Wednesday, November 9 2011
‘Prophets of Science Fiction’: Some Powerful Engine
According to Prophets of Science Fiction, Mary Shelley's critique gains power by locating both Romantic and Enlightenment ideals in the form of Dr. Frankenstein.
Sunday, November 6 2011
‘Hell on Wheels’ Raises the Inevitable Question… At What Price Progress?
Hell on Wheels is a railroad town where residents yearn for home and are haunted by their pasts.
Friday, November 4 2011
‘Fringe’: Classic Realism in a Postmodern Space
With "Novation", Fringe conjures a kind of archetypal nightmare touch: you return to father and lover and they don’t know you; no one knows you.
Thursday, November 3 2011
‘Bones’: Just Don’t Call Him Shorty
The new season of Bones celebrates Bones' extraordinary high-achieving rationalism, and nevertheless chastises her when she tries to apply her reason to relationships.
Sunday, October 30 2011
‘Allen Gregory’: A Little Egghead With a Temper
Part of what makes Allen Gregory such a funny kid is that he sounds basically indistinguishable from Jonah Hill, who affects the most condescending, schmoozy voice possible.
Friday, October 28 2011
‘Grimm’: A Different Sort of Detective Superpowers
How the Grimms' special gift can help Nick in his police work is obvious, but also silly. It doesn't take inherited superpowers to deduce the common thread among cases involving missing girls last seen in red sweatshirts.
Wednesday, October 26 2011
‘Whitechapel’ Is a Diverting and Atmospheric Crime Drama
Whitechapel is a mystery drama that feeds into the evidently bottomless current appetite for pseudo-conspiratorial “secret history” fiction.
Sunday, October 23 2011
‘Once Upon a Time’ Offers a Mix of Hope and Cynicism
Storybrooke, Maine seems like Twin Peaks’ evil twin. Once Upon a Time is set in yet another apparently tranquil town that harbors something seriously sinister.
Thursday, October 20 2011
‘The Walking Dead’ Season Two Is Where the Show Should Have Begun
The Walking Dead's second season premiere on Sunday night was good, lively and tense like last year's pilot. In many ways, it was where the series ought to have begun.
Wednesday, October 19 2011
‘Case Histories’ Is Left with a Faint Echo of a Delightful Original
Despite lively acting, splashy production values, and rich source material, Case Histories offers precious little genuine detection and a lot of aimless jumping around from case to case and client to client.
Monday, October 17 2011
‘Bored to Death’ Is a Remarkably Gentle Show
Bored to Death regularly strips Jonathan of his tough-guy illusions, and the two-part season premiere offers an especially economical and poignant example.
Wednesday, October 12 2011
The Usual Man’s Man Tropes: ‘Last Man Standing’
Tim Allen is back in Last Man Standing, but do we want him?
Monday, October 10 2011
‘Enlightened’: The Flip Side of Being Full of Possibility
Thankfully, Enlightened doesn't belabor Amy's cluelessness beyond the first few episodes.
Thursday, October 6 2011
‘Criminal Minds’ Has Worn Thin
One needs to hone in on the performers to find reasons to stay engaged, because the plots and premises of Criminal Minds are worn thin as filaments by this point.
Wednesday, October 5 2011
‘American Horror Story’ Asks When Horrible Things Happen to People, What Do They Become?
Contradictions, whether embodied by Vivian or found in her new haunted home, exemplify what works and what doesn’t about American Horror Story.
Sunday, October 2 2011
‘Homeland’ Crafts a Tense Cat-and-mouse Scenario
The uncertain world of intelligence is on full display here. Carrie Mathison’s conviction somehow muddies the waters further because there are so many reasons to doubt her.
‘Dexter’ Is Still Trying to Balance a So-called Normal Life with Being a Serial Killer
Sometimes it's hard to tell whether Dexter is dumb, or simply thinks its audience is.
Thursday, September 29 2011
‘The Amazing Race’ Rushes into a 19th Season
Beyond the obvious set of emotional and sexual appeals inherent to the show, The Amazing Race has a cultural savvy and undercurrent of intelligence that wins it fans from all levels of the socio-economic and educational spectrum.
‘How to Be a Gentleman’ Is Yet Another Sitcom in Which Opposites Attract
As ordinary as its premise sounds, How To Be a Gentleman has a couple of things going for it, namely, David Hornsby and Kevin Dillon.
Who Would Ever Want ‘Community’ to Be Less Weird?
Evolution, biology, power and prison and monkey gas: this is typical of the kind of amusing thematic density that Community manages week to week.
