Category: Episode Reviews
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Modern Family, “Earthquake” and Cougar Town, “Makin’ Some Noise”
I’ve been tough on Modern Family this season, both on the blog and in discussions with friends and family. Though I liked last week’s episode, it still bothered me in some ways and the season premiere was particularly problematic and frustrating to watch. But this week, I’m going to try to be more positive because…
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Terriers, “Manifest Destiny”
I couldn’t get to writing up last week’s “Fustercluck” because of my time at Flow 2010, which is unfortunate because it was a fine, fine episode. However, because “Manifest Destiny” is something of a direct continuation I think I’ll be able to sum it all up in one nice post. After two episodes toiling around…
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Raising Hope, “Dream Hoarders” and Running Wilde, “Oil & Water”
More so than new dramas, new comedies need time to grow, time to tinker, time to generally figure out what the hell the series is going to be about and where the jokes are going to come from. It’s easy to hate comedies if they’re not unbelievably funny from the get-go, but in practice, that…
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Glee, “Grilled Cheesus”
With a sensitive subject that deserves subtly, “Grilled Cheesus” could have been much, much worse. Glee and religion seems like such an awful pairing considering the series’ desire to tell stories without an ounce of subtly or nuance, but this episode is surprisingly solid, with a clear direction and message without getting too bogged down…
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The Event, “Protect Them From The Truth”
After an improved second episode that provided some answers to the pilot’s biggest questions, The Event proved in its third episode that it’s more less out of gas already. The slight sense of mystery, intrigue and danger created in the first two episodes (however manufactured it might have been) is completely gone in “Protect Them…
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House, “Unwritten”
I’m not sure how much individual episode analysis is warranted for House at this point. Even when the cases are somewhat interesting for a season seven case, they’re not so compelling that I really want to right about them. So yeah, this week’s case is kind of fun and it kept my interest for most…
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Supernatural, “Two and a Half Men”
I was very harsh on the season premiere of Supernatural. And to be frank, the more I thought about the episode, the more I hated it. It’s honestly one of my least favorite episodes in the whole run. I’m getting angry just thinking about it. With that being said, I found “Two and a Half Men”…
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Dexter, “My Bad” and “Hello, Bandit”
I have a weird relationship with Dexter. I caught up on the first two seasons before the third and was hooked, but then of course, the third season was generally awful and I was out. I didn’t watch season four live, which is apparently the biggest Dexter-related mistake I’ve made since it is the most…
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Rubicon, “A Good Day’s Work”
Rubicon has been working with an intense, slow-burning formula for a while now and that’s been wonderful to watch. The pieces have been slowly coming together in the background while individual episodes have focused more on the quirky characters working at API. That’s been an effective strategy on an individual episode level, but really rears…
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Community, “Accounting for Lawyers”
Throughout the second half of Community‘s first season, I wondered when the series would finally step outside Greendale and tell other stories. It wasn’t that I didn’t love what was happening inside the walls of that zany community college, I just wanted to see what Dan Harmon and company could do outside of it. Turns…
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Fringe, “The Box”
After one hell of a premiere, Fringe settles into a nice rhythm with its Earth-1-set “The Box,” creating what I believe is a season-long toggling between the two universes. And though it’s inherently not as exciting because it lacks the mystery and general coolness that comes with episodes set in another universe, “The Box” suggests…
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Smallville, “Shield”
I am a massive Smallville fan, but I’m also someone with some perspective on the series. I feel fairly confident in my ability to separate my odd die-hard fandom with the process of evaluating the series on an individual level or as a whole. With that said, the first two episodes of season ten haven’t…
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Modern Family, “The Kiss” and Cougar Town, “Let Yourself Go”
Ed note: I’ve been away at the 2010 Flow Conference, so posts have been delayed. I’ll be catching up with a few of last week’s series in the first few days of this week. Just like my write ups on FOX’s Tuesday comedy block, I seem to enjoy writing about ABC’s Modern Family and Cougar…
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Raising Hope, “Dead Tooth” and Running Wilde, “Into the Wilde”
I like the idea of writing up these FOX comedies together, so I’m going to keep it going, at least until one of them gets good enough to deserve a solo space. Both series had varying degrees of success in their pilot episodes and they both progressed with varying degrees of success. Neither series is…
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Glee, “Britney/Brittany”
It’s easy to going into Glee‘s second episode dedicated fully to a specific pop artist with a critical eye. Focusing on another pop star in Britney Spears doesn’t exactly ring true with Ryan Murphy’s claim for a more personal Glee that focuses on the characters. And once the word came down that most of the…
CB, PhD 