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.
Wednesday, September 28 2011
The BBC’s ‘Luther’ Offers a Stark Perspective
Luther’s daring leaps of investigative logic and contests of intellect with brainy, mysterious killers make for much more diverting television than the Wrestling with Inner Demons stuff that can be found practically anywhere else on the dial.
‘Suburgatory’ Doubles Down on Genre Comedy
Unlike Wisteria Lane -- populated by murderers and sociopaths -- the street in Suburgatory is home to a lot of phony people whose love of luxury and creature comforts is the repeated target of lighthearted derision.
Tuesday, September 27 2011
‘24 Hours in the ER’ Asks Meaningful Questions
Along with showing injuries and traumas, the BBC's 24 Hours in the ER asks some pretty meaningful questions about mortality, aging, faith, and family relationships.
Monday, September 26 2011
‘Terra Nova’ Offers a World of Possibilities
On Terra Nova's premiere, the shots swoop and zoom, whooshing their way across CGIed planets, through dystopian cities, and over unspoiled hills. And, yes, there are dinosaurs.
‘Hart of Dixie’ Paints the South with Generic Nostalgia
Hart of Dixie sprinkles topical references about today's South to make you feel like this universe exists, but they land with thuds.
Sunday, September 25 2011
‘Pan Am’: More Mid-Century Nostalgia
It seems reasonable to hope that Pan Am will resist the urge to cross the line between acknowledging misogynistic behavior and fetishizing it.
Shady Skies, Shady Dealings in ‘Boardwalk Empire’
Nucky's talent for assessing the angles more quickly than everyone else makes him an exceedingly clever man, but also an impatient one.
