Soul Train host and TV-music pioneer Don Cornelius has been found dead in his Encino, Calif., home of a suicide, according to police. My colleague Madison Gray has more of the details, and it’s a sad ending to the life of someone who brought us one of the purest expressions of joy ever to take the form of a TV show. But Soul Train wasn’t …
New Girl Watch: The New New Girl
No offense to Zooey Deschanel—well, I guess I can’t stop her from taking offense—but the last couple of episodes have made me imagine what an alternate-reality New Girl would have been like that starred Lizzy Caplan instead. …
TV Tonight: Key and Peele
The very first , pre-credits sketch (video above) in tonight’s premiere of Key & Peele on Comedy Central may have been chosen because it’s short and very funny, but it’s also a kind of theme and mission statement. A man is talking on his cell phone to his wife about some theater tickets, when he sees another man—another African …
X’ed Out! Can Simon Cowell’s House Cleaning Save The X Factor?
Call it Rachel Crow’s revenge. (Or, if you prefer, Drew Ryniewicz’s.) After a first season of decent but not blockbuster-sized ratings, reports came out Monday that Simon Cowell had pulled a triple elimination on The X Factor, firing judges Paula Abdul (again!) and Nicole Scherzinger as well as host Steve Jones. (Fox has officially …
The Good Wife Watch: Whose Side Are You On?
Fantastic episode of The Good Wife last night (spoilers ahead, of course), and one that, besides some delectable courtroom twists, exemplified one more reason I love this show: I don’t think there’s another drama on network TV …
Video: Game of Thrones Reloads for Season 2
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Before last night’s debut (or …
Dead Tree Alert: The Beautiful Losers of Luck
In the print TIME magazine out now, I review (subscription required) David Milch and Michael Mann’s new HBO series Luck, which debuts Sunday and which I loved. Eventually. Yes, this is another critic flogging a cable drama by …
The Morning After: To the Moon!
I’m closing a piece for the print TIME today, so I didn’t have time for a writeup of last night’s 19th GOP Presidential debate. (See my colleagues at Swampland for their political take.) I simply want to give you a chance to discuss it, and to note this: we are in a country recovering from a massive recession/near-depression, coming off …
For the Love of Beets: Are You Ready for an Office Spinoff About Dwight?
Steve Carell is gone, the ratings for The Office have been dwindling, but don’t think NBC isn’t going to try to squeeze more overtime yet from its closest thing to a primetime scripted hit. (At least until it manages to get …
There Is a Rap Song About Ron Swanson
There is a rap song about Ron Swanson. Why are you even reading the rest of this post? Why haven’t you just clicked “Play”? What more could you possibly need to hear?
Well, all right: the track comes from Adam WarRock, whose past work includes a full album about Firefly (“M to the A to the L!”) and whose Parks & Rec EP also includes a …
TV Tonight: Touch
If, as the new Fox drama Touch suggests, we are all connected and all our actions affect everyone else, then maybe I should take some tiny responsibility and/or blame for the show. I’m always complaining on this blog that …
State of the Union: A Call for Unity, in a Political Package
One of the running narratives of Barack Obama’s administration has been how much it should mirror, or avoid, the acts of the last Democratic administration, Bill Clinton’s. In his State of the Union address last night, at least, Barack Obama became a Clintonian, at least in style. Like Clinton’s SOTU speeches, Obama’s was long (just over …
Game of Thrones Season 2 Tidbits: Building Up Qarth, and Fleshing It Out
One of the many HBO programming announcements out of the winter TCA tour that I didn’t get around to commenting on was a return date for Game of Thrones‘ season 2: April 1. Information about the second series—and judging only by the source book, A Clash of Kings, it could be a doozy—has been coming out in bits and pieces. And here ( …