Saturday, April 30, 2011

Doctor Who: "Day of the Moon"

Season 6, Episode 2
The second half of a two-parter comes back even stronger than the first

Friday, April 29, 2011

Fringe: "The Last Sam Weiss"

Season 3, Episode 21
Who remembers Milo Rambaldi?

Parks and Rec: "Jerry's Painting"

Season 3, Episode 11
A solid supersized episode

Thursday, April 28, 2011

The Office: "Goodbye, Michael"

Season 7, Episode 22
Try as he might, even Ferrell can’t stop this emotional gravy train

Community: "Applied Anthropology and Culinary Arts”

Season 2, Episode 22
Another bottle-ish episode plays to the show’s strengths.

Cougar Town: "You're Gonna Get It"

Season 2, Episode 17
A nicely tied together episode, with some character-based disappointment

Justified: "Reckoning"

Season 2, Episode 12
The show’s finest – and quietest – hour

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Glee: "Born This Way"

Season 2, Episode 18
Were those last 30 minutes really that freakin’ Gleekin’?

Sunday, April 24, 2011

The Killing: "Super 8"

Season 1, Episode 5
Some clichés derail what could have been a great episode

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Doctor Who: "The Impossible Astronaut"

Season 6, Episode 1
A fantastic return, with a few storytelling glitches

Friday, April 22, 2011

Fringe: "6:02 AM EST"

Season 3, Episode 20
The beginning of the end takes a good while to get going

Archer: "Double Trouble"

Season 2, Episode 13
A frustrating ending to a solid finale

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Parks and Rec: "Soulmates"

Season 3, Episode 10
An inevitable relationship inches closer to hot, fiery passion

The Office: "Michael's Last Dundies"

Season 7, Episode 21
Another unfortunate case of Willferrellitis

Community: "Paradigms of Human Memory"

Season 2, Episode 21
A brilliant deconstruction of every clip show you have ever seen

Modern Family: "Someone To Watch Over Lilly"

Season 2, Episode 20
A weaving set of plotlines leads to a very strong episode

Cougar Town: "Baby's A Rock 'N' Roller"

Season 2, Episode 16
An attempt to create an umbrella theme goes a bit awry

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Justified: "Full Commitment"

Season 2, Episode 11
An episode that’s mostly setup fails to step up in the standalone plot

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Glee: "Night of Neglect"

Season 2, Episode 17
The show returns with a messy, shoehorned vengeance

The Chicago Code: "St. Valentine's Day Massacre"

Season 1, Episode 9
It’s a bad day to be a woman in the Chicago PD

Cougar Town: "Walls"

Season 2, Episode 15
A post-hiatus airing hinders a pre-hiatus episode

Monday, April 18, 2011

How I Met Your Mother: "Hopeless"

Season 6, Episode 21
A welcome return of John Lithgow brings the show back to top form

Sunday, April 17, 2011

The Killing: "A Soundless Echo"

Season 1, Episode 4
A twist-filled episode manages to clear up little, yet still give ample time for characterization

Friday, April 15, 2011

Fringe: "Lysergic Acid Diethylamide"

Season 3, Episode 19
In an attempt to be heady, the shows ends up being quite silly

Archer: "White Knights"

Season 2, Episode 12
A step up from last week’s episode, yet still below the season’s heights

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Parks and Rec: "Fancy Party"

Season 3, Episode 9
A sweet episode that tends towards the obvious

The Office: "Training Day"

Season 7, Episode 20
A look at the first Will Ferrell-iffic episode

Community: "Competitive Wine Tasting"

Season 2, Episode 20
A “normal” episode more or less delivers

Modern Family: "The Musical Man"

Season 2, Episode 19
An overly busy and ultimately predictable episode

Justified: "Debts and Accounts"

Season 2, Episode 10
A busy episode sees everyone dealing with consequences.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Chuck: "Chuck Versus the Family Volkoff"

Season 4, Episode 20
A welcome return of Alexei Volkoff makes everything better

The Chicago Code: "Wild Onions"

Season 1, Episode 8
A tired framing device surrounds some slow building stories in a relatively light episode

How I Met Your Mother: "The Exploding Meatball Sub"

Season 6, Episode 20
A smart bit of structuring is wasted on an emotionally flailing episode

Monday, April 11, 2011

TV Newsline: Steve Carrell's exit from The Office with be extra-long

Fans of extend Office episodes rejoice! (As for the detractors of such episodes, I don't know, hang your heads in exasperation or something.)

Sunday, April 10, 2011

The Killing: "El Diablo"

Season 1, Episode 3
As the pieces continue to fall into place, the results are mixed in tonight’s episode.

SNL: "Helen Mirren/Foo Fighters"

Season 36, Episode 19
Will the British curse continue?

Friday, April 8, 2011

CHAOS: "Song of the North"

Season 1, Episode 2
The continuing dance between drama and comedy

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Archer: "Jeu Monegasque"

Season 2, Episode 11
A disappointing drop in quality from an overall strong season

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Justified: "Brother's Keeper"

Once I try waking up a passed out man using bong water, I’ll offer up a review of tonight’s episode, after the jump…

Lights Out: "War"

Once I formulate what a hypothetical season two would have looked like, I’ll offer up a review of tonight’s series finale, after the jump…

Sunday, April 3, 2011

The Killing: "Pilot"/"The Cage"

Once I write what will most assuredly be my longest review post ever, I’ll be able to offer up a review of the two hour premiere, after the jump…

SNL: "Elton John"

SNL episodes where the host and musical act are one in the same tend to go either one of two ways. They can either be highly entertaining (like, say, Justin Timberlake) or they can fall flat (Taylor Swift). A review of Elton John’s attempt at hosting, after the jump…

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, and the Future of Late Night Television

Late night talk shows used to be places considered to be the breeding grounds of new comedy, as their lowered expectations of their time slot would generally free up the host to experiment in more off-the-wall strains of humor. (In fact, this is what Conan O’Brien critical acclaim back when he hosted Late Night, and why so many people love the job that Craig Ferguson does hosting The Late Late Show.) But as these kinds of shows became more popular, and the networks became aware of the significant numbers of middle-Americans who watch these shows because of their earlier airtimes in those time zones, the shows began to temper their humor, in an attempt to reach the largest possible audience base. Yet every once in a while, some hosts will break past these unofficial barriers, by taking part in some cross-show bits/sketches.

Friday, April 1, 2011

CHAOS: "Pilot"

Because Fringe is off for three weeks – and because I have a soft spot for Tim Blake Nelson – I’m dropping in on the new CBS show CHAOS for tonight and the next two week. I’ll start off with a review of tonight’s pilot, after the jump….