> Warning:  Spoilers Ahead Here, in the end, is all you needed to know about TERRA NOVA:  in its entire 2-hour season–and very possibly series–finale, dinosaurs were sighted for a grand total of about 2 minutes. Remember the original promos for Terra Nova, the ones that played on FOX for months while the show kept […]

  TELENOVELA:  Monday 8:30PM on NBC starting January 4 – If Nothing Else Is On… Simply put, TELENOVELA is what Jane the Virgin would be if Jane’s vain, airheaded but good-hearted actor father Rogelio were the main character–actually, if every character were more or less Rogelio.  The show, which NBC previewed tonight to give it […]

  VIKINGS had a strong second season, both in the ratings (despite a move to a new night, and the loss of the blockbuster The Bible as its lead-in) and creatively.  The season, written start to finish by series creator Michael Hirst, cannily built on the story of 8th century Viking explorer Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis […]

  SCORPION:  Monday 9PM on CBS Previously… on SCORPION:  Walter O’Brien (Elyes Gabel) is the leader of a group of geniuses–behaviorist Toby (Eddie Kaye Thomas), mathematician Sylvester (Ari Stidham), and engineer Happy (Jadyn Wong)–who solve high-tech crimes for the government, represented by Homeland Security agent Gallo (Robert Patrick).  The team’s ambassador of empathy is Paige […]

A lot can happen between the creation of a TV pilot in the spring and the production of episodes for the regular season: a writing/producing team is hired, audience focus groups weigh in, networks and studios (which may have had their own turnover) give plenty of notes, helpful and otherwise, and critics begin to rear […]

  HELLO LADIES:  Sunday 10:30PM on HBO HBO sure loves it some Ricky Gervais-ian British comedy.  Apart from his stand-up specials, over the past few years the network has aired Extras, Life’s Too Short and The Ricky Gervais Show, and now, with Gervais in Netflix’s clutches with Derek, it’s resorted to the pseudo-Gervais of the […]

  SUITS remains easily the smartest and most entertaining show on USA Network (not to mention one of its biggest hits), but its third season so far hasn’t been the equal of its second.  The series, which reached its “midseason” point tonight (actually 10 episodes out of 16, so closer to two-thirds of the way through) […]

  Tonight’s footnote to SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE history was that it featured the debut of new cast member Sasheer Zamata, who is, not incidentally, an African-American woman–“not incidentally” only because her hiring came after a rather embarrassing amount of pressure, both internal and external, was applied to force Lorne Michaels to acknowledge that SNL was […]