Archive: October 2011 (21-30 of 33)

Oct 14 2011 03:01 PM ET

'Charlie's Angels' RIP: 'Angels in Chains'? Maybe Erica Durance should have starred in a different, solo-angel show...

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Categories: Dramas, Fall TV, Smallville, Television, TV Review

Charlie’s Angels tried to tap into its source-show last night by re-working a script by Robert Earll that aired in 1976 and has become a bit of an Angels cult classic: “Angels In Chains,” in which the Angels went undercover as convicts in a jail in order to save a young woman. UPDATE: These Angels will be ascending to TV heaven — cancelled, Lynette Rice reports. Turns out my suggestion below that Erica Durance be given her own show from the Smallville producers was kinda correct… READ FULL STORY »

Oct 13 2011 03:53 PM ET

'Community' tonight: Don't miss this one!

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Categories: Big Bang Theory, Community, Parks and Recreation, Sitcoms, Television, TV Review, TV Tonight

Maybe you don’t watch Community. (Seems likely, since this very funny, smart show is getting creamed by Big Bang Theory this season.) Maybe you don’t watch because you think it’s too in-jokey and ironic. (Which is sometimes a fair complaint; in fact, I thought the past couple of weeks have been a little too obvious with the in-jokes about poor ratings and the obsessive mythology of the show.) But here’s my pitch: Watch tonight, because this episode, titled “Remedial Chaos Theory,” is one of the best episodes of Community to date, and one that gives any newcomer very clear delineations of all the main characters’ personalities. READ FULL STORY »

Oct 12 2011 11:23 PM ET

'Work of Art: The Next Great Artist' recap: Enter the Sucklord

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Categories: Bravo, Fall TV, Jimmy Fallon, Reality TV, Season finales, Television, TV Recap, TV Review, Work of Art

Finally, the second season of Work of Art: The Next Great Artist has arrived on Bravo, and with it, the Sucklord. Work of Art must have thought it died and went to heaven when this guy strolled in, disfiguring stormtrooper dolls and calling it art. The Sucklord — real name: Morgan Phillips — is a 42-year-old artist/huckster in the tradition of Jeff Koons who looks a bit like Jimmy Fallon doing an impersonation of a gelled twit. With this guy around, everyone becomes an inadvertent comedian. When another contestant, Michelle, said in the opening moments, “I don’t want to be the one who sucks” — well, Lordy, supply your own just-look-to-your-right punchline. READ FULL STORY »

Oct 11 2011 10:04 PM ET

'Last Man Standing' premiere review: Tim Allen's new sitcom, a home improver, or doomed to extinction?

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Categories: Fall TV, season premiere, Sitcoms, Television, TV Review, TV Tonight

Last Man Standing is one of those junky, by-the-numbers sitcoms I know that, as a critic, I’m supposed to dislike and put down in a ruthless manner. But I can’t bring myself to do it. When I look at the now-rounded softness of Tim Allen, and note once again how his sandpaper voice contrasts winningly with his hopeful eyes, it’s impossible to plunge a shiv into this series, which premiered with back-to-back episodes on Tuesday night. READ FULL STORY »

Oct 10 2011 07:01 AM ET

'Breaking Bad' face off: Gus Fring/Giancarlo Esposito talks about THAT SCENE

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Categories: AMC, Breaking Bad, Dramas, Television, TV Last Night

It’s safe to say that Walter White’s most formidable obstacle in his pursuit of wealth for his family and, increasingly, his assertion of himself as the dynamic force in his own life, has been Gus Fring, the deceptively meek fast-food-chicken store owner, philanthropist, and drug lord played by Giancarlo Esposito with consummate meticulousness in the season of Breaking Bad that concluded on Sunday night. READ FULL STORY »

Oct 6 2011 07:27 AM ET

'South Park' mid season premiere: Asperger's syndrome gets the Cartman treatment

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Categories: Cartoons, Controversy, Food and Drink, season premiere, Sitcoms, South Park, Television, TV Review, Two and a Half Men

South Park returned for its mid season 15 premiere, picking up where the show left off, with the malaise of “You’re Getting Old” having deepened heavily. Stan’s morose conviction that the world has become filled with, ah, excrement is only increased when he faces a fall filled with Terra Nova and Ashton Kutcher in Two and a Half Men, both of which were mercilessly ridiculed. Oh, and he was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome. READ FULL STORY »

Oct 6 2011 02:13 AM ET

'American Horror Story' premiere review: Was it scary/freaky/sexy enough for you?

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Categories: American Horror Story, Dramas, Fall TV, Glee, Nip/Tuck, Sci-Fi, season premiere, Television, TV Review

“The world is a horrible place,” said a character in the premiere of American Horror Story, and this new hour from Glee producers Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk did its best to prove that dismal sentiment true. Welcome to The Anti-Glee, or perhaps more like Gleeful Hell. There was sadism on the screen, and you may have felt a sadistic pleasure in watching. READ FULL STORY »

Oct 5 2011 10:13 AM ET

'American Horror Story': It's coming tonight, it's unavoidable, it's...

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Categories: American Horror Story, Dramas, Glee, Sci-Fi, season premiere, Television, TV Review, TV Tonight

No new fall TV has left me with more conflicted feelings and thoughts than American Horror Story, the new haunted-house saga from Glee‘s Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk.

Which means, among other things, that it must be doing something right: Provocation is a lot better than predictability, and the one thing you cannot accuse Horror Story of being is predictable.

Or maybe you can. I’ve marshaled some of my thoughts on this below: READ FULL STORY »

Oct 4 2011 12:51 AM ET

'2 Broke Girls' review: Not living up to 1's potential?

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Categories: Sitcoms, Television, TV Review

Oh, dear. Three weeks in, 2 Broke Girls is not quite living up to its potential as the new season’s break-out/talent-filled/girl-power-trend sitcom. I’m not talking about ratings — those are solid, for sure. I mean the actual quality of the jokes and the direction (or lack of one) the series is taking as it settles in as a weekly series. READ FULL STORY »

Oct 3 2011 11:09 PM ET

Amanda Knox deserves to 'become a big star,' Donald Trump tells Erin Burnett

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Categories: CNN, Donald Trump, In the News, Television, TV news shows, TV Review

On the premiere edition of OutFront with new CNN anchor Erin Burnett, Donald Trump said the found-innocent Amanda Knox can “maybe become a big star and build some dividends from this … absolutely outrageous” murder trial. Speaking by phone to Burnett, Trump said he was friends with Knox’s father and sympathized with Knox’s family. Is there no pop culture event to which Donald Trump does not have a connection? Is he thinking of booking Hank Williams, Jr., on the next Celebrity Apprentice, perhaps? READ FULL STORY »

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