Posted November 05, 2014in On The Tube
“The Newsroom” Sunday, Nov. 9 (HBO) The third and final season of Aaron Sorkin’s journalism fan-fiction drama takes place in 2013; your historical place-marker being the Boston Marathon bombing. “The Newsroom” never quite lived up to the promise of its rousing debut episode, which was a none-too-subtle challenge to American
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Posted October 29, 2014in On The Tube
“The McCarthys” Thursday, Oct. 30 (CBS) Series Debut: A fat, loudmouthed, sports-obsessed Bah-ston family has a gay son — and, go for borderline homophobic comedy! Or borderline comedy, period. Even sadder than the continued use of The Laugh Track (yes, there’s only one — all the shows share it) in
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Posted October 22, 2014in On The Tube
“Grimm” Friday, Oct. 24 (NBC) “Season Premiere: Law & Order: Supernatural Portlandia” (or, “Grimm” for short) is back! When Season 3 left off, Nick (David Giuntoli) had lost his Grimm power to see fairytale Wesen creatures both good and evil, essentially rendering him the only straight-up human in Portland. (Seriously,
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Posted October 15, 2014in On The Tube
“Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways” Friday, Oct. 17 (HBO) Series Debut: You should know that I like my music played and produced by humans — loudly, with electric guitars and minimal artificial sweeteners. In what’s left of the pop mainstream, Foo Fighters are the last band standing that fit that bill,
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Posted October 08, 2014in On The Tube
“Jane the Virgin” (Monday, 8 p.m., CW) has fun with telenovela conventions. Jane (Gina Rodriguez) is an ordinary young woman swept up in extraordinary events when she’s accidentally inseminated during a routine exam. The sperm belongs to a playboy hotel owner (Justin Baldoni) who’s trapped in a loveless marriage —
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Posted October 01, 2014in On The Tube
A voiceover sets the scene: “Andrew and Zelda dated for eight months, three weeks, five days and one hour. This television program is the comprehensive account of their relationship, from A to Z. The framing device makes “A to Z” feel like a story told after the fact, exaggerated for
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Posted September 24, 2014in On The Tube
Andre (Anthony Anderson) is a self-described former “big scary black guy” who’s succeeded in the white world. He’s a successful advertising executive who lives in the suburbs with his doctor wife (Tracee Ellis Ross) and four kids. But Andre has the nagging feeling that, in achieving the American dream, he
Read More →Executive produced by Steven Spielberg, “Red Band Society”is the first masterpiece of the fall TV season (Wednesday, 8 p.m., Fox). Nevertheless, it features a premise that practically screams “don’t watch this.” A half-dozen very sick kids live together in a hospital. If that sounds off-putting, wait till you meet Charlie
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Posted September 10, 2014in On The Tube
Ken Burns, PBS’s favorite documentarian, has long specialized in taking the fun out of great American subjects (jazz, baseball, Mark Twain). His latest, “The Roosevelts: An Intimate History” (Sunday, 7 p.m.), is less a tribute to President Teddy Roosevelt, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt than to
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Posted September 03, 2014in On The Tube
Critics have dutifully fallen in line for “The Knick,” an arty period hospital drama that makes its points with buckets of blood (see below). I recommend a more enjoyable period hospital drama: “Breathless” on Masterpiece Mystery! (Sunday, 8 p.m., PBS). It’s set in early 1960s London and, like “Mad Men,”
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