Say what you will about Downton Abbey’s melodramatic, overwrought, this-is-just-Dallas-set-on-a-moor twists and turns, but …
TV Recaps
The Walking Dead Watch: Nebraska
“Into that great void, my soul be hurled…there’s just a meanness in this world.” — Bruce Springsteen, “Nebraska”
Of all the flyover states The Walking Dead’s writers could have chosen as the title of this …
The Bachelor Watch: Drama in Panama
Bachelor rules: No kissing instructions, no ex-boyfriends, and definitely no scrapbooking.
Downton Abbey Watch: The Ballad of Sad Lady Edith
I think we all know where we have to begin here: Poor Edith. Poor, poor, sad, pathetic, wobbly-chinned Edith. This episode dangled in front of her everything she has always wanted: a romantic future with her cousin (a little …
House Watch: Throwing Up Blood, Again
House M.D. returns this week with the case of a homeless girl who may or may not have a heart of gold. The only thing for sure is that House himself does not. More below, but first a spoiler alert: before reading on, find some of …
The Bachelor Watch: Ben Gets Naked in Puerto Rico
The claws come out and the clothes come off in this week’s Caribbean-set episode.
Downton Abbey Watch: House of Despair
The formula for a cult hit is a tough one to sketch out. Though it seems odd to think of Downton Abbey as anything but a television juggernaut, it wasn’t necessarily destined for iconic status. No one was waiting for an …
The Bachelor Watch: Fishing For Love
In a fit of fortuitous timing, Bachelor Ben Flajnik and his gaggle of girls arrived in Park City, Utah just in time for Sundance. While they may have timed their arrival to miss the actual film festival, they brought enough drama …
Downton Abbey Watch: Missing In Action
If you haven’t heard, World War I is really hot right now. In a full-page editorial in the Sunday New York Times, British novelist William Boyd (who also wrote and directed a movie called The Trench, so we can consider him an …
The Bachelor Watch: That’s My Man!
One contestant can’t handle the competition, while another comes back for more.
Downton Abbey Watch: Bayonets Versus Feather Dusters
Last week’s season premiere of Downton Abbey was all about the dissonance between the home front and the real front and how the two worlds could be so closely connected while operating on an entirely separate set of stakes and …
The Bachelor Watch: And The Blondes Played On
In last week’s season premiere, Bachelor Ben Flajnik whittled down his bevy of beauties from 25 to 18. And while that episode was juiced with the drama of first meetings and the presence of an off-kilter blogger (hi Jenna!), last …
Downton Abbey Watch: Drama and then Somme
The genius of Downton Abbey’s first season was the show’s ability to capture the dizzying claustrophobia of Edwardian life; its idea (props to Upstairs, Downstairs) that one vanilla-frosted house could contain the entire …