MR. SELFRIDGE, which might as well be called “Downton Abbey Won’t Be Back For 10 Months, So What Else Are You Gonna Watch?”, concluded its second, very earnest season on PBS tonight.  World War I came to Mr. Selfridge this season, much as it had to Downton, and the result was a less bustling […]

SUPERGIRL:  Monday 8PM on CBS Previously… on SUPERGIRL:  Kara Zor-El (Melissa Benoist) was older than her illustrious Kryptonian cousin when she was sent to Earth to protect him as he grew from babyhood.  But some unexpected delays brought her to town years behind schedule, and since by then Earth already had a superhero keeping the […]

  CALIFORNICATION knew going in that this 7th season would be its last, and we’ve grown used to series in that position, from Breaking Bad to Friends to–God help us–Lost, making a special effort to provide a final run with extra impact, tying up loose ends and providing a summation of what the show has […]

  WYNONNA EARP:  Friday 10PM on Syfy – Change the Channel Syfy has recently been trying to burnish its schlocky image with some more ambitious projects, most notably the time-travel thriller 12 Monkeys and The Magicians, a show with plenty of flaws but also lots of imagination.  The network’s economics, though, probably demand that a […]

  B POSITIVE – Thursday 8:30PM on CBS These are tumultuous times.  (Hell, as this is being written, these are tumultuous hours.)  And that’s true in the world of broadcast television as well, which was already being hammered by new technology and viewing habits even before the pandemic hit.  And yet the model of the […]

WILFRED – Thursday 10PM on FX   WHERE WE WERE:  Ryan (Elijah Wood) is a burnt-out young lawyer who’s quit his job and is in such a state of depression that he attempts suicide.  One day an attractive new neighbor, Jenna (Fiona Gubelmann) moves in next door with Wilfred, her Australian sheepdog.  Ryan has an […]

  Like the famous tortoise, PARKS & RECREATION has hung in there long enough to become the highest-rated (all-but-certainly) returning sitcom on NBC’s air.  That is, admittedly, a low bar, but it’s still a triumph for a show that’s been at risk of cancellation more or less since it came on the air.  Parks & […]

  If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the past few seasons, it’s that no matter how much a network swears it’s airing a “closed-end” or “event” series, that’s never ever the case.  If the initial run of episodes have any kind of success, the network will find a way to keep the series going, […]