Sunday, April 15 2012
‘NYC 22’: In Harlem, a Bit of Edgy Topicality
NYC 22 offers good acting from the ensemble cast, generous location shooting, and a quirkily realized context, and also some familiar cop show plotting.
‘The Mystery of Edwin Drood’: Opium Dreams Lead to Self-Doubts
Like Charles Dickens' novel, this two-part presentation focuses less on the title character than his troubled uncle, John Jasper (Matthew Rhys), but it doesn't provide much in the way of a "mystery."
Tuesday, April 10 2012
‘Deadliest Catch’ Returns for an Eighth Season
A mix of the soap opera-style storylines and real life dangers has helped to make Deadliest Catch Discovery's most popular show.
Thursday, April 5 2012
‘Scandal’ Imagines Women Who Run DC
The show's formula looks to be this: the silly plots swirl, the brokers scheme, and the minions toil, but in each episode, Liv finds a moment to chat with one of these wise, powerful, and inevitably troubled women. In these moments, Scandal is slightly less tabloidy and soapy, and slightly more beguiling.
Tuesday, April 3 2012
‘No Kitchen Required’ Pits Chefs Against Nature
Take the chefs out of the kitchen, No Kitchen Required argues, and they feel even more heat.
Sunday, April 1 2012
‘The Killing’: Still Murky and Still (Mostly) Smart
Imagining the worst -- whatever that can be -- Sarah persists with her work while trying to be a mother to a child who's becoming a man.
‘Game of Thrones’: The Wannabe Kings
With their lush set pieces and rocky coastlines, passionate betrayals and calculating re-alliances, the new episodes present an almost a too intricate meditation on power. Game of Thrones demands that you pay attention or be left behind.
It’s a Delight to Rediscover ‘Great Expectations’
The benefactor business in Great Expectations raises questions concerning agency. The haves exert their power over the have-nots, at will or whim.
Wednesday, March 28 2012
‘Whitechapel’: More Historical Bread and Butter
East London’s sordid criminal past continues to inspire this slick dramatic potboiler.
Tuesday, March 27 2012
‘Frontline: Murdoch’s Scandal’: It’s Not News, But It’s Disturbing
As much as Rupert Murdoch is a monster, so too are his consumers.
Sunday, March 18 2012
‘Unchained Reaction’ Is Entertaining and Educational
The competing teams' different starting points mean that each team goes through different kinds of trials and errors in making their schemes material.
Friday, March 16 2012
‘Frozen Planet’ Undertakes Daring Pursuit of Surprising Behaviors
Frozen Planet commands attention with its astounding imagery and surprising animal behaviors, but earns greater respect with its journalistic rigor on the climate change question.
Thursday, March 15 2012
‘Missing’ Pits Ashley Judd Against Europe
Becca returns to her life of violence for this one last mission. It's one cliché of many here, including as well a cloying sanctification of a very American Motherhood.
Friday, March 9 2012
‘On Death Row’ Is Odd, Incisive, and Unsettling
On Death Row shows how violence -- however chaotic or planned -- is a function of systems and cycles, not only individual pathologies.
Thursday, March 1 2012
‘Awake’ Rejects the Psychobabble of Closure
What makes Awake look like the thinking person's must-see TV is its subtle execution of a plethora of open-ended narratives.
Friday, February 24 2012
‘Being Human’ Reveals What’s Human in Monsters
Survival has long been a theme in Being Human, one reinforced in this season premiere by a second "supernatural trinity", living parallel lives to the originals', in Southend-on-Sea.
Monday, February 20 2012
‘American Experience: Clinton’ Assesses the Comeback Kid, Again
So many of the political struggles in Clinton sound like the turmoil and responses that have characterized Barack Obama's presidency so far, that you're left to ponder whether anyone has learned any lessons.
Tuesday, February 7 2012
‘Doomsday Preppers’: Planning for the End of Times
If you’re a statistically average person, what are your chances of following these people’s lead and successfully preparing for social collapse? Well, pretty long, unless you have quite a few acres of land lying fallow in the country and a couple hundred thousand extra dollars.
‘The River’: Secrets and Allusions
Hopefully, the found footage gimmick will give way after the first episode, since it would be a shame to shoot all of the Amazon from one camera on some guy’s shoulder.
Monday, February 6 2012
‘Smash’ Is a Drama for Adults
All of the central characters are people working at jobs. They're creative, highly skilled jobs for which few people are qualified, but they are jobs nonetheless.
