DAVID BIANCULLI

Founder / Editor

ERIC GOULD

Associate Editor

LINDA DONOVAN

Assistant Editor

Contributors

ALEX STRACHAN

MIKE HUGHES

KIM AKASS

MONIQUE NAZARETH

ROGER CATLIN

GARY EDGERTON

TOM BRINKMOELLER

GERALD JORDAN

NOEL HOLSTON

 
 
2015
Jan
8
 
 

PASADENA, CA – There’s no science to the Television Critics Association press tour. But Wednesday, as the multi-week press event began, science on TV was well represented…

 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jan
8
 
 
The FX animated Archer returns for another season of crass sexual remarks, throwback wardrobe and Archer’s usual first-rate bungling of almost everything he touches...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jan
8
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: Part 2 of 2. This week’s launch of Cycle 14 of American Idol continues, with, if all goes according to plan, more talent (like 15-year-old Emily Brooke, shown here), and fewer made-to-ridicule showoffs and delusionals, in the early mix.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jan
8
 
 
Earlier in this final season, Zeek (Craig T. Nelson) was rushed off to the hospital unexpectedly, after collapsing while celebrating in Las Vegas. He’s been nursing his health ever since – and tonight, he has every reason to be especially celebratory on his birthday. But with the number of episodes to the finale counting down quickly, don’t be too complacent – about the fate of Zeek, or of anyone else on this well-written, tenderly acted family drama.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jan
8
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: The new season of this outrageously loony animated spy spoof – one that, for the most part, relies on wry dialogue rather than cartoon exaggerations for its humor – begins with Archer finding himself in one of those familiar movie plots. He finds himself isolated with a Japanese soldier from WWII who never got word that the war had ended. Archer, of course, is only too happy to be the bearer of bad news. And, as he calls it, “worse news.” Too soon? For a
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jan
8
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: For Season 5, Portlandia is going forward by retreating into the past. Specifically, it’s providing stand-alone episodes that qualify as mini-movies, giving a backstory for the various characters played by series chameleons Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein. Tonight, to open this new season and new approach, Portlandia dips into the past of Candace and Toni, those steely-faced feminists who run the Women and Women First bookstore. What do we find there? That they once wor
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jan
8
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: Well, it’s almost the premiere, anyway. The pilot episode for this new satirical police series, co-created by Danny Boyle of Slumdog Millionaire fame, was imported by Sundance back in September. But starting tonight, the rest of Season 1 is presented, starring James Nesbitt as a Scotland Yard commissioner who hires an American public relations consultant (Brit Marling) to polish the image of his somewhat unruly police force.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jan
7
 
 

This Sunday, Showtime unveils Season 4 of Episodes, which is TV’s least appreciated sitcom. The writing is crisp, surprising and delightful, and the performances even more so…

 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jan
7
 
 
Never mind all the machinations and deceptions involved in orchestrating the next big hit record on Empire. What fourth place Fox really needs is the next big hit TV series... So it’s poured on the promotion for this Lee Daniels-created saga...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jan
7
 
 
Kirstie Alley from Cheers is back behind the bar! On tonight’s new episode, she guest stars as “Pam Freakin’ Staggs” (the episode’s title), one of Frankie’s high-school classmates – someone who had no time for her then, but has reappeared to take Frankie (series star Patricia Heaton) under her wing now. Under her wing, and to a local karaoke bar, where the male bartenders serve bright-green cocktails with melon balls. (In the drinks, that is.) Cheers!