SUITS remains easily the smartest and most entertaining show on USA Network (not to mention one of its biggest hits), but its third season so far hasn’t been the equal of its second.  The series, which reached its “midseason” point tonight (actually 10 episodes out of 16, so closer to two-thirds of the way through) […]

  House of Cards Season 2 Eps 1-3 Review Here. Eps 4-7 Review Here. Eps 8-10 Review Here. It’s a paradox of the Netflix version of HOUSE OF CARDS that in many ways, its least interesting character is the one at its center.  Pick the wildlife metaphor of choice:  Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) is a […]

  2 BROKE GIRLS is a serviceable sitcom for CBS, and in its 3rd season, it knows fairly well how to do what it does.  The show hangs on the comic charisma of Kat Dennings as wise-ass, tough-but-vulnerable waitress and aspiring cupcake maker Max, and her chemistry with Beth Behrs as her formerly rich roommate, […]

  TURN seemed to have its finger on a fascinating footnote to American history, telling the story of colonial undercover spies during the Revolutionary War under the direction of George Washington, but it’s never succeeded in coming to life.  Craig Silverstein’s series offered oddly little spycraft in the course of its season, and the plotting […]

  No, honestly:  what the hell was that? All snark aside, it was admirable and really long past due for USA Network to try to get out of the “characters welcome,” franchise-centric box it had put itself into.  When people start using the phrase “well, it was sort of like a USA show” as disparagement, […]

In its second season, John Logan’s gothic horror mash-up PENNY DREADFUL remained an elaborate conceit that pays off only from time to time.  Logan has gathered together a host of characters for his saga.  Some hail from classics of the genre:  Victor Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway), his Monster (Rory Kinnear), and the latter’s intended Bride (Billie […]

  In its second season, MTV’s FINDING CARTER made a disappointingly dim argument for sustaining itself beyond its initial premise.  The series remains well-acted, and it has its emotionally pursuasive moments, but its season was swallowed up by plot contrivances and melodrama. Melodrama has always been part of Finding Carter‘s DNA.  It began with the […]

  THE AMERICANS isn’t a show that indulges in many meta moments, but late in this Season 4 it gave one to Matthew Beeman (Daniel Flaherty), son of FBI agent Stan (Noah Emmerich), in one of his unwitting conversations with neighbor and incipient romantic interest Paige Jennings (Holly Taylor), the daughter of deep-cover Soviet spies […]