DESIGNATED SURVIVOR:  Wednesday 10PM on ABC Previously… on DESIGNATED SURVIVOR:  When the US government gathers in a single location, one low-ranking official is kept apart in case of catastrophe.  Thus Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Tom Kirkman (Kiefer Sutherland) is the only member of the administration left alive when a bomb destroys the […]

  HBO has been airing a spiffy HD edition of James L. Brooks’ 1987 BROADCAST NEWS  in its recent rotation (it’s next scheduled for July 20 and 24), and that makes sense, since the Brooks film is one of the acknowledged inspirations for HBO’s current Aaron Sorkin series THE NEWSROOM.  I’m not sure how much […]

  BLINDSPOT:  Monday 10PM on NBC Previously… on BLINDSPOT:  A mysterious naked woman, her body covered in tattoos, is discovered in Times Square with a note saying to call the FBI.  She’s got amnesia, so they call her Jane Doe (Jaimie Alexander), and when the name of FBI agent Kurt Weller (Sullivan Stapleton) is found […]

  MASTERS OF SEX:  Sunday 10PM on Showtime Previously… on MASTERS OF SEX:  In 1956, brilliant but arrogant and socially awkward fertility expert William Masters (Michael Sheen) prepares to start his trailblazing research into the physicality of human sexuality.  His own personal life is hardly beyond reproach–he’s allowed his wife Libby (Caitlin Fitzgerald) to believe […]

  HALT AND CATCH FIRE:  Sunday 10PM on AMC Previously… on HALT AND CATCH FIRE:  In 1983 Texas, the enigmatic, charismatic Joe MacMillan (Lee Pace) comes to sleepy Cardiff Electric and manipulates the company into going to war with IBM, his former employer.  He recruits Cardiff engineer Gordon Clark (Scoot McNairy), depressed by the drudgery […]

  MISTRESSES:  Monday 10PM on ABC Previously… on MISTRESSES:  A group of friends are all enmeshed, one way or another, in wayward sex, including Savannah (Alyssa Milano), a lawyer who compensated for the woes of having a husband with low sperm count by plunging into colleague Dominic (Jason George); her happily slutty sister Josslyn (Jes […]

  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 […]

  PLAYING HOUSE:  Tuesday 10PM on USA – If Nothing Else Is On… Created by and starring real-life best friends Jessica St. Clair and Lennon Parham, PLAYING HOUSE is, as sisterhood comedies created by and starring real-life best friends go, less edged and genuine than HBO’s recent Doll & Em (which was the work of […]