Below, my picks for some of the best TV shows of 2012, in handy video form.
Anyone who reads this blog regularly can probably predict a few picks. I’ll tell you in advance that I stuck to a list comprised of regularly scheduled series, no arch stunt-picks, like the Presidential election coverage or some wheezy old anti-Here Comes Honey Boo Boo rant. Upbeat, that’s my motto! READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Jon Lemay/ABC Nashville
Warning: Spoilers ahead for this week’s Nashville. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Prashant Gupta/FX
The gentlefolk of Sons of Anarchy have long had difficulties with domestic and business relationships. It’s as though riding massive motorcycles, letting one’s hair become unkempt, and constantly being arrested were impediments to leading the sort of quiet, nurturing lives so many of the show’s central characters ardently desire. These difficulties played out rather dramatically during the Tuesday night season finale.
SPOILER ALERT: DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THIS WEEK’S SONS OF ANARCHY. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Showtime
Wow, the internet is illuminated today with largely poor reaction to last night’s episode of Homeland. My colleague Adam Vary has done an excellent job in his EW.com recap of summarizing both the episode and the potentially objectionable plot twists. On Twitter, I made a joke — “If only Homeland was as plausible as The Walking Dead” — that was interpreted as being a slap at Homeland, when what I was really kidding was the “Homeland has become unbelievable” reaction. So I should make the case at greater than Twitter length here. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Macall B. Polay/HBO Boardwalk Empire
SPOILER ALERT: DON’T READ THIS UNTIL YOU’VE SEEN THE SEASON FINALE OF BOARDWALK EMPIRE. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Jack Zeman/Lifetime
Liz & Dick was a peculiar, drab, damp little TV-movie indeed, wasn’t it? The opening seconds flashed a “based on a true story” message across the screen. But the “story” – that is, the life that Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton shared, chronicled here primarily during the 1960s, after meeting during the making of Cleopatra (1963) – was so much richer in reality than it was in this dinky, tin-eared production. Instead, the primary interest in watching Liz & Dick was to behold Lindsay Lohan trying, with varying, wobbly degrees of effort, to make her own career comeback.
In other words, when it came to Lohan “doing” Liz: She done her wrong. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: David Giesbrecht
So Ben’s engagement present to Leslie was a personal meet-and-greet with her sex-object-idol, Vice President Joe Biden. His teeth bright enough to light the Parks and Recreation set, Biden proved to be a good actor — or rather, a good reactor (hey, that’s how John Wayne defined the job anyway), to Leslie’s nonplussed yet turned-on reactions. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Jordin Althaus/NBC
“Whitney is taped in front of a live studio audience,” said Whitney Cummings at the start of Wednesday night’s second-season premiere of Whitney, apparently in an effort to prove that, yes, there really are human beings that laugh at Whitney. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Vivian Zink/NBC
Back after too long, Parenthood resumed on Tuesday night with an episode that typified what inspires such an ardent following for this series. The hour was filled with small moments — nothing big, grandiose, or excessively dramatic — that nevertheless added up to a meticulously moving hour.
The inescapable center of the series is now Kristina’s cancer diagnosis and how she and her family are responding to it. The episode was titled “Together” with some irony, since the urge to help Monica Potter’s character, a crisis that can bring a family together, is also what left her frequently feeling isolated, misunderstood, and with a desire to be left alone. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Showtime
Wanting someone who wants you, but it just can’t happen. Circumstances — marriage, family, professional responsibilities — keep you apart. Wondering what it would be like if you were together. Would the things that lend your attraction urgency — that tinge of crazy love, an edge of obsession — would those qualities become overwhelming if you spent all your time together? Does the danger that seems to sexy now inevitably lead to frustration, anger, even repulsion? READ FULL STORY »
