THE BLACKLIST: Monday 10PM on NBC THE BLACKLIST was a game-changing smash for NBC last season, in combination with The Voice solidifying the network’s hold on Mondays to such an extent that the night, along with Sunday Night Football, made up for all its shortcomings the rest of the week. The show was a […]
AMERICAN HORROR STORY – COVEN: Wednesday 10PM on FX Caged and tortured slaves, mid-coitus spontaneous brain aneurisms and gang rape aside, the COVEN season of AMERICAN HORROR STORY was relatively restrained in its start, at least compared to other AHS seasons. There appears to be one basic story being told, and all the mythology […]
HAPPY! – Wednesday 10PM on Syfy – In the Queue HAPPY! counts as one of Syfy’s infrequent big swings, although its ultra-violent grunge aesthetic gives it a look and feel that isn’t all that different from the network’s usual diet of micro-budgeted co-productions. This one, though, has a name star in Christopher Meloni, and […]
HELL ON WHEELS: Saturday 9PM on AMC HELL ON WHEELS has found a cozy spot for itself on Saturday nights, where the older audience available for TV-watching has given it comfortable total viewer numbers, if less impressive 18-49s. (AMC will be running reruns of Turn after this season’s Hell episodes, which may suggest where […]
GAME OF THRONES: Sunday 9PM on HBO GAME OF THRONES is such an assured, expert piece of work that it’s easy to forget how many rules of conventional TV storytelling it routinely violates. It’s not just the teeming mass of central characters–so many that tonight’s Season 4 premiere wasn’t even able to visit all […]
The political comics of America owe a heartfelt “thank you” to Mitt Romney for his “47%” bungle that became public this week. (So do the Democrats, but that’s another story.) Jon Stewart has been going to town on it all week, and tonight’s inaugural SNL WEEKEND UPDATE THURSDAY of the season used it as […]
HOMELAND: Sunday 9PM on Showtime We’ve recently acquired the concept of “legacy media,” referring to things like newspapers that are actually printed on pieces of paper–still potentially useful, but decidedly out of date. Showtime’s HOMELAND is sort of “legacy quality TV”. It kicked off in 2011 with one and a half classic seasons, a nimble, […]
MODERN FAMILY: Wednesday 9PM on ABC MODERN FAMILY has now won the Emmy Award for Best Comedy in each of its four years on the air, putting it one behind Frasier‘s record-setting pace. The TV Academy nominates smaller, more complex shows like Louie, Girls and Veep, but its heart is with Modern Family, and […]