SCANDAL has been having a barn-burner of a Season 2, emerging as a pulpier, crazier Homeland (not that Homeland hasn’t been pretty crazy the last couple of weeks), a DC-set melodrama where everybody is lying to someone.  It’s culminated for now in a midseason finale that kept the machinery of twists and schemes humming. […]

  The historical significance of HOUSE OF CARDS in the evolution of television is by now well-established.  It’s the first original production created specifically for Netflix, and the company made its first bet a huge one:  26 one-hour episodes, 2 full seasons worth, ordered without even a pilot (at a reported cost of $100M), and […]

  TOP OF THE LAKE:  Monday 10PM on Sundance Channel There’s a scene in the second hour of TOP OF THE LAKE, the miniseries co-written (with Gerard Lee) and co-directed (with Garth Davis) by Jane Campion, the filmmaker behind The Piano, Holy Smoke, An Angel At My Table, Bright Star and other idiosyncratic art films, […]

  So the rumors were true, and the title of HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER‘s Season 8 finale, “Something New,” meant what it sounded like it might mean, and the CBS promos weren’t lying or misleading:  in the final shot of the episode, we finally really actually saw the woman who next season will–unless this is […]

  Tonight’s Season 7 finale of PSYCH promised at least a bit of a shake-up for Season 8, and even though it looks to be less extreme than it should have been and likely just temporary, it’s welcome.  7 seasons is a long time for any show to keep spinning its tales effectively, even a […]

  Read All Our Fall Pilot Reports here and Midseason Pilot Reports here. BETRAYAL:  Sunday 10PM on ABC  – If Nothing Else Is On… BETRAYAL is certainly on brand for ABC.  Its pilot, just like the one for Revenge two seasons ago, starts by flash-forwarding to a shooting, and the action that follows takes us […]

  HOSTAGES:  Monday 10PM on CBS Previously… on HOSTAGES:  Ellen Sanders (Toni Collette) is a surgeon scheduled to operate on the President of the United States (James Naughton).  The night before the surgery, her home is invaded by a group that threatens to murder her family–husband Brian (Tate Donovan), daughter Morgan (Quinn Shephard) and son […]

  WITCHES OF EAST END:  Sunday 10PM on Lifetime Previously… on WITCHES OF EAST END:  Joanna Beauchamp (Julia Ormand) is an immortal witch with a family curse.  Over and over again, she bears her daughters, free-spirited Freya (Jenna Dewan-Tatum) and studious Ingrid (Rachel Boston), only to see them die before they reach 30 years old […]