Sep 25, 2016 TV Web Exclusive

As season seven (!) of the most warm-hearted comedy on TV begins, the writers drift from what makes the show so good (its relationships between the Belcher family and the secondary characters) and toward a more Simpsons-y gag of a literal fever dream. But because the writing team is so good, "Flu-ouise" still sings—and quite literally. More

Sep 19, 2016 TV Web Exclusive

A series pilot has to walk a rather tricky line of setting up a series premise, giving a hint of things to come, and, you know, being entertaining. As far as pilots go, NBC's The Good Place (from Parks and Creation co-creator Michael Schur) hits it out of the park with all of the above-not to mention some honest to goodness earned laughter. More

Sep 19, 2016 TV Web Exclusive

The murder of six-year-old child beauty pageant queen JonBenét Ramsey rocked America starting the day after Christmas, 1996. Twenty-years later, the murder remains one of the most publicized and speculated about unsolved crimes of recent note. More

Sep 16, 2016 TV Web Exclusive

He-Man is a property ripe with opportunities for good-natured parody. The question is whether a mostly live-action show (mixed with some animation) is the place to do it. More

May 20, 2016 TV Web Exclusive

Preacher is adapted from the Vertigo Comics series of the same name. We might well be in a golden age of television adaptations of other properties: for instance, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, and, recently, The Magicians. While it's hard to extrapolate from a pilot whether Preacher will eventually reach a similar critical or popular success as those franchises, it's certainly off to a very strong start. More

Apr 29, 2016 TV Web Exclusive

In real life, Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle was a believer in Spiritualism, while his friend, the escape artist Harry Houdini, was a fervent crusader against it—a clash that ultimately destroyed their friendship.  More

Apr 22, 2016 TV Web Exclusive

The shouty, stocky, pulverizing funny Patton Oswalt is in prime form during his new standup special for Netflix, Talking For Clapping. Taped sixth months ago at The Fillmore in San Francisco, where he first began to hone his comedic chops, Oswalt deftly mixes high and low brow humor throughout the set, and sometimes within the same bit. More

Apr 20, 2016 TV Web Exclusive

In the '90s, hacker thrillers became so popular that critics coined the phrase "cyber punk." Today, one of TV's best nail biters is officially ushering in a new genre: bio punk. Or perhaps it should be bio goth. Both terms suit the piercings, coal dark attire, and overall sullen demeanor of the fringe group that modify their genitals, lodge magnets in their fingertips and more throughout the season four premiere of Orphan Black.  More

Apr 19, 2016 TV Web Exclusive

The Night Manager, adapted from a 1993 John le Carré novel, arrives with a not insignificant obstacle before it: all the best le Carré novels have already been adapted for the screen, some of them multiple times. More