HANNIBAL:  Friday 10PM on NBC With the exception of Twin Peaks, HANNIBAL may well be the strangest drama ever to air on a broadcast network.  Created for television by Bryan Fuller as a prequel in the Thomas Harris canon to Red Dragon, it mixes mannered, hushed, often extended dialogue sequences with loving, lingering scenes of […]

  Since this is posting before the West Coast airing ends, SPOILER ALERT. …although I’m not sure how much of a Spoiler it is when the Internet has been expecting it for weeks.  Perhaps the biggest surprise in the series finale of HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER was that series creators Carter Bays and Craig […]

  After 6 seasons, PARKS & RECREATION is still the most reliably lovable show on network television–maybe on all of TV.  No other series wears its heart on its sleeve as genuinely as Parks, and no ensemble provides more joyful fun than its cast.  The Season 6 finale, written by Co-Executive Producer Alan Yang and […]

  Marvel may own the movie houses, but DC Comics has been demonstrating that it has the edge when it comes to the small screen.  ARROW has steadily improved since its debut, and in its second season it provided a model of the way comic book action-adventures can work on TV within the limitations of […]

  MURDER IN THE FIRST:  Monday 10PM on TNT – If Nothing Else Is On… Steven Bochco practically invented modern television with Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue, so even though it’s been a while since his glory days were in full swing, attention must be paid when he takes another turn at bat.  His […]

  TAXI BROOKLYN:  Wednesday 10PM on NBC Previously… on TAXI BROOKLYN:  Cat Sullivan (Chyler Leigh) is a grouchy (but spunky and cute) NYPD detective whose driving is so bad that she’s been demoted to walking a beat.  Luckily for her, she’s made the acquaintance of Leo Romba (Jacky Ido), a genial French ex-con and illegal […]

  HELL ON WHEELS:  Saturday 9PM on AMC HELL ON WHEELS has found a cozy spot for itself on Saturday nights, where the older audience available for TV-watching has given it comfortable total viewer numbers, if less impressive 18-49s.  (AMC will be running reruns of Turn after this season’s Hell episodes, which may suggest where […]

  THE MYSTERIES OF LAURA:  Wednesday 8PM on NBC Previously… on THE MYSTERIES OF LAURA:  Laura Diamond (Debra Messing) is the mother of obstreperous twins, and the estranged wife of adulterous Jake (Josh Lucas).  She’s also–get this!–a NYPD homicide detective, who solves murders between arranging playdates and keeping her kids in private school, and coping […]