Tonight, the four American Idol finalists sang songs that inspire them, plus the songs of Leiber and Stoller. (Inspired by the songs of Leiber and Stoller? Too bad!) Who was inspired? Who should be fired? Click the pix to read my reviews:
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Ken Burns and Keith Olbermann, Together Again at Last
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Keith Olbermann has announced a roster of regular contributors for his new iteration of Countdown on Current TV, premiering June 20. A lot of political attention will go to voices-from-the-left (and monogram buddies) Michael Moore and Markos Moulitsas, but my attention was captured by …
The Good Wife Watch: An Affair to Forget
Quick spoilers for last night’s The Good Wife below:
“Getting Off” was the first of a two-part season finale, so it seems to make sense to withhold judgment on the episode, by and large, until the season wraps up. The confrontation between Alicia and Kalinda was more satisfying than the legal case of the week; pairing the ongoing …
Humans, Targeted: Fox Adds & Cuts for Fall
The major-network “upfront” schedule announcements are next week, but as usual the programming news for next season is coming out earlier. Yesterday saw a major news dump from Fox, which announced several shows it would add and cut from its roster next year. Out: The Chicago Code, Traffic Light, Lie to Me, Breaking In and Human Target. …
Glee Watch: The Big Dance
Spoilers for last night’s Glee follow:
Prom night, typically, is about failure to live up to expectations, the disparity between an impossible fantasy and an unattainable reality. It’s long stretches of mundanity, redeemed, if you’re lucky, by a few memorable moments.
(So I’m told. That, or your date comes down with mono like two …
The Morning After: Demolition Man
Catchup from the few days I was out, prep work for the couple days I have ahead and general lack of enthusiasm for the episode itself keep me from writing at more length about last night’s How I Met Your Mother. Fortunately, Alan Sepinwall expresses many of my thoughts about both the episode and the larger Zoey story arc, which (spoiler …
Fringe Watch: Flash Forward
Spoilers ahead for the Fringe season finale:
Fringe committed more than ever to hardcore sci-fi, if that were possible, in its multipart finale, with mixed results. I thought the last installment, “The Day We Died,” was not Fringe’s finest moment as an individual finale. But it left me reasonably hopeful for the overarching storyline …
While I Was Out: The Old Man and the TV
I’m back from a long weekend in Dallas with Tuned In Jr. at the National Elementary Chess Championships. If you ever want to see something truly terrifying, sit in on a room full of hundreds of children at chessboards, staring in murderous silence at something that is not a handheld game system.
I’ve got a fair-sized viewing backlog …
Parks and Recreation: Good Fences Make Bad Neighbors
Quick spoilers for last night’s Parks and Recreation coming up:
Parks and Recreation is getting to the point that Breaking Bad did for me last year: it’s getting near-impossible to figure out how to whittle down which episode(s) I include on my year-end ten-best list while still leaving room for anything else.
“Eagleton” was another …
Justified Watch: Mom, Baseball and Apple Pie
Spoilers ahead for the season finale of Justified:
It could not have been more fitting that the climax of this fantastic season of Justified, “Bloody Harlan,” came with Mags Bennett telling a lie about her family, encased in a truth about family. Facing Loretta, whose father she poisoned, and staring down her own possible death, Mags …
Judging American Idol: The Final 5
Last night, the five remaining contestants on American Idol each sang a song from the present and one from a generation ago — a theme otherwise known as Now and Then; or, A Song, Plus Another Song to Make This Last 90 Minutes. Who made the past a blast? Who was a bad acid flashback? Click the pix to read my reviews.
Glee Watch: When Times Go Bad, When Times Go Rough
Spoilers for last night’s Glee:
Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours is a classic of pop rock, a genre that Glee introduced itself to the world with (Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'”). And it’s a notoriously personal work, inspired by the couplings and decouplings within the group, compounded by gossip and misinformation outside the group—pretty …
Bin Laden's Death, The Comedy!
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The killing of Osama bin Laden presented late-night comics an opportunity, as well as a challenge: how do you satirize good news?
Jimmy Fallon (above), went the tried-and-true route of spoofing his network’s own programming, with a response to the news from “Donald Trump,” who complained that …