Category: Featured
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Test Pilot: File #42, CSI:
Test Pilot #42: CSI: Debut date: October 6, 2000 Series legacy: One of the most popular, but not necessarily well-regarded series of the last decade-plus Hey there, party people. Welcome back to the internet’s most popular discussion of television pilots, Test Pilot. We’re still early into our contemporary police drama theme. Before you groan or…
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Chitchat: Battleground is one of the year’s best new series [that you’re not watching]
![Chitchat: Battleground is one of the year’s best new series [that you’re not watching]](https://corybarker.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/key_art_battleground.jpg?w=900)
I talk television with a lot of people. Friends, family, other critics on Twitter, vagrants on the street. I just love talking about TV. Because I don’t have the time and resources to do a podcast like I used to in college, I’m going to sort of replicate that experience in textual form in a…
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Barker Chappell Daglas Mad Men Roundtable: “Signal 30”
Hey all, it’s that time again. This Sunday’s Mad Men was one of the strongest the series has ever done, and the Barker Chappell Daglas Reviewing Firm is here to break it all down for you. Enjoy this, or Les will challenge you to a round of gentleman’s fisticuffs. Cory: Les, Andy: Welcome back to…
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Test Pilot: File #41, Homicide: Life on the Street
Test Pilot #41: Homicide: Life on the Street Debut date: January 31, 1993 Series legacy: One of the most well-respected series of all-time, but still, somehow, undervalued Hey there, party people. Welcome back to the internet’s most popular discussion* of television pilots, Test Pilot. We’re still early into our contemporary police drama theme. Before you…
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Chitchat: Checking in with The Good Wife
I talk television with a lot of people. Friends, family, other critics on Twitter, vagrants on the street. I just love talking about TV. Because I don’t have the time and resources to do a podcast like I used to in college, I’m going to sort of replicate that experience in textual form in a…
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Test Pilot: File #40, NYPD Blue
Test Pilot #40: NYPD Blue Debut date: September 21, 1993 Series legacy: Descendant of Hill Street Blues, one of the catalysts for an era of grittier police dramas Hiya, folks! Welcome back to Test Pilot. This is our 40th entry and that’s simply crazy to me. Thanks to everyone who has read or written with…
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Barker Chappell Daglas Mad Men Roundtable: “A Little Kiss”
The world doesn’t really need three more 4,000 word opuses on Mad Men each week, so Andy Daglas, Les Chappell and I decide to combine our powers for the sake of good (and brevity). After each new episode of Mad Men’s fifth season, the three of us plan to exchange a bunch of emails about…
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Review: Community, “Contemporary Impressionists”
Not to cherry-pick from my own Twitter feed (not that I haven’t done it before), but “Contemporary Impressionists” is just a weird episode of Community. Weird doesn’t mean “bad” or “awful,” just as it also doesn’t mean “great.” This one featured some really intriguing character development, but was undercut by tonal and balance issues throughout.…
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Review: Community, “Urban Matrimony and Sandwich Arts”
Well here we are folks. After three months of agonizing, waiting, Twitter campaigns, flash mobs and a whole lot of kvetching, Community is back on our television screens in one of the deadliest timeslots around. I was supremely excited for the series’ return, just as I was fairly sad that NBC made the (fairly logical)…
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Test Pilot: File #39, Kings
Test Pilot #39: Kings Debut date: March 15, 2009 Series legacy: Yet another one of NBC’s failed late-aughts drama series Welcome back to Test Pilot guys and gals! With that extra-special Joss Whedon Theme Week behind us, it’s time to fall back into the typical, but still lovely rhythms of the feature. Today, we continue…
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#TVFail Entry 19: Smallville, “Reckoning”
The accused: Smallville, “Reckoning” (Season 5, Episode 12) The crime: Sending its lead character on an aimless, never-ending path of self-loathing How much impact, both positive and negative, can one bad episode have on an entire series? How do long-running series continue onward in the aftermath of an episodic failure? Is it possible that individual,…
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Does a series’ ultimate failure negate a great pilot?
I hope everyone enjoyed the Awake pilot last night (or over the past few weeks, thanks to NBC releasing it online fairly early). If you haven’t read my review, please consider doing that. But amid all the beaming reviews and superlatives for Awake, big questions remain: Is it a series? Can the story be maintained…
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Series Premiere Review: Awake
There is a lot of baggage that comes with the premiere of Awake. Its creator, Kyle Killen, also guided FOX’s Lone Star to the airwaves last year. That series’ pilot is one of my favorite of all-time, so of course, Lone Star was canceled after just two episodes because of terrible ratings. I also…
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Test Pilot: File #38, The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.
Test Pilot #38: The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. Debut date: August 27, 1993 Series legacy: One of the more beloved one-season wonders, mostly for its curious mix of genres, styles and imagery Welcome back to Test Pilot guys and gals! With that extra-special Joss Whedon Theme Week behind us, it’s time to fall back…
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Chitchat: Bays, Thomas and How I Met Your Mother are just trolling us, right?
I talk television with a lot of people. Friends, family, other critics on Twitter, vagrants on the street. I just love talking about TV. Because I don’t have the time and resources to do a podcast like I used to in college, I’m going to sort of replicate that experience in textual form in a…
CB, PhD 