TREME thrives on its idiosyncracies–if “thrive” is the word for a show that hardly anyone watches–and one of those is its limited interest in engaging in a “season finale.”  Thus, tonight’s close of Season 3, written by series creators David Simon and Eric Overmeyer (from a story by Simon and Anthony Bourdain–yes, that one) […]

  This season, ABC’s A MILLION LITTLE THINGS provided proof that even as viewers accustom themselves to DVRs and video on demand, old-fashioned network scheduling can still be key.  A Million Little Things was languishing on Wednesdays, on the bubble for next season, when a move behind Grey’s Anatomy allowed it to thrive, and led […]

  Frank Darabont has had a busy couple of weeks, although not necessarily in a good way.  He launched TNT’s MOB CITY, his first project since being thrown off AMC’s The Walking Dead after less than two seasons as creator/showrunner, to ratings that started out as disappointing and only got worse.  Then, earlier this week, […]

  Here lies HAPPY ENDINGS, one of the funniest comedies on all of television–foully murdered by some of the worst scheduling moves in recent network memory.  ABC began the season by sending the show (along with Don’t Trust the B___ In Apt 23) on a virtual suicide run, competing head-to-head on Tuesdays with New Girl, […]

  “That’s not moving on, that’s moving in a circle,” said returning Dr. O’Hara (Eve Best) in tonight’s finale of NURSE JACKIE, and of course the statement applied to most of the 7 seasons of the series as well.  Jackie Peyton (Edie Falco), a born nurse, was always sociopathically lying her way out of being […]

  Think of MR. SELFRIDGE as the methadone to Downton Abbey‘s pure heroin.  It’s not remotely the real thing, but it serves to feed the craving through these many months until Downton returns in January 2014.  Although both are period pieces set in early 20th-century England, Downton has a distinctly, irresistibly modern pace and urgency, […]

  When people say that an original film or television series has the feel of a novel, it’s usually meant as a high compliment.  (The Wire is probably the definitive example of this in television.)  But Sundance Channel’s first scripted series RECTIFY was a reminder that not all novels, however earnest and well-meant, are worth […]

  The line can be thin between an ambitious, wide-ranging drama series and a mess, and honestly, you could argue THE BRIDGE both ways.  It was resistant to being pigeonholed to a fault, and it seemed to resist, too, the central storyline it had undertaken from the Swedish/Danish series it was adapting.  At various times […]