THE 100 stood apart from its CW fantasy-adventure counterparts, unique both in its often unexpected (and sometimes ruthless) narrative choices, and in the sense it imparted of true auteurship by series creator Jason Rothenberg.  The fact that the series reached 7 seasons is itself remarkable, as it never approached the ratings echelon of the […]

  If the first season of THE FOLLOWING stands for anything, it’s that the significant difference between the best cable dramas and the vast majority of their network counterparts hasn’t been about the ability to depict extreme violence.  The Following was as relentlessly violent as anything this side of The Walking Dead (and much more […]

  Every year the Oscars flail around searching for a host, a theme, a tone–anything to make its annual 4 hours of primetime cohere instead of congeal–and every year THE TONY AWARDS make it look relatively easy.  This wasn’t a great year for Broadway–swamped with family- and tourist-friendly musical extravaganzas and star vehicles, its serious […]

  There were so many ads for summer blockbuster movies during tonight’s Season 4 finale of AMC’s THE WALKING DEAD, it was almost like watching the Super Bowl.  One by one, the latest installments of Planet of the Apes, X-Men, Spider-Man, Transformers–pictures not opening for months, sometimes two or even three in a single commercial […]

  DARK MATTER:  Friday 10PM on Syfy Previously… on DARK MATTER:  A half-dozen people (plus an android) wake up in deep space, and find their memories wiped out.  However, their bodies retain sense memories of serious fighting, piloting and other skills.  They discover that before they were put into hypersleep, they were vicious mercenaries, working […]

  THE WALKING DEAD:  Sunday 9PM on AMC At this point in its massively successful run (massive enough to allow AMC to renew the superb but low-rated Halt and Catch Fire last week, so hurray!), THE WALKING DEAD can well afford to take a few chances, and tonight’s Season 6 premiere was its most formally […]

  Although it’s part of the CW/Greg Berlanti DC Comics assembly line, BLACK LIGHTNING, created by Salim Akil, has been strikingly different from its comrades.  So far, it hasn’t noticeably been part of the shared universe formed by Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow, aside from its invocation of “meta-humans” to describe those […]

  QUANTICO:  Sunday 10PM on ABC – In the Queue The first hour of ABC’s QUANTICO is a bit of a mess, but it’s one of the most slickly enjoyable of the network fall TV season.  Think of it as Shondaland meets Homeland, although Shonda Rhimes has nothing to do with it.  The series creator […]