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

 
 
2017
Oct
13
 
 
[Editor's note: On occasion, when I stumble across an atypically smart and creative student in one of my Rowan University media courses, I invite him or her to submit a guest blog on a TV subject of their choosing. Shannon Farrell chose a tricky and unusual topic, and wrote a lengthy but well-crafted treatise. So here it is. -DB]
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Oct
12
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: Chelsea Handler went to Netflix to launch her latest, even less inhibited talk show. Now another female comic, Sarah Silverman, is following suit. In her case, she’s presenting a limited-series talk show on another streaming service, Hulu, and one that will pay as much attention to ordinary Americans (are there any left?) as to Hollywood celebrities. Silverman’s goal is to unite, not divide, which certainly puts her in a relatively less populated space, comically as
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Oct
12
 
 
After seasons of taking its time to unfurl the various origin stories in the Batman DC Comics universe, this year’s Gotham has been on creative speed-dial. It’s still telling of the early years of Gotham City, before Gordon was commissioner and Catwoman wore ears-to-boots leather – but now its characters, and conflicts, are crystallizing. Penguin (pictured, along with his favorite current henchman) is in charge of Gotham at the moment, but a cabal of women – including Sel
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Oct
12
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: For most series, starting Season 13 might be considered an unlucky omen – but for Supernatural, it fits right in. And Season 13 doesn’t waste much time getting the demon-fighting brothers together, and pointed in the same direction. But I’m not sure about all the other alternate dimensions that might exist on this show. In one alternate dimension, Sam and Dean may still be separated, and their mother is alive and isolated there. At least, that’s what I th
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Oct
12
 
 
Here’s an alternate-reality story, though, that I have no problem understanding and enjoying. Last season, The Good Place was all about a weird little slice of heaven – which turned out, in the stunningly clever season-ending reveal, to actually be a twisted little corner of hell. And ever since, the architect of that particular “good place,” Ted Danson’s Michael, has been trying to torture a quartet of recent arrivals by erasing their memories and rebooting their a
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Oct
12
 
 
Last week, The Orville made room for guest star Charlize Theron, playing a starship officer. Tonight, another female guest star gets to play another futuristic officer: Admiral Ozawa is played by Kelly Hu, who’s been on TV ever since co-starring opposite Don Johnson on Nash Bridges.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Oct
11
 
 
If you thought Hugh Laurie couldn’t find a psychologically darker role than Gregory House, you need to catch up with Hulu’s Chance...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Oct
11
 
 
Taraji P. Henson, as Cookie, is all about the fashion – but Henson, as an actress, is all about the acting, too. That’s why she enjoys throwing herself to the other extreme, and revisiting, in flashbacks, Cookie’s anything but glamorous stint in prison – back when orange was the old orange.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Oct
11
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: The Season 1 premiere of this series began with the discovery of a body, suggesting that this TV adaptation of the Archie comics franchise was going to go to darker places than Pop’s malt shop.  Season 2 of Riverdale, picking up tonight where last season’s cliffhanger ended, has Archie (KJ Apa) investigating the shooting of his own father (Luke Perry) – in, if memory serves, that very malt shop.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Oct
11
 
 
SEASON FINALE: This could very well have been the series finale for this series, which heads tonight to a climax with killer Brady embarking on what may be a new murder spree – but AT&T has announced that this series has been renewed, meaning that Stephen King and producer David E. Kelley will continue to adapt his trilogy of tales next year.