New Shows Hit Average In Fall TV Lineup
Last year, the broadcast networks didn't do well at all when it came to new series development. We got ABC's clever Once Upon a Time, which was about it for the fall crop, until midseason perked things...
View ArticleFall TV's Returning Series: A Cause To Rejoice
Right now, as we near the end of the 2012 fall TV premiere week, there's a tendency for a sense of weariness to set in. So many of the new TV series are so bad this year, and not one of them is...
View ArticleBoxes Of TV Fun, Old And New, For The Holidays
I'm biased, of course, because I'm a television critic — but to me, giving someone a gift of a TV show you yourself enjoyed tremendously is somehow very personal. You're giving something that you love,...
View ArticleBehind The Scenes Of The Beatles''Magical Mystery Tour'
On Friday night on PBS, Great Performances presents a documentary about the making of a Beatles TV special from 1967 — Magical Mystery Tour— then shows a restored version of that special. Magical...
View Article'Downton' Returns With Aristocratic Class And Clash
Downton Abbey, the drama series about the residents and servants at a grand estate in early 20th-century England, has done for PBS what the commercial broadcast networks couldn't achieve last year. It...
View ArticleSeason Two Brings Changes For 'Girls'
Of all the cable comedies returning with new episodes Sunday, Girls is the most ambitious — as well as the most unpredictable, and occasionally unsettling.When thirtysomething premiered on ABC more...
View ArticleKevin Bacon, Seeking A TV 'Following'
In the new Fox TV series The Following, Kevin Bacon plays a former FBI agent asked to help apprehend an escaped serial killer he once put behind bars. The show is from Kevin Williamson, who also...
View Article'House Of Cards' Is Built To Last
This week brings two new high-profile drama series. One is The Americans, premiering Jan. 30 on the FX network; it's about sleeper KGB agents living in the U.S. during the Reagan era. The other is...
View ArticleTwo New TV Dramas Look Below The Surface
Top of the Lake, a new seven-part miniseries premiering tonight on the Sundance Channel, was co-created and co-directed by Jane Campion, who teamed with Holly Hunter 20 years ago on the movie The...
View ArticleYou Can't Trust HBO's 'Phil Spector,' But You Can Enjoy It
The HBO movie Phil Spector is a production that demands attention because of the heavyweight names attached. First, of course, there's the subject of the drama: Spector himself, the man who invented...
View ArticleThis Spring, Rejoice At Rebirth Of 'Mad Men'
For decades, when broadcast television called the shots and dominated the TV landscape, the biggest event of the year was "the fall season," when networks would unveil their new shows and return with...
View Article'Central Park Five': Rape, Race And Blame Explored
Ken Burns has said that no matter what subjects he tackles in his documentaries — baseball or jazz, Mark Twain or the Civil War — they always seem to boil down to two things: "race and place."That's...
View Article'Rectify': An Ex-Con Navigates The World Outside
Rectify, a new drama series from the Sundance Channel, wants to stand out from the pack — and it certainly succeeds at that. It's a six-hour limited series, more along the British model of TV than ours...
View ArticleIn A Cluster Of New Sitcoms, 'Family Tree' Stands Tall
Christopher Guest, co-creator with Jim Piddock of the new HBO comedy series Family Tree, obviously is having a good time making this show — and it's contagious. It's several shows in one, and every...
View ArticleDouglas, Damon Illuminate HBO's 'Candelabra'
Before you see any of Behind the Candelabra -- when you just consider the concept of the TV movie and its casting — this new HBO Films production raises all sorts of questions: How much will be based...
View ArticleNew 'Arrested Development' Gags Are Best Served In One Sitting
When Mitch Hurwitz and his collaborators began making the Fox sitcom Arrested Development 10 years ago, it was loaded with jokes — in-jokes, recurring jokes and just plain bizarre jokes — that rewarded...
View ArticleIt's Showtime For Untested 'Ray Donovan' And Proven 'Dexter'
For at least as long as there have been Fall Preview issues of TV Guide, there's been a sense of optimistic excitement about the start of new television series. But more recently, producers of...
View Article'The Bridge:' Mayhem On The Border, With Big Issues At Stake
The FX version of the Scandinavian series The Bridge, like the Showtime version of the Israeli TV series that inspired Homeland, is a major revamp as well as a crucial relocation. With Homeland, the...
View ArticleBack For More: Sorkin's 'Newsroom' Is A Serious Standout
The one major change series creator Aaron Sorkin made to The Newsroom between seasons was a structural one. Instead of having each week's show focus on a separate major storyline, this year's edition...
View ArticleLaughs And Drama Behind Bars With 'Orange Is The New Black'
Netflix's original series Orange Is the New Black has two important TV predecessors. One is HBO's Oz, the 1997 men-in-prison drama from Tom Fontana that paved the way for HBO's The Sopranos. The other...
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