"Death March with Cocktails"

That's how the San Francisco Chronicle's Tim Goodman -- one of the best TV critics out there -- describes the twice-annually TV Critics press tour.

This summer's tour (which is also held every January) is currently underway at the Beverly Hilton, which -- now that it's no longer owned by Merv Griffin, who let the hotel decay a bit -- has undergone an extreme makeover. (Critics report that their rooms contain two plasma TVs -- including one in the bathroom.)

Because I live in L.A., I don't actually stay at the hotel -- which means I miss out on plenty, but I also don't spend two weeks under what quickly becomes a headache-inducing form of house arrest (granted, with loads of free shrimp).

Want to know what actually goes on at press tour?

No?

I'll give you the link anyway: Denison Univ. professor Amanda Lotz attended the summer 2003 TV critics press tour and gives it a scholarly study (yes, really!) here.

From the abstract: Through collective organization, the Television Critics Association forced the networks to evolve what were once network-funded and network-controlled junkets into a rich journalistic opportunity that the TCA controls. The author explores the TCA tour and continued challenges to the organization and the place it has established in cultural production.

The study -- published in the Spring 2005 Journal of Popular Film and Television, even cites a story on the press tour I did for Electronic Media in 1997.

Meanwhile, the broadcast network portion of the press tour kicks off tomorrow, with CBS leading the charge (followed by UPN, the WB, NBC, ABC and Fox).

(Link via TV Barn.)