ANIMAL PRACTICE: Wednesday 8PM starting 9/26 on NBC – Change The Channel UPDATE:  Tonight NBC aired the recast version of the ANIMAL PRACTICE pilot as a last-gasp grab for the attention of its Olympics audience.  Joanna Garcia Swisher now plays the female lead, the new boss of the show’s animal hospital and ex-girlfriend of […]

  LAST RESORT: Thursday 8PM on ABC – Potential DVR Alert The strangest new show on any network this season may be LAST RESORT, created and written by the man behind The Shield, Shawn Ryan, with Karl Gajdusek. The problem with trying to evaluate LAST RESORT based on its fairly riveting pilot is that the […]

  It helps if you think of BUNHEADS as a CG special effects spectacle, except in this case the CG special effects and spectacle are all in the sound of Amy Sherman-Palladino’s dialogue.  Either you love herrapid-fire, endlessly witty repartee or you find it stilted and artificial; if you’re a naysayer, you should probably find another show […]

At this point in movie history, it’s beside the point to ask why we even need a new film version of GREAT EXPECTATIONS when David Lean’s 1946 masterpiece still exists.  (And for those who want a different slant on the story, there’s Alfonso Cuaron’s 1998 modern-day revamp.)  The industry feeds itself on a diet of […]

A lot can happen between the creation of a TV pilot in the spring and the production of episodes for the regular season: a writing/producing team is hired, audience focus groups weigh in, networks and studios (which may have had their own turnover) give plenty of notes, helpful and otherwise, and critics begin to rear […]

  THE GUILT TRIP:  Watch It At Home – Maybe If the Ride Were Bumpier, It Would Be More Interesting The odd thing about THE GUILT TRIP is that it doesn’t especially cater either to fans of Barbra Streisand (who would probably prefer a more over-the-top, diva-like experience, not to mention some singing) or those of Seth […]

  BANSHEE:  Friday 10PM on Cinemax Previously… on BANSHEE:  Through a series of coincidences not worth recounting, an ex-con (Antony Starr) has taken on the identity of Lucas Hood, who was killed on his way to becoming the new sheriff of Banshee, Pennsylvania, a small town rich in Pennsylvania Dutch culture and crime.  It also […]

  The historical significance of HOUSE OF CARDS in the evolution of television is by now well-established.  It’s the first original production created specifically for Netflix, and the company made its first bet a huge one:  26 one-hour episodes, 2 full seasons worth, ordered without even a pilot (at a reported cost of $100M), and […]