The cul de sac has moved south along the dial, but aside from that, there’s nothing very different about the TBS version of COUGAR TOWN, transported last night pretty much intact from its prior home on ABC.  (It’s possible that later episodes could show more of a shift, since although series co-creator and original […]

  The “spoiler” situation with respect to Richard Linklater’s BEFORE MIDNIGHT is a particularly tricky one, because for those passionately invested in the saga that began with 1995’s Before Sunrise and continued in 2004 with Before Sunset, even the most bare-bones description of what the new film is about, which must disclose, by necessity, what’s become of Celine (Julie Delpy) and […]

  The gap between British and US airings of DOWNTON ABBEY gives rise to some dislocations.  The series airs each fall in England, but PBS holds it for January-February because it doesn’t want to compete with the start of the new network season here.  (Although at this point the Downton audience is so large and […]

  THE BORGIAS:  Sunday 10PM on Showtime Showtime must have a great co-production deal on THE BORGIAS.  Despite what is evidently a handsome budget–certainly far more expensive than what shows like House of Lies or even Homeland cost to produce–the series barely makes a ripple in the ratings, last year managing an 18-49 rating of […]

  It’s almost unheard-of for a franchise to need 5 installments to hit its stride, but that was the case with 2011’s Fast Five.  After kicking around with its first, moderately successful quartet in various locations and featuring shifting combinations of characters (aside from a seconds-long cameo, neither Vin Diesel nor Paul Walker even appeared […]

  MISTRESSES:  Monday 10PM on ABC Previously… on MISTRESSES:  A group of friends are all enmeshed, one way or another, in wayward sex, including Savannah (Alyssa Milano), a lawyer who compensated for the woes of having a husband with low sperm count by plunging into colleague Dominic (Jason George); her happily slutty sister Josslyn (Jes […]

  THE BUTLER:  Worth A Ticket – Superb Acting Elevates A History Lesson THE BUTLER, in its form and earnestness, recalls the days of prestige TV movies and miniseries that used to be associated with the Hallmark Hall of Fame and network sweeps periods (and which now exist only as a vestige on pay-cable, mostly […]

  Like his Oscar-winning A Separation, Asghar Farhadi’s THE PAST is concerned with the abyss of uncertainty and mystery that lies under seemingly straightforward actions, the ever-increasing complications that become evident whenever one scrutinizes the events and motives of everyday life. Although the setting this time is Paris, and the characters aren’t the same, in many ways, The […]