LEGION:  Wednesday 10PM on FX – DVR Alert The answer to what Noah Hawley could do for an encore after Fargo is:  continue to spectacularly overperform.  Fargo was and is a totally unexpected piece of great television, an adaptation that’s not an adaptation of one of the quirkiest masterworks in the American cinema canon, […]

  CONSTANTINE:  Friday 10PM on NBC Previously… on CONSTANTINE:  John Constantine (Matt Ryan), a character who originated in DC Comics, is a demon-hunter, trying to regain his own soul (which he lost by allowing a young woman to die) by saving humans from otherworldly attacks.  He has a magic map that tells him where hellish […]

  How long can television (or “television,” since programming is now viewed on a multitude of screens and platforms) stay as good as it is right now?  It used to be tough to find 10 TV shows in a year worthy of being considered “best,” but now the problem is deciding which superb shows to omit.  […]

  One of the reasons “locked room” mysteries appeal to producers is that they require limited production values, and for what amounted to half its initial season, DARK MATTER tried to make up for its inadequate budget by being a locked spaceship mystery, with chunks of its content taking place on the dimly-lit, far from detailed sets […]

  GOSSIP GIRL:  Monday 9PM on CW WHERE WE WERE:  Blair (Leighton Meester) with Chuck (Ed Westwick), and then not.  Serena (Blake Lively) with Dan (Penn Badgley), and then not.  Mix, then repeat.  Other things happened:  Serena was Gossip Girl for a while, but that didn’t turn out well for anyone–particularly the show.  Nate (Chace […]

  TOP FIVE:  No Current US Distributor or Release Date (but that will change very soon) – Worth A Ticket Chris Rock is generally considered among the greatest stand-ups of his generation, and it’s been clear for some time that he wants to move up to the next cultural echelon, the level of regard where […]

  THE GREAT INDOORS:  Thursday 8:30PM on CBS – Change the Channel Fall TV has a mystery even greater than exactly what’s going on at Westworld:  Joel McHale’s presence in the cardboard CBS sitcom THE GREAT INDOORS.  It’s one thing when multi-camera veterans from the 1990s like Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and Kevin James come […]

  GRIMM aired its 12th and last episode of 2012 tonight, although NBC isn’t being specific about just when in 2013 it’s due to return with its remaining 10 hours.  The series has been markedly better in its second season that it was in its first, largely because although most episodes still feature a creature […]