A Critic's Take on TCA

6:00 AM PST 1/3/2012 by Tim Goodman

THR's Tim Goodman offers an inside guide as the semiannual Death March With Cocktails hits Pasadena.

So what actually happens at the Television Critics Association press tour? Spinning, mostly. Followed by about 200 critics and reporters trying to unspin that spin. Example: "We're up 500 percent in the time slot, year to year." Response: "Yeah, but you were airing infomercials last year in that slot."