I rewatched the final episode of Trying‘s glorious first season on Apple TV+ before my interview with its extremely endearing writer Andy Wolton. It really is one of the most perfectly pitched, utterly honest pieces of writing I’ve seen on television in a really long time. The whole season is special but that final episode […]
The Night Manager is a stylish new thriller based on the 1993 John le Carre novel of the same name. The Night Manager has been updated to a modern setting, and features an all-star cast. At the center of the story is “the worst man in the world” – Richard Roper, an arms dealer played […]
My relationship to reality TV is uneven. I’m fanatical about Survivor, grumpily fanatical about Big Brother and the Bachelorette, passively loyal to So You Think You Can Dance, and sporadically interested in American Idol and Dancing with the Stars (there was a Backstreet Boy on this season! I couldn’t not watch). I long ago gave […]
I know everybody’s really into the UK 6-episode TV model but there is no world in which I’m happy that Together, BBC3’s charming, strange, hilarious, heartwarming little gem lasted a total of, what, Two Hours once you factor in commercials? Why not just make a film and be done with it? I wanted to live […]
Here we go again. Another season of Doctor Who, a series that can go anywhere in time and space. Do we go to new places, and meet exciting new people? No. “The Magician’s Apprentice” takes us to Earth, England the oft-tread destination of the Doctor and company, and brings back characters that just will not […]
Brooklyn Nine Nine (FOX) After binge-watching this comedy series over the summer, I eagerly awaited the second season. It did not disappoint. The characters are zany without being obnoxious. The strong ensemble cast was only enhanced by some brilliant guest stars (including Kyra Sedgwick, perfectly cast as Captain Holt’s nemesis). There wasn’t an episode so […]
The Season 8 finale of Doctor Who brought together many of the plot threads it strung throughout the season. It addressed a lot of questions the season posed, but did little to make anyone care about the answers. (Spoilers ahead). The previous episode ‘Dark Water’ revealed that the Nethersphere teased throughout the season was actually […]
While Part I of Death Comes to Pemberley was a suspenseful thriller that had characters who were not necessarily defined, Sunday’s finale had the opposite problem. It delved into many of its characters, given them some more dimension, but the crime portion of the show fell short. The result is an enjoyable, if uneven series. […]
Taking the beloved character of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice a few years after the events of the novel and thrusting them in the middle of a scandal, this mini-series adaptation of PD James’ novel Death Comes to Pemberley is a delightful, suspenseful blend of a period drama and a good old-fashioned murder mystery. One of the nice things […]
This week’s Doctor Who was like much of the rest of the season: enjoyable for the duration of the viewing, but not something that sticks with you. There was little substance, but a lot of style. And I mean a lot of style. A replica of the Orient Express – in space! A mummy! 1920’s […]
Gracepoint is a gripping examination on how a small town reacts to the tragic murder of a young boy. It’s well written. It features gorgeous scenery. And it has an amazing cast, led by David Tennant and Anna Gunn, and including an impressive ensemble cast. Its biggest problem is it’s a remake of the BBC’s […]
April is a really, really long way away from now. And unfortunately, that’s when Outlander will return after it’s action-packed mid-season finale. If you haven’t been watching this addictive show, you have several months to catch up. Also if you haven’t watched, stop reading this, because there are spoilers. Just watch the show instead. The […]
This week’s episode of Doctor Who can be forgiven for a somewhat unexciting monster, because it finally forced Clara to reconcile her normal life with her time-travelling one. For the past several weeks, Clara has juggled her budding relationship with Danny Pink with her time travelling with the Doctor. This was shown in a particularly […]
It’s my turn to do an instalment of Talking to Fox! This time we were lucky enough to join in on a conference call with David Tennant, star of Doctor Who, Broadchurch, and many beloved Shakespeare productions. His upcoming mystery mini-series Gracepoint will premiere on FOX October 2nd at 9pm ET/PT. Tennant play Detective Emmett Carver […]
With only two episodes left before its hiatus,Outlander is stepping things up, raising the stakes, and setting the characters on paths they can’t come back from. (Spoilers ahead) Claire is still stuck in the 18th century. As soon as she starts having an internal monologue about how close she is to getting back to her […]
This week, Doctor Who delivered one of the most genuinely creepy episodes in a very long time. Although it fumbled the ending a little, most of the episode was the right balance of freaky and funny to make it an overall enjoyable episode. (Spoilers ahead). The Doctor wonders why you talk to yourself when you […]
The latest episode of Doctor Who offered a swashbuckling new twist on an old legend when the Doctor and Clara met Robin Hood. It was a worthy continuation of the show’s tradition of updating history/legends with a sci-fi twist. Robin Hood seems such an obvious candidate for Doctor Who. The beloved folk hero has pervaded […]
I can now with confidence say that I like Peter Capaldi’s Doctor. A lot. In last week’s ‘Deep Breath’, Capaldi wasn’t given a huge opportunity to show us what his Doctor is made of, since his Doctor didn’t come into his own until the very end of the episode. This week, Capaldi delivered a strong […]
In the latest Outlander, even as Claire schemes to get away from Castle Leoch, she learns more about the past she’s trapped in. Last week, Claire mused that perhaps the people from the past weren’t so different from the people in her original timeline. That was not the theme in ‘The Way Out’, when you […]
The premiere of Doctor Who’s eighth season was aptly named ‘Deep Breath’, because you will have to take multiple in order to calm down and not be annoyed at the bizarre plot, tired repetitions and frankly squandered opportunity. Peter Capaldi’s debut as the Twelfth Doctor should have been an absolute triumph, and he deserved a […]
The BBC has a long history of its ‘family drama’ series. These series are shows that are meant to entertain the entire family. Doctor Who is the most famous and successful of these. There was also Robin Hood, which despite its faults gave us a brooding Richard Armitage clad in black leather and guyliner. There […]
The Downton Abbey season 4 finale was an absurd spectacle, filled with gorgeous costumes, over the top romantic plots, rich people problems and a ridiculous caper. It was probably my favorite episode in a long time. The fourth season of the show felt darker than previous ones, and had some of the most compelling stories […]
Steven Moffat is the showrunner of two of Britain’s most known shows: Doctor Who, and Sherlock. A few years ago, Steven Moffat said, “The Doctor is like an angel aspiring to be human, and Sherlock is a man aspiring to be a god.” At the time, I thought that was an apt quote to describe […]
Downton this week was fine. It wasn’t fantastic, but it wasn’t terrible. It fell somewhere squarely in the middle. After weeks of stepping outside of its comfort zone, Downton retreated back to the familiar. There was nothing wrong with it, but it didn’t shine like it did in the past few weeks. Thomas is back […]
‘The Sign of Three’ was a light, but perfectly enjoyable episode of Sherlock. It took a break from the darker arcs the show has been pursuing of late, and delivered a fun adventure instead. Thinking about it, since the end of Season 1, there has been a Moriarty shaped shadow hanging over the show. The […]
Sunday night’s Downton Abbey was the most enjoyable episode the show has had for a long time. It wasn’t perfect, but it broke the stagnant streak the show has been having, and it was the first time in a while I finished an episode feeling satisfied. First and most importantly- Edna is gone, hopefully for […]