It's clear by now there's a TV recipe out there with quite a bit of traction. Start with a buddy pair of leads, add great hair, glowing skin, toothy grins. Sprinkle with snarky quips and hipster references on the minute. Repeat weekly. In concept, not my idea of TV Worth Watching, or even TV Worth Folding Laundry By. But a funny thing happened on the way to the reject pile...

2011

Jul

AMC'S 'BREAKING BAD': 'WARNING -- EXTREMELY VOLATILE' By Eric Gould

The 2011 critics' preview DVDs for AMC's Breaking Bad, which launches Season 4 Sunday night at 10 ET, are subtitled: "Warning: Extremely Volatile." And, as usual with this sly show, it's an understatement...our journey with Walter, at this point, puts him approximately at Dante's seventh circle of hell (out of nine) --the circle known as "Violence," with its unhappy occupants of tyrants, murderers and squanderers...

2011

Jun

MORGAN FREEMAN'S DOUBLEHEADER: APPEARING IN A 'WORMHOLE,' IMPERSONATED BY A ROBOT SKELETON By Eric Gould

There's still plenty of time to catch up on the Science Channel series Through the Wormhole, narrated by and starring Morgan Freeman, and enjoy his guided tour considering some of science's biggest questions. Freeman looks and sounds both authoritative and interested -- and over on CBS's The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,Ferguson's mechanical sidekick, Geoff -- a grinning skull with a mohawk -- pretty much has Freeman's number as an impressive, smart-sounding science guy...

2011

Jun

TALKING DOGS: STILL FUNNY By Eric Gould

There are a few comedy standards you can always count on -- a rubber chicken, the spit take, Bugs Bunny in drag, and, of course, a talking dog. The latest competition for Family Guy's unassuming Labrador Retriever and writer, Brian Griffin, comes from the new FX series Wilfred, premiering this Thursday at 10 p.m. ET. Like Brian, Wilfred is a complex intellectual with problems of his own, way beyond the usual concerns of fetching and scratching...

2011

Jun

LOUIE'S INTENSELY UNCOMFORTABLE MILESTONE By Eric Gould

Louis C.K.'s self-titled "Louie" is subtitled "misery loves company" and fortunately, we're able to oblige him in short comedies where life usually gets the upper hand. The second season debuts on FX June 23rd, at 10:30...

2011

Jun

MAYBE IT'S THE TIME OF YEAR By Eric Gould

It's summer, and time to go down to Yasgur's farm again -- this August will mark the 42nd anniversary of the Woodstock music festival. There's nothing notable about that milestone except we're still getting older, and Ang Lee's 2009 dramedy Taking Woodstock is running all summer long on HBO...And all the while, it dances around the edges the festival, without ever pushing to the stage and laying eyes on a rock star...

2011

Jun

'BREAKING BAD' BREAKS BLEEPING GREAT By Eric Gould

"Unstable, Volatile, Dangerous" is the subtitle for the Season 3 DVD of AMC's Breaking Bad (out here June 7). And believe it or not, it's an understatement. With an epic storyline now clocking almost three dozen episodes over three seasons, this series offers some of the most compelling and well-crafted television of a generation...

2011

May

WHAT IS THE SOUND OF TWO HANDS CLAPPING, SLOWLY? By Eric Gould

We've seen it all before: We're at a critical juncture in the story. The main character has just made a courageous or heartfelt speech, and, maybe after being met with Stunned Silence, makes for the exit. But just as the protagonist appears utterly defeated, one person in the crowd stands and starts to clap alone. Then a smattering of others...

2011

May

THE THINKING MAN'S 'F TROOP' By Eric Gould

It's a bit odd to think about the politically incorrect comedies of the '60s, knowing that a show about a Nazi prisoner camp (Hogan's Heroes), or about the American Army fighting the Indians in the Old West (F Troop), couldn't be made today -- but that Jersey Shore and Las Vegas Jailhouse can...

2011

May

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL: THINKING WAY OUTSIDE THE (LITTLE YELLOW) BOX By Eric Gould

TVWW is dedicated to the best that TV can offer, but it's worthwhile, from time to time, to dredge the bottom of the lake, haul up the darkest muck we can find, and examine it under the cleansing light of our internet glare. Given National Geographic's new season of the bottom-feeding Taboo, it's clear that the little gold rectangle (their logo), which once symbolized the knowledge of the world, also now stands for a meshugganah Pandora's Box of human behavioral disorders...

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