The Prime Times: Patriotic Housewives Edition

By on Mar 11, 2011 in In Brief |

No need to bother reading as many television blogs as I do. Here’s the news you should know: The Guardian reported that American television shows like Desperate Housewives, Friends, and The Late Show with David Letterman are doing more to win over the minds of Saudi youth than $500-million worth of American propaganda. NBC’s pilot Wonder Woman has found its hero and villain—Adrianne Palicki (Friday Night Lights) and Elizabeth Hurley (Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery), respectively. Aaron Sorkin—a screenwriter who just won an Oscar for The Social Network and whom I admire for creating The West Wing and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip—is returning to the small screen with an HBO drama about a cable news show. Before we get too sweet on HBO, though, bear in mind that the network passed on the comedy series Tilda, about a powerful Hollywood blogger. Why they would pass...

2011 Pilot Watch

By on Mar 1, 2011 in Tinseltown |

The start of the current television season doesn’t feel too long ago, but already, the broadcast networks are putting together their fall slates and ordering pilot episodes of potential new series. After the scouring the intel rounded up by The Futon Critic, here are my thoughts on the lineup. The paranormal and supernatural continue to capture the imaginations of network execs: they’ve greenlit pilots about superpowers (FOX’s Touch, CBS’s The Rememberer), magic (NBC’s 17th Pricinct), angels (CBS’s untitled Susannah Grant project, The CW’s Heavenly), zombies (The CW’s Awakening), witches (The CW’s Secret Circle), fairy tales (ABC’s Once Upon a Time, NBC’s Grimm), haunted houses (FOX’s Locke & Key), alternate universes (NBC’s REM), and forces of good and evil (ABC’s Hallelujah). Remakes are...

2010 Primies: Best Shows

By on Feb 9, 2011 in The Primies |

Because it’s already February of the next year and I’m feeling sheepish, let’s just speed through this! Here is the pantheon of shows which, in my opinion, made television a bit more divine in 2010. (Note: I have not yet seen Boardwalk Empire or Downton Abbey—forgive me.) Mad Men (2010: #2) Lost (2010: #3) Breaking Bad (2010: #1) Modern Family (2010: #7) Community Fringe (2010: #8) Parks and Recreation The Good Wife The Buried Life Justified

2010 Primies: Best Episodes

By on Jan 23, 2011 in The Primies |

It’s often hard to remember all of the television I watch every year, but some episodes make themselves impossible to forget. The following hours or half-hours of television were exemplary in some way, whether it was for the writing or the direction of the episode; for the way they ended seasons or, in some cases, entire series; for their plots or subplots; for the emotional toll they took on the viewer; for the way they broke the mold and parted with tradition; or sometimes for just one scene or performance in particular. Lost “The End” (Parts 1 & 2) … for providing an unexpected, moving, and controversial finale sure to keep fans talking, dissecting, and criticizing for years to come. Grey’s Anatomy “Sanctuary/Death and All His Friends” … for the tensest, most emotionally-draining two hours of television this year. Breaking Bad...

Lost Again: Season 3, Episodes 5-8

By on Sep 14, 2010 in Recaps |

I’m on a quest to re-watch every episode of Lost, one per day. As I polish off each DVD, I’ll post my thoughts on the episodes contained therein—even if they’re a few days late! “The Cost of Living” SYNOPSIS: Recuperating in a tent, Eko has a hallucination of his brother Yemi, beckoning Eko to follow him. The tent catches fire, and Charlie and Hurley rescue Eko, but EKo then disappears. The following morning, Locke announces his intention to go to the Pearl to try to communicate with the others. Charlie and Hurley say that they couldn’t find Eko but that he was mumbling something about his brother, so Locke deduces that Eko is headed to the drug plane on top of the Pearl. He, Sayid (returned from his sea voyage), Desmond, and two other Losties named Nikki and Paulo head off in that direction. In the jungle, Eko has more hallucinations and then sees the...