It’s almost unheard-of for a franchise to need 5 installments to hit its stride, but that was the case with 2011′s Fast Five.  After kicking around with its first, moderately successful quartet in various locations and featuring shifting combinations of characters (aside from a seconds-long cameo, neither Vin Diesel nor Paul Walker even appeared [...]

  It’s no small thing to be a scripted success on the broadcast networks during the summer, and while it’s never been a breakout hit, the fact that the Canadian series ROOKIE BLUE has made it to a 4th season on ABC is impressive in itself.  Its modest, accomplished mix of police procedural and soap [...]

  Previously… on SAVE ME:  Beth Harper (Anne Heche), didn’t die when, after the latest of many drunken nights, she choked on a hero sandwich.  She was, in fact, saved by God Him/Herself, and is now a prophet of the Lord’s message, albeit on a small scale.  She knows local facts, like who her teenage [...]

  NBC is all-in on CHICAGO FIRE.  Not only has it given the show a plum spot for the fall on Tuesdays with The Voice as its lead-in, it’s ordered a police-oriented spin-off for midseason.  All this enthusiasm is a little puzzling, giving that the show has been only a marginal success (its season average [...]

  You can take a time-travel journey back to 20th-century network television with LAW & ORDER: SVU, the last remnant of Dick Wolf’s once-behemoth franchise.  Visiting the show for the first time since last fall reveals a few small surprises–Detective Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) has acquired a boyfriend–but for the most part, SVU is very [...]

  SAVE ME:  Thursday 8PM on NBC – Change the Channel Note:  This review was originally written after last year’s Upfronts, before it was known that SAVE ME would be held by NBC until the summer.  It’s possible that the pilot underwent changes during the months that followed, although if it did, NBC didn’t publicize [...]

  NASHVILLE is a superior network series, loaded with talent and powerful moments, but it can also drive you up a wall, beset as it is with sometimes infuriating shortcomings.  The same was true for tonight’s season finale, written and directed by series creator Callie Khouri. Some of the show’s problems are glaringly obvious.  Its [...]

  After 4 seasons as a smash hit, MODERN FAMILY isn’t too concerned with creating forward momentum.  The show is better at what it does than just about anything else on television; the ratings may be down, but so are everyone’s; in short, it ain’t broke.  If that makes for a season that’s more pleasant [...]