WATCHMEN:  Sunday 9PM on HBO The Damon Lindelof/HBO WATCHMEN provides a new wrinkle to the world of IP exploitation.  It’s not an adaptation of the classic Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons graphic novel (a la Zack Snyder’s all-too-reverent 2009 film) or even a reboot, but a newly conceived work that’s more like a spin-off or a […]

  DA VINCI’S DEMONS:  Friday 9PM on Starz – If Nothing Else Is On… Starz has been searching for a signature original series it can call its own, especially now that Homeland has brought Showtime, arguably, into parity with HBO.  The Spartacus franchise was successful, but so heavy in sex and gore that it crossed […]

  THE 100:  Wednesday 9PM on CW – Worth A Look THE 100 has promise, although it needs some work.  Based on a series of YA novels by Kass Morgan, the premise borrows liberally from Lord of the Flies, Lost, Battlestar Galactica, The Hunger Games, and any number of post-apocalyptic dystopian tales.  In the future, […]

  GROUND FLOOR:  Thursday 10PM on TBS – If Nothing Else Is On… As cable networks have stolen more and more of the glory from broadcasters, with TV movies, miniseries, and quality 1-hour dramas now largely in their domain, one of the last bastions of broadcast domination is the mainstream sitcom.  (Niche comedies are a […]

  FINDING CARTER:  Tuesday 10PM on MTV – Potential DVR Alert Most YA drama, in one way or another, is about the emotional dislocation of being a teen, and in recent years, the reigning trope has been to externalize the theme supernaturally:  the teen discovers that he/she is a vampire, an alien, a witch, a […]

  THE MCCARTHYS:  Thursday 9:30PM on CBS  – Change the Channel! PLAYERS:  Series creator Brian Gallivan, and because up till now he’s been a junior-level TV writer (on Happy Endings and Are You There, Chelsea?), showrunner Mike Sikowitz, a much more seasoned sitcom vet whose recent credits include Rules of Engagement and Welcome To the […]

IZOMBIE:  Tuesday 9PM on CW – Potential DVR Alert Rob Thomas and Diane Ruggiero-Wright’s clever IZOMBIE (based on a DC comic) brings back from the dead something very close to the premise of ABC’s lamented Pushing Daisies.  In that fantastical show, the hero had the magical ability to bring corpses back from the dead, but […]

  SCREAM QUEENS:  Tuesday 9PM on FOX There didn’t seem to be a pressing need for a second season of SCREAM QUEENS.  The ratings for Season 1 were meager, even in the young female demo the show was courting, and the reviews were worse.  But FOX as a whole had bigger flops to cancel, plus […]