Category: Featured
-
Sons of Anarchy, “The Push”
I could very easily explain my lack of posting about Sons of Anarchy by noting that hey, I’m in graduate school and I’ve been fairly busy over the last month. But though that’s certainly part of the equation, I can’t just leave it at that. I’ve been frustrated and even disappointed in Sons of Anarchy…
-
Chuck, “Chuck Versus The Coup d’Etat”
I didn’t write about last week’s Chuck because I didn’t feel like I had much to say. This is perhaps weird considering so many people had strong (read: angry) reactions to the episode and its desire to create all sorts of neurotic drama between the supposed-to-be-happy Chuck and Sarah pairing. I wasn’t as offended by…
-
Over-Flow — Responses to Flow Conference 2010 panels: I can’t quit you, terrible TV
If you follow me on Twitter or caught up with a few of my delayed posts on last week’s television, you know that I spent the first few days of October at my first academic conference. The 2010 Flow Conference took place in Austin, Texasand it was generally awesome, particularly for a super-young television scholar (I…
-
Mad Men, “Blowing Smoke”
Penultimate episodes often make things really, really bad for characters, creating a world where there looks to be no hope. Even in a series like Mad Men where characters are not necessarily in mortal danger and when things have already been unraveling at a consistent rate, “Blowing Smoke” has no problems making things just a little worse.…
-
Supernatural, “The Third Man”
Three episodes in, Supernatural‘s sixth season is a mess. “The Third Man” brings our favorite angel Castiel back into the picture, and along with him comes some hackneyed new mythology about the archangels and more McGuffin-like weapons that may or may not be important in the future. Here’s my problem: If the series wants to…
-
Smallville, “Supergirl”
The biggest problem with Smallville as a series, dating all the way back to its origins, is that always likes to make Clark the problem, not the solution. He’s often wrong, made to look foolish and sheepish and spends more time feeling sorry for himself than actually being proactive and heroic. The last two seasons…
-
The Vampire Diaries, “Killed or Be Killed”
Apologies for not writing up last week’s Vampire Diaries (again, at Flow), but I found “Memory Lane” to be a really great episode, perhaps the best of the season. It was only a matter of time before Katherine was humanized a little bit and frankly, I’m glad it happened sooner rather than later. I also…
-
Fringe, “The Plateau”
Fringe has now reached a certain level of awesomeness (cross a plateau of awesomeness, perhaps?) that every episode this season feels like it’s on another plane of quality in comparison to the first two seasons. This week’s effort is, in theory, just a Freak of the Week episode in Earth-2. In practice, it’s one of…
-
Over-Flow — Responses to Flow Conference 2010 Panels: The sitcom and happy endings
If you follow me on Twitter or caught up with a few of my delayed posts on last week’s television, you know that I spent last weekend at my first academic conference. The 2010 Flow Conference took place in Austin, Texas and it was generally awesome, particularly for a super-young television scholar (I believe that…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
Test Pilot: File #3, Law & Order
Test Pilot #3: Law & Order Debut date: September 13, 1990 on NBC Series legacy: The prototype procedural for late 20th century and 21st century television, particularly the broadcast networks, a series that was once great for what it was, but something that wore out its welcome due to ubiquity all across cable thanks to…
-
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 