Episodes…Halfway through its fifth and final season, “Episodes” is playing to its already established strengths (a showbiz-satire that’s actually accurate, sharp dialogue, and Matt LeBlanc’s excellent skewering of himself, he’s clearly enjoying the best role he’ll likely ever get) more than risking it all on too many bold new directions, but that’s probably for the…
Category: TV Reviews
TV Reviews: “The Deuce,” and “Outlander”
The premieres of two big period dramas were last Sunday, and I had a somewhat mixed reaction to them overall, even as I’ll freely admit I’m excited to see where both go… The Deuce…In a bizarre way, David Simon’s new HBO series (loaded with sex scenes, most of which aren’t sexy) is just as romantic…
AMC’s Long-Suffering (For the Viewer) “TURN” Finally Ends, & Ranking the Seasons
Why did I watch all four seasons of AMC’s “TURN?” A stubborn mix of pride and because the show’s premise—following American spies during the Revolutionary War—is unique and intriguing enough to keep me hooked on the idea that it could become excellent…or better-than-average…or non-frustrating. And, to be fair, some episodes were very strong. It just suffered from…
TV Reviews: “American Gods,” “Fargo,” “Better Call Saul,” “Veep,” “Silicon Valley”
Various critically beloved shows finished their seasons over the last week. Here now, a quick review of all… American Gods…I’m not quite a believer yet, and even if I liked Bryan Fuller’s over-the-top, ghoulish style in “Hannibal” (adding a surrealistic dimension to a series that would’ve been laughably far-fetched otherwise), it tends to smother a…
TV Review: “GLOW” the Rare Critically-Beloved Series that Deserves Its Praise
GLOW…It’s tempting to dismiss “Glow”‘s critical praise as “Well, it’s a show about female empowerment, did you really think critics were going to shit on it?” But its larger empowerment themes are actually just sweet icing on an excellently acted, well-scripted, crisply directed cake that seems to have an actual narrative that’s actually going somewhere. [I would…
Family TV Reviews: “Bill Nye Saves the World” Begins and “Samurai Jack” Ends
Is there anything harder to find on TV than a “family show” you can watch with kids but can find in primetime? I can remember growing up watching “Seinfeld,” “Frasier,” a bunch of other sitcoms, and eventually “Lost” with my entire family, but what could you really say that about today? Cable TV has narrowcasted…
Does “House of Cards” Look Different in the Age of Trump?
House of Cards…After rebounding from a lousy season 3 with a series-best season 4, it’s another step backwards with a season that is a little off-the-rails and once again asks us to believe characters would do something that seems completely against their nature. During the season finale, you have to wonder if the writers were trying to…
Ranking and Reviewing the Seasons of “American Crime”
Normally, I’m ahead of the curve on a much buzzed-about TV show, and am perhaps a little proud of the fact that I watched “Arrested Development,” “Breaking Bad,” “The Shield,” etc. when they were actually on TV (from episode 1) rather than a year after they went off the air. “American Crime” is different in…
Reviewing Every Episode of “The Leftovers,” and Ranking the Seasons
Note: I’m only reviewing each individual episode in the third and final season, but I’ll have reviews of Season 1 (not so great) and Season 2 (a masterpiece). I chose not to write reviews of each episode in those seasons because it would be tedious, episode quality is more uniform in those seasons, and to be brutally honest,…
Movie Reviews: “War Machine” and “The Wizard of Lies”
Sadly, people are debating about whether to release any movie smaller than “Transformers”-size in a theater at all. Some argue that small and mid-size movies will be seen by a wider audience if they just stream on various platforms or Video-On Demand, but to me that would basically symbolize the death of independent cinema and…
How “The Americans” Became My Unexpected “Hate Watch”
I usually think of the term “hate watching” as applying to a show you hate yourself for watching usually involving the words “Housewives,” “Naked,” or “featuring [blank] Kardashian.” I’ve never really thought of the term applying to a series that is supposedly great quality and has a reputation for being underrated, yet you can’t help but hate what it’s become. Which…
TV Review: A “Twin Peaks” Newbie Tries to Make Sense of the First Four Episodes
As a millennial TV critic, I was about four years old when “Twin Peaks” first exploded onto the scene during its original ABC run, and needless to say I wasn’t much following it at the time, instead engrossed in a different bizarre world called “Sesame Street.” Still, I’ve heard more times than I can count…
TV Reviews: Silicon Valley and Veep
Just yesterday, I pointed out that the Best Dramas on TV are struggling to reach the heights of “Best Dramas” of yester-year, but that doesn’t appear to be the case for TV’s Best Comedies. 2016 was the first year in Alabama Liberal history I chose a comedy (Veep) for Best Series, and “Silicon Valley” is…