As this new era of television drama has developed, people have talked wistfully about the broadcast networks airing shows with the distinctiveness and stylization (and darkness) we now associate with cable, but really that show already exists, and it’s NBC’s HANNIBAL.  It may very well be the damnedest thing to appear on one of […]

  THE HUMBLING (Millenium) – no release date set – Watch It At Home THE HUMBLING wasn’t one of Philip Roth’s major novels, and Barry Levinson’s film, despite striking performances from Al Pacino and Greta Gerwig and some memorable moments of dark comedy, isn’t a major film either. The script by Buck Henry and Michal […]

  THE WHISPERS:  Monday 10PM on ABC Previously… on THE WHISPERS:  FBI psychologist Claire Bennigan (Lily Rabe) is put on the case of seemingly normal children who–responding to whispers from an imaginary “friend” named Drill who speaks to them through electricity–create booby-traps for use on their parents, hack into secret government databases and commit similar […]

  BILLIONS:  Sunday 10PM on Showtime (pilot available via VOD and streaming) – Potential DVR Alert There’s a gag in The Big Short where an esoteric piece of financial information, crucial for understanding the mortgage meltdown but hard to communicate without an audience’s eyes glazing over, is illustrated by having it explained by Margot Robbie […]

  After an entire season, it’s still not clear just what AMC’s PREACHER intends to be, but it’s been a dazzling ride all the same, sort of a Quentin Tarantino version of a Coen Brothers version of a Luis Bunuel version of the apocalypse.  Every episode has had at least one remarkable set-piece sequence, and […]

  HOMELAND:  Sunday 9PM on Showtime We’ve recently acquired the concept of “legacy media,” referring to things like newspapers that are actually printed on pieces of paper–still potentially useful, but decidedly out of date.  Showtime’s HOMELAND is sort of “legacy quality TV”.  It kicked off in 2011 with one and a half classic seasons, a nimble, […]

  GOOD BEHAVIOR:  Sunday 10PM on TNT As TNT continues with its scorched-earth policy of shedding its old-guard mainstream successes (Rizzoli & Isles, Major Crimes) for the more adult, serialized dramas favored by network head Kevin Reilly, pressure is increased on those new shows to perform–not necessarily in the traditional metrics, but with younger viewers […]

  For 3 seasons, Noah Hawley’s FX anthology series FARGO displayed an uncanny ability to channel the unique sensibilities of Joel and Ethan Coen, even while telling original stories with their own idiosyncratic characters.  In Season 4, Hawley seemed to tire of exercising that muscle, and while the season was clearly intended as his nod […]