A successful TV drama premiere achieves two key objectives: it delivers a thoroughly-entertaining, engaging standalone hour and it introduces a compelling plotline, a signature storytelling style and a three-dimensional cast of characters that viewers will want to experience once a week, every week, for several years. It is thus unsurprising that the debut episode...
“American Idol” begins its eleventh season Wednesday night exactly where it left off last May. Much to the surprise of television analysts, last year’s season reversed its ratings downturn despite losing star judge Simon Cowell to his “X Factor” adaptation. More importantly to television fans, it rekindled the warmth that made “Idol” such a...
For the record, I felt the “controversy” stemming from Ricky Gervais’ previous appearance as the Golden Globes host–his second consecutive turn in the role–was absurdly overblown. Sure, he was indeed edgy and unhinged, and while I could perhaps understand some egotistical A-listers objecting to being skewered the way they regularly do politicians, other celebrities...
Logic was not the best friend of Showtime’s dramas “Dexter” and “Homeland” this week. Following its worst-reviewed season to date, “Dexter” ended its sixth year with an utterly-predictable final reveal, mediocre storytelling and more maddening behavior from the characters, including the supposedly brilliant individual at its center. The same guy who recorded a video...
As the “How I Met Your Mother” writers had to have expected, Monday’s follow-up to “Rebound Girl” has generated some harsh criticism from fans who were angered by the “fake-out.” Instead of providing a real, game-changing glimpse into the future (well, the present in the “How I Met Your Mother” universe), the latest “Mother”...
When the live performance shows began on “The X Factor,” Headline Planet declared their superiority to even the best live “American Idol” shows. In recent weeks, that assessment has become less and less accurate–several of the key performers have actually regressed in recent weeks, and true “moments” on the show have become almost non-existent....
Sorry, there is no argument. Episodes two through six of the current “The Walking Dead” season sucked. Sure, some had moments, and some were better than others, but at the end of the day, they simply did not make for compelling television. The episodes moved at a crawl. There was absolutely no direction to...
For the first time in the finals, a real potential winner emerged from the pack of “X Factor” contestants–over 30s participant Josh Krajcik. Krajcik’s haunting, powerful rendition of “Wild Horses” ended the show on a glorious note, bringing back the kind of magic that made music competition series so limitlessly addictive. This was the...
Based on the series-high ratings, fans have never been more into “How I Met Your Mother” than they are this season. After three great seasons, followed by three uneven ones, “Mother” seems to have settled into a voice–albeit a sitcom-y one that is not entirely consistent with the voice of the first few seasons–that...
It oddly cannot seem to find its footing with some prominent online critics, but “The X Factor,” unequivocally, had delivered three consecutive performance shows that would be all-time classics by “American Idol” standards. The vocals were great, the performances entertaining and the judge/mentor dynamic intriguing. That all came crashing down with Wednesday’s “rock week,”...
Tuesday’s “The First Time” episode of “Glee” is built around the first sexual encounters between Rachel and Finn and Kurt and Blaine, and it delivers in a big way. But while those key characters have fine storylines that greatly improve upon the usual, somewhat-tedious portrayal of their relationships, the real standouts are the supporting...
Let’s get this out of the way right now–FOX’s new animated series “Allen Gregory” is not “The Simpsons” or “Family Guy.” But, to its credit, it’s also not as dreadfully unfunny as “Bob’s Burgers” and the failed “Sit Down and Shut Up.” In fact, from a pilot perspective, it easily gets as many–if not...
As if critics needed another reason to call it a shame that the “The X Factor” audience is half the size of the “American Idol” audience–Tuesday’s performance show made even the best “Idol” episodes look like amateur hour. Undoubtedly, the aggressive use of choreography, mash-ups and lights, combined with a very glossy direction and...
Though James Spader did join the cast of NBC’s “The Office” in his Robert California role, he, as had been reported for months, is not technically the replacement for Steve Carell’s Michael Scott. NBC had been keeping the identity of the new regional manager under wraps until the season eight premiere. That event finally...
Fans of British pop star Cheryl Cole can breathe a sigh of relief–her dismissal from FOX’s US adaptation of “The X Factor,” no matter how humiliating in theory, is handled with grace, if not surprising minimalism, in Wednesday’s premiere. Cole is portrayed with no less dignity than her colleagues Antonio “LA” Reid, Simon Cowell...
In response to one of the best, most emotionally-palpable auditions ever shown on a musical competition series, star “The X Factor” judge Simon Cowell openly ponders, “Maybe you needed the show, maybe we needed you.” If the goal is to make “The X Factor” stand out as the premiere show in a crowded genre...
There are finales that disappoint. There are finales that bring unrealistically clean closure to messy storylines. And then there is the disaster that was the “Entourage” series finale. No one should have been expecting a masterpiece. After all, the show has been mediocre, at best, for the past four seasons, and the eighth and...
If one were hoping that the short, eight-episode final season of “Entourage” would amp up the urgency or force the show into a fresh, final direction, Sunday’s eighth season premiere had to serve as a massive disappointment. Highlighted by some goofy sitcom antics from Kevin Dillon’s Johnny Drama and a glimpse of the emotional...
Undoubtedly worth the wait for “Curb Your Enthusiasm” fans, the Larry David comedy kicked off its eighth season premiere on HBO Sunday. And while it seemed to be grasping at straws for a story and lacked any classic one-liners and rants, it still delivered a healthy, much-anticipated dose of Larry David finding a way...
For as much as “American Idol” judges and fans have enjoyed declaring “winners” in the last few rounds of the annual competition, the reality is that voting has become so fanbase-driven that there is not often a correlation, and certainly not a casual link, between performance quality in the top four, three and two...
