worth watching.

The good news for NBC Universal, or should I say Comcast-NBC Universal, is that this media conglomerate also has cable outfits Syfy, USA, Oxygen and Bravo in its orbit. Some of the best series, to my mind, are on USA.

“White Collar,” recently returned for its second season on USA, is a fun crime caper show starring the charismatic Matt Bomer as an ex-con who now assists the FBI.

USA has also just launched “Fairly Legal,” a legal drama that works off the premise that San Francisco mediator Kate Reed (Sarah Shahi), formerly an attorney, returns to the practice of law upon the sudden death of her father, whose law firm is now being run by the evil stepmother (Virginia Williams).

The tension is palpable as Kate must now report to her deceased father’s spouse, a person relatively the same age.

It will be interesting to see how Comcast-NBC rolls out its fall programming during this summer’s press tour.

I am comforted by the fact that Jeff Zucker won’t be one of the network executives on a panel discussion.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Arts Council is presenting the nineteenth edition of the Winter Music Fest on Saturday, Feb. 26, at 7 p.m., and on Sunday, Feb. 27, at 2 p.m.

The WMF is a fundraiser for the Lake County Arts Council.

Tickets for this program are now available at the Main Street Gallery, 325 N. Main St., Lakeport, at the Soper-Reese Theatre box office at 275 S. Main St., Catfish Books in Lakeport, Lower Lake Coffee and online from www.soperreesetheatre.com.

The reserved seats are available only from the Soper-Reese Theatre’s box office, 707-263-0577, or from the Web site.

This year’s festival will showcase Lake County musicians, some of whom have been on this stage before, and some remarkable new talents as well.

For the last few years, the artists that applied for the show included dancers, jugglers, poets, actors and yo-yo masters, so the Arts Council decided to put on a show modeled on vaudeville.

This year, the talent that presented itself was exclusively musical. While the music is of varied styles, the vaudeville format has been dropped for this show. It will be in a concert format, and we will be lead through it by that splendid MC, Bert Hutt.

The Soper-Reese Community Theatre is an ideal venue for this kind of presentation. Every one of its comfortable seats has an unobstructed view of the stage and the sound system fills the auditorium.

Between the excellent acoustics of the hall and the professional mixing, no music is lost anywhere in the theater. While this year’s Music Fest has no rock-n-roll or country bands, the Soper-Reese can make even such intense music as that a pleasurable experience.

The only large musical groups that will be performing at this year’s Winter Music Fest will be the Mendo Lake Singers and Sax-O-Rama, very experienced entertainers in this area, and never hard to listen to.

That could be said for all the acts in this year’s entertainment. Melodious, intelligent, experienced, interesting, moving … these musicians are all that, but never hard to listen to.

Not every Music Fest can claim that, by any means, but this year one thing we can count on is that every member of the audience will leave feeling energized and positive.

For more information, contact the Lake County Arts Council by phone at 707-263-6658, or on the Web site at www.lakecountyartscouncil.com, or contact the Soper-Reese Community Theatre, 707-263-0577.

Entries are now being accepted for regional winners in the 19th annual National Senior Poets Laureate Poetry Competition for American poets age 50 and older.

The deadline is June 30.

Winning poems of state senior poets laureate will be named in July, following which they advance to final rounds of competition from which the winner of the 2011 National Senior Poet Laureate (500) and runner up ($100) awards will be announced Sept. 1.

The 2010 California Senior Poet Laureate Award was won by Ray Malus of Woodland Hills whose poem “Feast” competed for the national title.

Winner of the 2010 National Senior Laureate Award was Regina Murray Brault of Burlington, Vt.

The 2010 winners can be seen in Golden Words Anthology, along with details about the 2011 Senior Poets Laureate Competition at the sponsor’s Web site, www.amykitchenerfdn.org .

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Former Lake County Poet Laureate Mary McMillan, with the support of the Lake County Arts Council, has again been awarded a grant to fund her work as leader of the Writers Circle, a free public writing workshop held at the Main Street Gallery in Lakeport at 6:30 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month.

The grant supporting the Writers Circle comes from Poets and Writers Inc., through a grant it has received from the James Irvine Foundation.

Many emerging writers, as well as more seasoned authors, depend on the Writers Circle to help them build their skills and connect with other writers.

Some people come only a few times, and others show up every month.

Many participants have been sharing parts of books and other long works they've been writing; others share short stories, memoirs, essays or poems.

The writers are between 16 and 80 years old, and come from all over the county.

Visit McMillan's Web site at www.marytmcmillan.com/ .

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Local entertainer Andre Williams will perform with his talented Andre Williams Trio at Silk's in Clearlake on Thursday, Feb. 3.

The performance will start at 5:30 p.m. and continue to as late as 8:30 p.m. at Williams' Silk's Bar & Grill.

Williams will put his incredible voice to work on old favorites.

Silk's Bar & Grill is located at 14825 Lakeshore Drive, Clearlake.

Call 707-995-7455 to reserve a table, as seating is limited.

Last summer, when the nation’s TV critics gathered for their biannual press tour, the major conversation was about the departure of Simon Cowell from “American Idol” and how would the Fox television network manage to keep its signature show vital, entertaining and compelling.

The 10th season of “American Idol” has just launched, with new judges Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez.

From a talent perspective, Aerosmith frontman Tyler and notable singer Lopez are a good fit for a show that seeks out new musical stars.

However, I still can’t figure out why Ryan Seacrest is the host. His production company is responsible for foisting “Keeping up with the Kardashians” on us, and this alone should lead to his permanent ban from any spot on television.

At the January press tour, Fox’s President of Entertainment, Kevin Reilly, had little to say about his network’s most popular shows, “American Idol” or “Glee,” for that matter.

Well, Peter Rice, Fox’s chairman of entertainment, responded to a question about whether Jennifer Lopez was picked to be an “Idol” judge because of her international following that would help tap into the Hispanic market.

After saying “no,” he added that the network thought “Jennifer would be fantastic.”

To elaborate a bit more, Rice observed that because “Idol” is a music show in which “there’s real chemistry there and great music credibility” between Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez.

Oddly enough, Rice and Reilly answered a lot more questions, or so it seemed, about the dismal failure of “Lone Star,” which everyone except a handful of TV critics has already forgotten.

Starting off the midseason for the Fox schedule is “Bob’s Burgers,” an animated series that fits within the network’s realm of such shows as “The Simpsons” and the now-departed “King of the Hill.”

As the title implies, the comedy series is about Bob, his family and the eponymous burger joint, one which has problems with the health department and the mishaps that come from running afoul of child labor laws.

Bob is voiced by H. Jon Benjamin, whose distinctive speech is easily recognized for giving voice to the titular character in “Archer,” an animated series on the FX network.

The role of Bob’s wife is voiced by John Roberts – yes, you’re reading that correctly, a man is impersonating the lead female character.

Fox’s next new comedy to launch in early February is “Traffic Light,” a show that has nothing to do with travel other than the fact that the characters like to discuss their relationships and romances while driving around town.

The series centers on three longtime buddies – Mike (David Denman), Adam (Nelson Franklin) and Ethan (Kris Marshall) – and their attempts to navigate the demands of their relationships.

A married lawyer devoted to his wife and young son, Mike desperately carves out space for himself, usually hiding out in his car so he can talk to his buddies.

Adam is coping with his girlfriend having just moved in. The perpetual bachelor, Ethan loves women, but never more than three weeks at a time.

“Traffic Light” treads no new ground, because we’ve seen it in “Friends” and countless other sitcoms about couples.

Shawn Ryan, creator of “The Shield,” is the creative force behind “The Chicago Code,” a compelling new police drama that also begins in early February.

Shot entirely in the Windy City, this show follows powerful and respected cops as they traverse the city’s underbelly to fight crime and expose corruption within Chicago’s notorious political machine.

The fast-paced series centers on Jarek Wysocki (Jason Clarke), a local legend and veteran of the police force, who has tremendous influence due to his connections with Teresa Colvin (Jennifer Beals), his ex-partner and the city’s first female superintendent.

The pair will stop at nothing to bring down their powerful adversaries, including Alderman Ronin Gibbons (Delroy Lindo), a politician who rules his ward with a velvet glove.

Jarek works the streets to not only clean up the corrupt system but to also avenge his brother’s murder.

“The Chicago Code” looks very promising, and if it were airing on cable, it would be way more intense.

More than anything, I am looking forward to the off-beat workplace comedy, “Breaking In,” starring Christian Slater, of all people, as the head of a high-tech security firm. Unfortunately, we have to wait until early April for the series to begin.

Slater’s company takes extreme and often questionable methods to sell its protection services.

Christian Slater’s Oz is a man of mystery and master of manipulation. In the series’ pilot, Oz takes unorthodox measures to hire his newest recruit, Cameron (Bret Harrison), a slacker at the local university who uses his computer skills to provide students with high marks in order to profit handsomely.

Other members of the odd squad include Melanie (Odette Yustman) and Cash (Alphonso McAuley).

“Breaking In” has the promise of being a thoroughly wacky and out of the ordinary comedy.

Later this spring, Fox will take the unusual measure of airing a two-hour series preview of a show that won’t even premiere until next fall.

“Terra Nova” follows an ordinary family on an incredible journey back in time to prehistoric Earth as a small part of a daring experiment to save the human race.

The series centers on the Shannon family as they join the Tenth Pilgrimage of setters to Terra Nova.

Steven Spielberg is one of a dozen executive producers for this adventure series, and his involvement alone might just sell the program.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.