ABC’s Nashville purports to be about an aging classic country star unhappily joining forces with a rising pop-country star. I put off watching the first episode because I kind of hate watching pilots whose only function is to set up whatever wacky situation on which the show rests. Luckily, I underestimated Nashville: four episodes in, […]
Grey’s Anatomy‘s 9th season so far has been, um, let’s go with evocative. Like earlier seasons, the 9th has struggled with some melodrama, quite a few jokes that didn’t land, and a general lack of subtlety (this isn’t Parenthood, people, I don’t know what else you were expecting). But damn if there aren’t two things […]
In its final season, Weeds got back to basics in a lot of ways. It’s been 8 very long years with the Botwins but ultimately it’s been 8 pretty good ones. At the end of season three, when Agrestic burned to the ground, the series lost its satirical core (and many of its most engaging […]
At first glance, ABC’s bizarre new alien sitcom The Neighbors is abismal. So, as I try to do with shows I hate on contact, I gave it an extra week to grow on me. And, for the first time since I implemented that policy, it actually did grow on me. I wouldn’t go all the way […]
Fox’s extra Tuesday comedy is fine. It’s cute, it’s good for the occasional chuckle and sympathetic quirk. But that’s about it. The reason I call Ben & Kate Fox’s “extra” Tuesday comedy is that it’s programmed alongside New Girl, The Mindy Project and Raising Hope in what I think is the strongest comedy block on […]
Doctor Who’s mid-season finale ‘The Angels Take Manhattan” is a physically challenging episode for the viewer. As with any episode featuring the Weeping Angels, your first instinct is to not blink. But by the end of the episode, it is very likely you’ll end up in tears; it’s very hard to decide what to do […]
Let’s just start here- I am a Mindy Kaling girl. For awhile I thought I might be a Tina Fey girl- idiosyncrasies, writerly personality, glasses – or a Rosie O’Donnell girl- commanding, opinionated, occasionally funny. But that’s just because I didn’t know about Mindy Kaling. It’s uncanny; I feel like she’s quoting me half the […]
I can’t stop smiling. Really, you’ve got to believe me, no pilot has made me this unexpectedly* gleeful in recent memory. I love Partners. I love it. It’s hilarious and heartfelt and just nostalgic enough to hit that allusive brand of happiness that almost nothing else can. First of all, I love the concept. My […]