As surely as there is always money in the banana stand, there is always eternal optimism—encouraged by remarks by Arrested Development principals every half year or so—that the cast members of the show will reunite again and make the much-rumored Arrested Development movie. Sunday at the New Yorker Festival in New York City, …
Television
TV Weekend: The Bootleg Empire of Ken Burns’ Prohibition
There may be nothing more gratifying and unifying for people than coming together in disdain for a past idea, now universally agreed on to be stupid. One of the greatest of these in American history is alcohol prohibition, not merely the impetus for the criminal events of Boardwalk Empire, but the case study for the idea that the best …
Dead Tree Alert: The Post-Post-9/11 Drama of Homeland
This week in the print edition of TIME, I review what was pretty easily my favorite new series of the fall, Showtime’s Homeland, starring Claire Danes and Damian Lewis and debuting Sunday night. It’s subscription-required, as …
The Morning After: New Beginning for Endings
There is a case to be made that most sitcoms should have only enough of a premise to get put on the air by a network. Then the show can ditch whatever it was ostensibly “about” at the pitch meeting and simply be about: Here is a …
TV Tonight: Suburgatory
There are a lot of things that critics look when reviewing pilots: premise, plot, dialogue, chemistry between actors, directing and so on. To me the most important is an intangible that’s hard to put a finger on, but without …
Dancing with the Stars Results, Week 2: Elisabetta Canalis is Finito
Welcome to this week’s Dancing with the Stars recap. On Monday night, the show’s judges left fan favorite Chaz Bono with the lowest score and Ricki Lake with the highest. Let’s see how the voters treated them:
The Morning After: Who’s That Guy? It’s–
Having gotten all cranky yesterday over the second episode of 2 Broke Girls, let me offer a little balance here: the second episode of New Girl, “Kryptonite,” was really, encouragingly funny.
There’s been an industrial tank …
Can’t Complain: Andy Rooney to Step Down from 60 Minutes
Don’t you hate when a fixture of the past several decades of your life comes to an end, reminding you of your own inexorable process of aging? That will happen this Sunday, when 60 Minutes’ Andy Rooney, the proud original H8R, will announce that he is ending his regular commentaries at the end of 60 Minutes.
Rooney, who began doing “A …
First Look: HBO’s Luck
Among the things I didn’t get around to blogging about yesterday: Before the season premiere of Boardwalk Empire, HBO screened a trailer for horseracing drama Luck, which debuts in January. (They also aired an even briefer tease for season 2 of Game of Thrones, with no footage, just a recitation of the Red Priests’ line “The night is …
A Second Look At: 2 Broke Girls
When I previewed the pilot of 2 Broke Girls, I noted that it was essentially two sitcoms that seemed to be fighting for space. One was an odd-couple insult comedy, surprisingly crude for network primetime and crowded with ethnic stereotypes, not-especially-funny zingers and wacky situations (a horse in the backyard!). The other was an …
Dancing with the Stars Week 2 Recap: Nancy Grace Suffers a Wardrobe Malfunction
Welcome back to season thirteen of Dancing with the Stars. Last we met, L.A. Laker Ron Artest, a.k.a. Metta World Peace, was on his way out. That’s right, America—we voted down World Peace. Explain that to your grandchildren.
Judicial Disrobing? Nancy Grace Denies DWTS Wardrobe Malfunction
The goddess Justice is traditionally depicted in art with one breast bared. So avenging HLN legal-show host Nancy Grace might have gone with the “artistic effect” line of spin after a vigorous performance last night on Dancing …
The Morning After: Atrocious or Bodacious Cretaceous?
Last night we finally saw the two-hour premiere of Terra Nova, which, whatever I thought of it, will stun me if it is not the highest-rated drama debut of the fall season. I won’t bother restating my blog restatement of my …
