Category: Featured
-
Terriers, “Pimp Daddy”
Based on my exploration of last week’s reviews it seems I was higher on “Aqua Caliente” than most, but that’s okay. And even though I really, really enjoyed that episode, I found that “Pimp Daddy” holds together a little bit better and is thus a “better” episode. Like last week’s effort, “Pimp Daddy” separates Hank…
-
Cougar Town, “Fooled Again (I Don’t Like It)”
Last week’s episode felt like a turning point in the second season of Cougar Town. The first batch of episodes, while overwhelmingly fun, were sometimes clunky, scattered in interested in too many things at once to really get a good grip on what the season was going to be moving forward aside from people playing…
-
Sons of Anarchy, “Turas”
I haven’t checked in with Sons of Anarchy for a couple of weeks because I’ve still been generally disappointed with the direction of this season, but I had planned on writing up some musings on “Turas” no matter how good or bad it turned out to be. Thankfully, last night’s episode felt more propulsive and…
-
Chuck, “Chuck Versus The First Fight”
Of course, I after I complained about Chuck earlier this month, it’s rattled off three straight high-quality episodes that almost require me to comment in some fashion. However, in many ways, that’s a good thing. I want to talk about Chuck. I don’t want to avoid it here on TVS because it’s one of my…
-
Series Premiere — The Walking Dead, “Days Gone Bye”
Even as someone who has never read The Walking Dead in its comic book form (well, aside from the first issue in preparation for this series) or really been that much of a fan of the zombie genre in general, I still found myself excited for AMC’s newest series. These feelings of excitement stemmed not…
-
Smallville, “Harvest”
I noted last week that it would be difficult to top the 200th episode, so there was really no reason for “Isis” to attempt to. However, I didn’t really expect or want the trend of mediocrity to continue into “Harvest,” which is unfortunately what happened. “Harvest” is also similar to “Isis” in that it writes…
-
Community, “Epidemiology”
Apologies for the delay in this write-up, it’s been a busy couple of days. That’s unfortunate, however, because “Epidemiology” is most certainly the highlight of Community‘s young second season and one of the best episodes the series has ever done. A few weeks ago, I wasn’t too high on “Basic Rocket Science,” the NASA-related episode…
-
Season Premiere — Friday Night Lights, “Expectations”
Pardon the pun, but coming into Friday Night Lights‘ fifth and final season, we as an audience have certain expectations. Because this is the final season, we expect some sense of closure for the characters we’ve loved for five seasons (and in some cases, less than that). Though we know many of the original Dillon…
-
The Vampire Diaries, “Masquerade”
Sci-fi or fantasy series with big ensembles always have one big trick in their back pocket to pull out as a way to intensify the drama or weight of certain activities: bringing the band back together. Any time there is some big event that’s about to go down, rounding up all the characters under some…
-
Modern Family, “Halloween” and Cougar Town, “You Don’t Know How It Feels”
Halloween episodes, like any episode built around a specific holiday can be a crutch. Halloween is particularly tricky for comedies because so much humor can derive from putting the characters in idiosyncratic costumes and basically say, “Hey, look, it’s funny!” While that stuff is often funny, it’s always nice to have more. Interestingly, both Modern…
-
Terriers, “Agua Caliente”
After two episodes with more obvious thematic concerns (not that that’s a bad thing), “Agua Caliente” feels more like a twisty and turny Terriers episode that still makes sure we know exactly what the writers are trying to explore. Here, the topic of concern is partnerships, both old (Hank and Gustafson, Britt and Ray) and…
-
Test Pilot: File #5, Beverly Hills, 90210
Test Pilot #5: Beverly Hills, 90210 Debut date: October 4, 1990 Series legacy: The first teen drama to really explode on television (and perhaps the remotely successful teen drama, period), the origin for countless series of similar ilk and one of the biggest television-related phenomenons of all-time. Welcome to the newest regular feature here at…
-
Glee, “The Rocky Horror Glee Show”
I’ll be the first to admit that I have not seen “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” the cult phenomenon that supposedly inspired last night’s Glee. And I’d like to say that unfamiliarity helped me enjoy “The Rocky Horror Glee Show” instead of experiencing it as a fan of the film and being wholly disappointed. However,…
-
Chuck, “Chuck Versus the Aisle of Terror”
If Chuck isn’t going to take many risks or strive for its season two levels of awesome, fine. I’m over it. I guess it’s just time to watch the series, enjoy it for what it is and move on. With that in mind, “Chuck Versus the Aisle of Terror” still feels like an improvement over…
-
Supernatural, “Live Free or Twihard”
Alright, Supernatural season six, I think I’ve figured you out. I’ve been extremely vocal in my dissatisfaction with the series coming back for a sixth season and found myself disappointed with this season’s episodes, particularly the first three efforts. However, after last week’s Bobby-centric affair and “Live Free or Twihard,” I’ve not only come around…
CB, PhD 