COUNCIL OF DADS – Regular episodes begin airing April 30 on NBC NBC isn’t trying to fool anyone with its hopes for COUNCIL OF DADS.  The network aired a “preview” of its pilot more than a month before the actual series premiere in order to pair it with the season finale of This Is […]

  THE CARRIE DIARIES:  Friday 8PM on CW When THE CARRIE DIARIES was almost unaccountably renewed by CW despite its awful ratings, even by that network’s standards (supposedly because of online and DVR strength as well as appeal to the young female demo–although the latter wouldn’t make the network’s move of the show to Fridays […]

  GAME OF THRONES:  Sunday 9PM on HBO Concerns have been as high as expectations for the final season of GAME OF THRONES.  Season 7, the first with little recourse to George R. R. Martin’s novels due to the lagging rate of his writing, was generally considered a warning of trouble ahead, with a pace […]

  COVERT AFFAIRS:  Tuesday 9PM on USA Last season was an important one for COVERT AFFAIRS, as it transitioned from being a light spy caper about appealing newbie CIA agent Annie Walker (Piper Perabo) to presenting Annie as a serious, more experienced operative.  While no one would confuse it with a LeCarre thriller, the show […]

  BLACK BOX:  Thursday 10PM on ABC – Change the Channel In ABC’s (partial) defense, BLACK BOX wasn’t intended to run during the regular broadcast season.  It was meant to be seen in summer, when standards are lower, but the network was caught flat-footed when Kerry Washington’s pregnancy caused Scandal to cut its season by […]

BURN NOTICE – Thursday 9PM on USA   WHERE WE WERE:  On the jailhouse steps.  Uber-evil Anson Fullerton (Jere Burns), the shrink who “burned” our hero Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) and destroyed his CIA career for years, had successfully framed Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar), the love of Michael’s life, for a bombing that killed innocent people.  […]

  TREME:  Sunday 10PM on HBO   WHERE WE WERE:  New Orleans, of course, and hip-deep in the lives of a dozen struggling, striving, stubborn, idiosyncratic natives and recent arrivals.  These include the feckless trombonist Antoine Batiste (Wendell Pierce), who reluctantly supports himself and his family as a high school music teacher; radio DJ/composer/rapper/dreamer Davis […]

  LEGIT:  Thursday 10:30PM on FX Not everyone can be Louis C.K.  That’s the lesson of LEGIT, FX’s latest excursion to its comedy sweet spot of the low-budget, stand-up grunge aesthetic that’s given us It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, The League and Wilfred as well as Louie.  This time, though, the reigning sensibility–in the pilot, […]