I loved NBC’s weird little jukebox musical show. Buried as a midseason replacement then rolled out strangely with the pilot dropping long before the actual series launch, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist was easy to miss. Even I missed most of it and had to go back and catch up after weirdly seeing episode ten before episodes […]
The new TV season is upon us! As we mourn the slaughter of all the great shows that had to die so these ones could live (RIP, For the People and Whiskey Cavalier; you were too good for this world), it’s time to give the new kids a shot. I gave each new show at […]
The new TV season is upon us! As we mourn the slaughter of all the great shows that had to die so these ones could live (RIP, Speechless), let’s see if there’s anything worth watching in this new crop. I gave each new show 2 episodes to win me over and listed them below in […]
I’m a cryer. I cry easily and a lot, triggered by all sorts of things from nostalgia to empathy to heartbreak. It can be difficult to explain to people what it means when I cry. Our basic human instinct is to assume that if someone is acting in a certain way, it means they’re feeling […]
I’ll come right out and say it: season four of Parks and Rec is my favorite season. Mostly, this is from being a political-campaign-lover, and Leslie Knope’s city council campaign is the organizing principle for the season. It should not go without mentioning, however, that the addition of Kathryn Hahn as Jen Barkley and Paul […]
I’m beginning to wonder if there’s something otherworldly about this Parks and Rec. With each new season I watch, the cast seems to get stronger, the writing seems to get better, the narrative seems to be more intricate, more magical. I don’t think I can name another show where things improve so much from one […]
Let’s start with the big stuff – season two of Parks and Rec is ridiculously large. 24 episodes make up this season. More than a few of the best episodes from the whole show’s run can be found in season two (“Practice Date,” “Hunting Trip,” and “Woman of the Year,” to name a few). The […]
I have a hard time watching comedies by myself. I’m uncertain as to where this comes from. I’m not one to shy from a terrible pun, a laugh, even a poorly-run improv performance. I like funny things. But for personal enjoyment, when it comes to consuming media, my choices run a fairly narrow gamut. I’ll […]
I can’t think of anything more appropriate for an Easter Sunday that is also April Fools Day than Jesus Christ Superstar. There is something so deliciously subversive about sending a sacrilegious musical about a human man with a PR problem out to the American heartland via wholesome NBC on the holiest holiday in the Christian […]
I actually just finished telling a friend that I don’t think recapping/reviewing/discussing The Good Place in any kind of semi-formal forum is all that useful. My argument was that, with very few exceptions, it’s most likely that you’re not nearly as smart as the show and its creators so, especially right now, in the immediate […]
All in all, there actually aren’t as many new shows this fall as you might expect. Networks seem to be playing it a little bit cooler with the cancellation trigger (or at least trying to) and a startling number of shows making their season debuts this month already have at least a year of existence […]
The five major broadcast television networks arranged in a list in order of how appealing the previews for their new fall shows are, overall… LEAST: NBC NBC has historically been my favorite of the broadcast networks. Not only were they the home of The West Wing, E.R., Cheers, Friends, Frasier, 30 Rock, Parks and Rec, […]
Every conversation I’ve had about NBC’s afterlife comedy The Good Place to date has gone in pretty much the same direction. Other Person: Do you like The Good Place? Me: Yeah. It’s not blowing my mind but I like it. Other Person: The cast is good. Me: The cast is great. Other Person: I like […]
The Good Place is an apt name for NBC’s new sitcom. The Great Place would a little too enthusiastic, but it’s certainly better than The So-So place. The Good Place has a unique, interesting premise, a delightful cast, and some hilarious one-liners. The titular Good Place is the afterlife. In this show’s lore, every deed […]
NBC’s new family drama This Is Us is being marketed as the new Parenthood. The fact that Parenthood had to die so this could live has to be one of the great tragedies of the modern television age. Where that show was honest and nuanced, this one is contrived and obvious. Naturalistic dialogue is replaced […]
That’s it, the network TV season is over. I would ask how you felt about it but, let’s be honest, you don’t watch network TV anymore. You watch Game of Thrones and, if you’re really cool, you maybe downloaded Horace & Pete (if you haven’t, you should). You’re a young, busy, hip person; you don’t […]
“This is the real world”, says the beautiful, robotic Miranda Cosgrove as she fights with her new onscreen big sister Mia Serafino. Cosgrove is Shea, the ambitious, matter-of-fact aspiring astronaut moving home straight out of college because the government cut science funding, leaving her jobless. Serafino is Stella, the distractible, boy-crazy aspiring actress moving home […]
Before we announce the winners of the 2015 MyTV Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series. Arguably the most challenging and acclaimed drama in recent network TV history ended its shocking three-year run in 2015 with an intense and memorable final episode co-written by Nick Antosca with showrunner Bryan Fuller and Steven Lightfoot. We […]
It makes sense that NBC’s new sitcom (one of only three half-hour comedies on the entire network since they massacred their iconic Thursday night block) comes from an Office alum. Superstore creator Justin Spitzer spent seven seasons in Scranton writing for a large ensemble of wacky underachievers living unglamorous lives at a paper company and […]
Halfway through the forth season of Chicago Fire I find myself wondering what I’m missing. Where did the Gabby baby storyline go? Why is Chili being a raging bitch? I’d like to chalk it up to my inability to watch a show without simultaneously playing Candy Crush on my phone, but unfortunately, I believe the […]
In preparation for Heroes: Reborn, I wanted to watch the entire original series through. I’ll admit that I was a die-hard fan of season 1 but, like most people, gave up somewhere mid-season two. But with the resurgence of superhero stories, it felt like 2015 was the perfect time to bring back a show that […]
The premise of Blindspot reads like a bad soap opera meets buddy cop show. To summarize: Girl wakes up with a case of amnesia and hundreds of newly inked tattoos covering her body. One of said tattoos reads the name of an FBI agent and suddenly girl meets boy. Boy is immediately in charge of […]
I really wanted to like Best Time Ever With Neil Patrick Harris, and I haven’t given up on it yet, but I found the pilot to be pretty disappointing. Because it was so high energy with a lot of big ideas, I think they’ll work out the kinks, but some of the segments just didn’t […]
It’s done- Bryan Fuller’s beautiful and haunting Hannibal. There’s been time to watch, rewatch, and rewatch again. There’s been time to reflect – to digest, if you will. (I’m not even going to pretend to be sorry about that. As far as I know, this is my last Hannibal review, and when will I next […]
Summer is weird. As we await the September coming of the latest in big commercial “must-see TV”, our airwaves fill with guilty pleasure reality (Big Brother, Bachelor in Paradise), niche prestige fare (Hannibal) and strange new stuff the executives aren’t quite sure about (did anyone watch Wayward Pines? What was that?). And also the burn pile. […]
This week, Hannibal explored some of the titular character’s past. It gave few answers, but raised many more questions, in a typically fascinating and disturbing episode. (Some spoilers ahead). In his search for Hannibal, Will decides to visit Hannibal’s past- the Lecter estate in Lithuania. Hannibal’s childhood home is just as grand, beautiful and creepy […]