SUCCESSION:  Sunday 10PM on HBO HBO’s new drama SUCCESSION may be too much of its moment for comfort.  The series, created by Jesse Armstrong (previously a writer/producer on Armando Ianucci’s Veep, The Thick Of It and In the Loop), shares the fascination of its Sunday-mate Billions with the hideously scheming ultra-rich of Manhattan.  Unlike […]

  WANDAVISION:  Episodes 1 & 2 available now on Disney+, remaining episodes drop 12:01AM each Friday   WANDAVISION mixes the old and the new in ways both self-conscious and not.  COVID delays on other projects led to it becoming the first genuine piece of MCU content created for the small screen.  (Earlier series like Agents […]

> Previously On… THE WALKING DEAD:  Our erstwhile humans spent many, many episodes on a farm owned by cranky vet Hershel (Scott Wilson), while they searched for the missing Sophia (Madison Lintz).  There were lots of lengthy conversations about the meaning of life in a zombie-infected universe, and whether it was worth going on–let alone […]

  UP ALL NIGHT:  Thursday 8:30PM on NBC WHERE WE WERE:  Watching a show about Reagan Brinkley (Christina Applegate), who struggled to produce her best friend Ava’s (Maya Rudolph) afternoon TV talk show while adjusting to parenting daughter Amy with stay-at-home lawyer husband Chris (Will Arnett). WHERE WE ARE:  In a somewhat different show.  Up […]

  NURSE JACKIE:  Sunday 9PM on Showtime NURSE JACKIE had a strong, dramatic season last year that may have been its best.  But the ratings weren’t anything to speak of (a 0.2-0.3 in 18-49s, and fewer than a million total viewers), and series co-creator/showrunners Liz Brixius and Linda Wallem left the show rather messily (from […]

  THE NEWSROOM:  Sunday 10PM on HBO Aaron Sorkin may have professed not to agree with most of the criticisms aimed at THE NEWSROOM during its initial season, but a look at its Season 2 premiere makes it pretty clear that he was listening.  From the new and altogether less stentorian opening credit sequence (no […]

  HART OF DIXIE:  Monday 8PM on CW It’s a strange thing to say about an airy, cornpone rom-com, but HART OF DIXIE is the most grounded show on the CW schedule.  None of the characters have supernatural powers; there are no secret government agencies or international assassins to be seen; franchises aren’t in play.  […]

  SUBURGATORY:  Wednesday 8:30PM on ABC For a comedy that seemed to have a strong sense of itself on its debut, SUBURGATORY suffered from a surprisingly rocky case of the Terrible Twos.  Creatively, the second season of Emily Kapnek’s series wobbled from its original tart satire of suburban mores to weakly serialized romances, dumbed-up silliness […]