Primetimely

Prime, timely commentary on primetime TV.

Tag archive for ‘Mad Men’

The Prime Times: Post “Lost” Edition

Lordy lordy, do I have a ton of news items to share. Let’s waste no time:

  • Most excitingly, William Keck at TV Guide reports that Terry O’Quinn (Lost’s Locke) is pitching a series in which he and Michael Emerson (Ben) star as “suburban hit men juggling family issues.” My buddy Andy says he might not be able to see these Emmy-winners as anything other than their [...]

2009 Primies: Best Shows

Because I’m theoretically on vacation, let’s just speed through this! Here are my picks for the ten best programs on the boob tube for the year of 2009. (Hint: AMC takes the cake!)

  1. Breaking Bad
  2. Mad Men
  3. Lost
  4. Battlestar Galactica
  5. 30 Rock
  6. True Blood
  7. Modern Family
  8. Fringe
  9. Glee
  10. Dollhouse

2009 Primies: Best Episodes

Aloha, dear TV junkies.  I may be on vacation, but thanks to some coffeshop wi-fi, I’m still able to update this here blog with cinnamon-bun-sticky fingers.  Surely you didn’t think I’d forgotten about honoring the best small-screen moments of 2009!  Listed below are my favorite episodes across the airwaves from all of last year.  Is the list comprehensive?  Maybe not.  Does the order tend to be arbitrary?  Perhaps.  But still, I believe this to be a [...]

41 Shows Reviewed in 140 Characters or Less

Rose Byrne in "Damages"

Note: The following post first appeared as an article by the same name in The Climax, Hampshire College’s newspaper. Also, some of these micro-reviews may exceed 140 characters—my bad!

I am a student of television. Writing television scripts is my Division III [a senior project, in Hampshire speak]. So I have no shame in the fact that I watch all of the shows below religiously. I study the craft, folks. That’s a lie—I am ashamed of some of [...]

The Prime Times: Peacock Overload Edition

The entrance of NBC Tower in Chicago

Here’s this week’s batch of freshly-baked television news:

  • Two big names will “sho” up on Showtime: Laura Linney will star in The C Word, a half-hour comedy series about a woman who turns her life around following a cancer diagnosis; and William H. Macy will star in Shameless, a comedic drama about a drink-swilling father of six (based on a BBC hit).
  • In a classless move by NBC, the Glee cast is no longer invited to perform [...]

The Prime Times: Lawn Mower Meets Foot Edition

Seconds before disaster on "Mad Men"

I can’t even fit all the news that’s fit to print into one blog post, but here are some of this week’s most interesting tidbits:

  • Some of the shows that premiered this week got impressive ratings. FlashForward scared up 12.41 million viewers. (I realize now that there’s no space in that title. The world’s in crisis and people are blacking out—there’s no time for spaces, folks.) Modern Family welcomed 12.74 million. And The Good Wife attracted [...]

2009 Emmys: My Winners

Chandra Wilson in "Grey's Anatomy," Jon Hamm in "Mad Men," Glenn Close in "Damages," Aaron Paul in "Breaking Bad," and Kristin Chenoweth in "Pushing Daisies"

The Emmys snuck up on me this year, but ever since I learned that the ceremony was tonight, my plans were set. (That said, an hour’s intermission for Mad Men might be in order.) I’m not predicting the winners here, mind [...]

The Future of Classic

Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston of "Breaking Bad"

The following post was originally published on my old blog on July 7, 2009.

After watching the second-season finale of Breaking Bad, the dramatic series about a chemistry-teacher-turned-meth-dealer desperate to not let his cancer treatment bankrupt his family, I had one thought: thank God this show is on AMC.

With the premiere of Mad Men two years ago, AMC went from musty movie channel to leading cable destination overnight. And now with the [...]

The Hierarchy of Obsessiveness

The Hierarchy of Obsessiveness

The following post was originally published on my old blog on February 4, 2009.  Updates to this post are noted below.

Under some pretense of being an organized person (ha!), I keep a very meticulous list of the episodes I have yet to see for all the shows I follow. And I’ve noticed definite trends regarding my level of addiction to certain shows—or the lack thereof—as shown in the following categories. (I should point out that this is nowhere near a comprehensive [...]