CROSSBONES:  Friday 10PM on NBC – Potential DVR Alert Viewers of Starz’s Black Sails will find much that’s familiar in NBC’s summer pirate adventure CROSSBONES.  We’re back in the Caribbean, this time in the early 18th century, and there’s a powerful pirate king, a dangerous newcomer who saves his skin by memorizing a secret […]

  REVOLUTION:  Monday 10PM on NBC Of all the mysteries that surround the events of NBC’s REVOLUTION, the one that definitely won’t be answered this season is how the show would rate if it didn’t have The Voice as its lead-in.  NBC decided that it would be safer to keep Revolution off the air for 4 months than to air […]

  MARRIED:  Thursday 10PM on FX – If Nothing Else Is On… Acrid indie comedy is FX’s brand, with shows like It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, The League, Legit and (although it transcends such categories) Louie.  The network has introduced a new pair for the summer, the first of which is Andrew Gurland’s MARRIED.  It’s on-brand, […]

  In its ninth season, GREY’S ANATOMY remains a model of smoothly operating network soap.  This week’s midseason finale, written by Consulting Producer Debora Cahn and directed by Rob Corn, had the bonus of being built around the upcoming wedding of Bailey (Chandra Wilson), and proved again that any episode featuring that character and actress […]

  A planted pilot is just what it sounds like:  an episode of an existing TV show temporarily invaded by the elements of a prospective newcomer for an semi-official on-air tryout.  Networks and studios like them because they’re cost-effective, since most of the expenses can rolled into the episodic budget of the series being utilized, […]

  A TO Z:  Thursday 9:30PM on NBC starting October 2 – If Nothing Else is On… PLAYERS:  Series creator Ben Queen (he wrote the script for Cars 2).  Non-writing producers Rashida Jones and Will McCormick.  Stars Cristin Milioti and Ben Feldman.  Supporting performers Henry Zebrowski, Lenora Crichlow and the voice of Katey Sagal.  Pilot director […]

  This week marked the end of the road for two of TV’s most distinctive, original takes on the romantic-comedy genre.  FXX’s You’re the Worst and CW’s CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND were both “cult hits,” which is to say that they survived low ratings for multiple seasons (5 for Worst, 4 for Girlfriend) thanks to critical praise […]

  PRISON BREAK:  Tuesday 9PM on FOX – If Nothing Else Is On… Where was the clamor for a return of PRISON BREAK?  The show had pretty much run its course both critically and with viewers by the time it went off the air in 2009 after a 4-season run, and even at its peak […]