The only thing more boring than a typical Oscars is one without surprises, and the closest thing to a major upset this year turned out to be Disney’s loss in the Best Animated Short category.  (The studio almost instantly rebounded with the much more important Animated Feature prize for Frozen.)  All the conventional wisdom […]

  DEXTER:  Sunday 9PM on Showtime Here we are, once again at the outset of the declared final season for a long-lived, successfully distinctive TV series.  The conclusion of DEXTER won’t compare to the upcoming end of Breaking Bad later this summer (or to next year’s exit of Mad Men) in terms of passionate expectations, […]

> Disclaimer:  Network pilots now in circulation are not necessarily in the form that will air in the Fall.  Pilots are often reedited and rescored, and in some cases even recast or reshot.  So these critiques shouldn’t be taken as full TV pilot reviews, but rather as a guide to the general style and content […]

> See A Word About Busted Pilots Not even the presence of Michael Chiklis and Elizabeth Perkins could make VINCE UNCENSORED endurable.   Deservedly consigned by CBS to its trash-bin, this isn’t one of those pilots you’ll be likely to hear about again.  The storyline of Vince Uncensored uses a contrivance to get to an […]

  GHOSTED:  Sunday 8:30PM on FOX – In the Queue FOX’s new sitcom GHOSTED has two big assets in stars Adam Scott and Craig Robinson, a pair of experienced comedy players who combine star presence with chops as members of the unselfish Parks & Recreation and The Office ensembles.  The premise of Tom Gormican’s series […]

  WHITE FAMOUS:  Sunday 9PM on Showtime – Change the Channel Showtime’s shaky new comedy WHITE FAMOUS is spectacularly ill-timed for the week after the downfall of Harvey Weinstein.  The premiere half-hour has as its comic centerpiece a sequence where a famous Hollywood figure meets with an aspiring young performer in his trailer, sitting so […]

  HANNIBAL:  Thursday 10PM on NBC 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 […]

  LAW & ORDER: ORGANIZED CRIME – Thursday 10PM on NBC   Long before Marvel had a Cinematic Universe, there was Law & Order.  Dick Wolf’s behemoth kicked off in 1990, and it was joined 9 years later by SVU.  At peak franchise in the mid-2000s, there were four Law & Orders on the air, […]