THE INSPECTION (A24 – November 14):  Back in 1983, Robert Altman directed the film version of David Rabe’s play Streamers, about a Vietnam-era boot camp that turned even more violent and vicious with the catalyst of one recruit’s closeted homosexuality.  Elegance Bratton’s The Inspection tells a similar story for the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” […]

  Read All Our Fall Pilot Reports here and Midseason Pilot Reports here. BACK IN THE GAME:  Wednesday 8:30PM on ABC  – Worth A Look Unlike most of its characters, BACK IN THE GAME keeps its pitches pretty much in the strike zone, which in this case is a combination of The Bad News Bears […]

  EMILY OWENS, MD: Tuesday 9PM on CW – If Nothing Else Is On… Say this for EMILY OWENS, MD:  it really makes you appreciate Shonda Rhimes.  The seeming ease with which Grey’s Anatomy mixes medical drama, soap opera, humor, sex and romance every week is tempting to take for granted, but really it’s a […]

  FROZEN:  Buy A Ticket – Your Grin Won’t Melt Until It’s Time to Leave A curious shift has been occurring at Disney over the past few years.  Glamor child Pixar has been churning out second-hand blockbusters like Cars 2, Brave and Monsters University, while the comparatively overlooked Disney Animation unit (both are overseen by […]

  THE ORIGINALS:  Monday 8PM on CW THE ORIGINALS, that gloomier and more gothic cousin of The Vampire Diaries, essentially revolves around an endless turf war, the territory at issue being New Orleans.  (The show itself shoots in Georgia rather than the Big Easy for financial reasons, which limits it to mostly verbal celebrations of […]

  ZOEY’S EXTRAORDINARY PLAYLIST – Sundays 10PM on NBC (starting February 16) In a broadcast network landscape musty with procedurals and the mildest possible sitcoms, NBC deserves credit for commissioning Austin Winsberg’s ZOEY’S EXTRAORDINARY PLAYLIST, an original musical fantasy (the collected works of Dennis Potter and ABC’s short-lived Eli Stone aside).  It’s a genuine attempt […]

  CASUAL:  October 7 on Hulu Hulu has included some original programming in its inventory for a while now, but it’s signaled its intention to join Netflix and Amazon in that realm in a more serious way with its order of new Mindy Project episodes, and production of a Stephen King minseries, The Way from […]

    THE LORAX:  Not Even For Free – A Seussian Mess   It may not be pretty, but surely it’s true–Credit must go where credit is due.  In this case, that means the Universal Pictures Marketing Department, which as it turns out has done a splendid job these last few weeks of hiding just […]