I am the TV/media critic at the Baltimore Sun. I write the Z on TV blog at baltimoresun.com. I also do a weekly radio report, "Media Matters: Take on Television," at Baltimore's public radio statioon WYPR-FM (88.1) as part of a content sharing agreement between the station and the Sun.

I have been the Baltimore Sun's TV critic since 1989. Before that I was TV critic/columnist at the Dallas Times Herald. I earned a Ph.D. in American Studies (pop culture-media studies) from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2000. I have an M.A. from the University of Wisconsin in specialized reporting (pop culture). I am the author of "The Jews of Prime Time," a look at 50 years of Jewish idenitity in front of behind the cameras of network TV (Brandeis University Press/University Press of New England, 2003).

TV and media.