Category: Featured
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Review: The Good Wife, “What Went Wrong”
I haven’t written much about The Good Wife’s third season. In fact, I’m pretty sure I haven’t done a single post on this season. My good buddy Noel Kirkpatrick and I deconstructed the first three or four episodes way back in the early part of the fall on the podcast, but with so much going…
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Review: Community, “Regional Holiday Music”
Note: I’m a little short on time today, so I plan on keeping it brief. We’ll see if that actually happens. Chances are you folks know that I watch Glee. Maybe you just come to the site for my Community work, but you probably still see that just a few posts down, I have written…
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Test Pilot: File #29, Lucky Louie
Test Pilot #29: Lucky Louie Debut date: June 11, 2006 Series legacy: Louis C.K.’s first major foray into television, and one that should be forgotten For nearly a decade-and-a-half, HBO has been the biggest power player in the television industry. More than any other individual network or entity, HBO has shaped our perceptions of quality…
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Review: Glee, “Hold on to Sixteen”
At this point, there are so many problems with Glee that is much easier to just say “it sucks!” and move on. Fortunately (or more likely, unfortunately) for you folks, I am much more verbose than that, and I am also so intrigued by the reasons that Glee has so many problems that I cannot…
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TV Surveillance Podcast Episode 20 — Be More Like Lost, Walking Dead
In the new episode of the podcast, I’m joined by The A.V. Club’s Zack Handlen for a discussion about the “mehs” of House season eight and the highs and lows of The Walking Dead season two. You can pre-order Zack’s new book on Amazon and also don’t forget to subscribe to the pod on iTunes.
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TV Surveillance Podcast Episode 19 — Was This Show Ever Good?
In this episode of podcast, I’m joined by Louis Peitzman to lament the failures of the porous sixth season of Dexter. Remember, you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, if you’re into that kind of thing.
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TV Surveillance Podcast Episode 18, Parts 1 and 2 — Broadcast Network Analysis Extravaganza!
In this episode of the TV Surveillance Podcast, I’m joined by Wesley Ambrecht for an expansive, massive, two-part, four-hour podcast covering the successes, failures, schedules and developments of all five of the broadcast networks. Because this conversation went so long, we split it into two parts, both of which cross or come close to crossing…
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Review: Community, “Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism”
Community is kind of screwed. Now, let me say that I don’t mean that the series is screwed in regards to its place on NBC’s schedule. That might be the case, but there’s no need to be upset about that tonight (and I still think Community is ultimately going to be fine). What I mean…
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TV Surveillance Podcast Episode 17 — The Future of Social TV
In the first podcast in what seems like forever, I’m joined by Andrew Seroff of Miso in a wide-ranging discussion of all-things Social TV, the future of audience engagement and the timetable we’re looking at for the industry to respond. Just a reminder, you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes if you’d like. While…
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Review: Glee, “I Kissed A Girl”
Despite all its issues, Glee has had a lot of success with exploring the challenges of being gay. I have some issues with how and why Kurt jumped to Dalton last year, but the only good part of season two was his season-long journey to coming out and self-acceptance. The series took Kurt’s challenges and…
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Review: New Girl, “Bells”
Doing end-the-year lists really forces you to evaluate or re-evaluate your opinion on something. Yesterday, I was crafting my initial “top series” list (which of course started out at like 45 series or something ridiculous like that) and I wrote down New Girl pretty quickly in the process. Of course I did, it’s one of…
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The Walking Dead is weird.
I’ll just go ahead and apologize up front, folks. Thanks to a dozen professional and personal obligations, I haven’t written anything for TVS in what seems like forever. I’m pretty sure I remember how to do this, however, what I’m trying to convey in this piece is also sort of confounding, so who really knows…
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Test Pilot: File #28, The Comeback
Test Pilot #28: The Comeback Debut date: June 5, 2005 Series’ legacy: A flawed, lukewarmly received mockumentary that was perhaps a bit before its time For nearly a decade-and-a-half, HBO has been the biggest power player in the television industry. More than any other individual network or entity, HBO has shaped our perceptions of quality…
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Review: Community, “Documentary Filmmaking: Redux”
Just picture for a moment that someone who was randomly, in the off-chance, moved by the swell of online support for Community in the wake of NBC’s decision to “bench” it for a bit in early 2012 decided to watch tonight’s episode and it was their first experience with Community. Can you even begin to…
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#TVFail Entry 12: Friday Night Lights, “Last Days of Summer”
The accused: Friday Night Lights, “Last Days of Summer” (Season 2, Episode 1) The crime: Releasing Landry the Killer onto the world, running away from the things that made the series so previously successful Television’s failures are supposed to be obvious. From the overhyped non-starters that flop from the very beginning (hello, FlashForward, Lone Star)…
CB, PhD 