THE BLACKLIST:  Monday 10PM on NBC Previously… on THE BLACKLIST:  Raymond Reddington (James Spader), debonair Public Enemy #1, has turned himself in to the FBI, willing to surrender and spill everything he knows about all his criminal associates around the world, bit by bit.  His condition:  he’ll only talk to fresh-faced profiler Elizabeth Keen […]

  THE WALKING DEAD:  Sunday 9PM on AMC Devouring its showrunners much as zombie walkers do unwary or unlucky humans, THE WALKING DEAD returned tonight under the helm of its third leader, Scott M. Gimple, who’s been a writer/producer on the show since Season 2.  Based on the Season 4 premiere, which Gimple wrote, his […]

  TREME:  Sunday 9PM on HBO You don’t need big ratings to be considered a success on HBO (just ask Lena Dunham), but generating buzz is essential.  That’s something TREME never did, despite a small hard core of enthusiastic fans that can sometimes drive that kind of attention.  Perhaps it was the downbeat setting of […]

  COUGAR TOWN:  Tuesday 10PM on TBS To quote the eternal wisdom of the COUGAR TOWN opening title card, “Season Five?  Didn’t see that coming.”  The survival of Cougar Town isn’t quite as remarkable as Community‘s–it does, after all, star sitcom royalty Courteney Cox–but the show has had to reinvent itself twice to make it […]

  BLACK SAILS:  Saturday 9PM on Starz Previously… on BLACK SAILS:  In 1715, Nassau and the waters around it weren’t yet controlled by any government, and existed instead as the domain of independent pirates and merchants.  Captain Flint (Toby Stephens) of the Walrus is on the trail of his big score, the one that will […]

  Was this the season that Cinemax’s comparatively low-rent BANSHEE surpassed Justified?  In the subgenre of cop show pulp, the FX series has been the unquestioned class entry, with its distinguished Elmore Leonard auspices and elegantly violent plotting and dialogue.  But with a few episodes to go this season, Justified has felt a bit desultory, […]

  It seemed that with experienced SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE host Seth Rogen returning to the show for his third visit tonight, SNL had a fair chance of continuing its mini-streak of worthwhile episodes after the Louis C.K. and Anna Kendrick outings, but no such luck.  Although the night didn’t live up to Rogen’s monologue promise […]

  It seems fair to ask just what the hell happened to NEW GIRL this season.  A series that seemed to spring out of its pilot womb in complete command of its oddball voice and marvelous cast could suddenly barely take a step in the right direction, the laughs dried up, and the ratings plunged:  […]