The Starter Wife Review: "Her Old Man and the Sea" (Episode 109)
This week's episode of The Starter Wife opens with the series' newest mystery looming over Molly's well-coiffed head. We've just found out that Joan and Pappy are missing. The only clues? A charge at a Godiva store in Monte Carlo, and an ATM withdrawal.... read more
Pushing Daisies Review: "Robbing Hood" (Episode 207) and "Comfort Food" (Episode 208)
Forgive me for being a little late to the game, but I suppose I'm still in mourning over Pushing Daisies' inevitable but hopelessly disappointing cancellation. With the news creator Bryan Fuller is headed back to NBC's Heroes, the chances of Daisies being brought back to life is slim to none, despite the best efforts from fans. Alas, we can only take solace in the few episodes the series has left. Still, the cancellation really stings because the show seems to be really hitting its stride.... read more
30 Rock Review: "Reunion" (Episode 305)
Guest-star free, the "Reunion" episode saw Liz Lemon get called out for her often hurtful humor once again. Invited to a high-school reunion, Liz initially shrugs it off because she was a tortured nerd in high school, bullied by catty prom queens like Kelsey Winthrop (Robyn Lively, sister of Blake).... read more
Samantha Who? Review: "The Park" and "The Family Vacation" (Episodes 208 & 211)
Last night, ABC served up two back-to-back episodes of Samantha Who? Weirdly (or perhaps normally, in the case of 30-minute sitcoms) the two episodes didn't really tie together, though that didn't stop them from moving the Owen-Sam relationship along to its final resting place. Thank the heavens.... read more
Dexter Review: "Go Your Own Way" (Episode 310)
Another deliberately structured episode this week, as Miguel and Dexter’s relationship has devolved into a nasty rivalry more quickly than anticipated. It’s a treat and a relief for the show to revert back to the mode it’s in now, a breakneck, almost giddy series of suspense cues and constricting subplots that surged through the entire episode.... read more
Samantha Who? Review: "The Farm" (Episode 207)
In last week's Samantha Who?, our leading lady was forced to choose between her ex (Todd) and her brand new beau (Owen). And because this ain't real life and you've got to mess things up eight times sideways on television, she chose Owen. Which is good and all, it just lead us to this week's awkward encounter between the three in (where else?) the kitchen. In the morning. In their PJs. Nice.... read more
The Starter Wife Review: "Look Who's Stalking" (Episode 108)
Where the typical Starter Wife episode promises plot points in the way of public snubbings and private indisgressions, "Look Who's Stalking" is the series' most action-packed installment yet.... read more
Dexter Review: "The Damage a Man Can Do" (Episode 308) and "About Last Night" (Episode 309)
Amid a season that's proven the most concentrated effort yet to make Dexter about more than the kill, the last two episodes reverted back to the mode the series does best: pulp. Even as the domestic sphere continues to brew in the foreground, the focus has centered resolutely to Dexter and Miguel’s newfound game, which we now know is more evenly matched than we had thought.... read more
30 Rock Review: "The One With the Cast from Night Court" (Episode 303) and "Gavin Volure" (Episode 304)
The past two episodes of 30 Rock represent what happens when the show perfectly integrates a big-name guest star and also when it doesn't quite work. The show's no stranger to big names, having had Oprah, Jerry Seinfeld and Will Arnett in the past. The star wattage has never been distracting, either, and almost always advances the plot in an amusing fashion.... read more
What does ABC's cancellation of Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money and Eli Stone mean for network TV?
The fact that I hadn’t ever really seen anything like Pushing Daisies should have been my first clue it was headed toward the graveyard. In this day and age—where crime shows, hospital dramas and reality TV dominate the Nielsen’s top tier—there isn’t much room on network television for anything outside of the status quo. Pushing Daisies was just too inventive, too ingenious, and just too damn cute to survive in these turbulent TV times. So it goes.... read more
Pushing Daisies Review: "Oh Oh Oh... It's Magic" (Episode 206)
After a three-week hiatus, Pushing Daisies returned with a buoyant new episode that further developed three of the four over-arching second-season plotlines. (Emerson's missing daughter has yet to be fleshed out.) "Oh Oh Oh... It's Magic" also guest starred Fred Willard, and for anyone who has seen his performance in this, you'd know that is a very good thing indeed. Now, onto those story lines:... read more
The Starter Wife Review: "The French Connection" (Episode 107)
While last week’s episode focused on the legacy of exes in our characters’ romantic lives, this week’s Starter Wife throws the viewer abruptly back into the present. Unfortunately, Joan (everyone’s favorite curmudgeonly but kinda sexy recovering-alcoholic best friend) really has gone on a cruise with her estranged husband. So we’re left with Molly’s new writer boyfriend, Rodney’s action-hero flame, and the crumbling of Liz’s marriage.... read more
Samantha Who? Review: "The Ex" (Episode 206)
There he is! After last week's random omission of Samantha’s new boyfriend Owen (he was hot stuff one week, completely missing the next), episode six starts off with Sam trying to decide how she’ll tell her new beau that she still lives with Todd, her ex. Considering it's Sam, we can’t expect it to go over smoothly. But while Owen takes the news well, his reasons for being so understanding shake Sam: He gets it because he is himself best friends with his ex, Willow. In his mind, their two circumstances are similar but to Sam, the news is horrifying.... read more
Dress Sexy At My Funeral: Why did NBC axe Lipstick Jungle and spare Kath & Kim?
TV heaven got a bit more cramped last week as NBC announced the cancellation of two of its prime-time dramas: My Own Worst Enemy, starring Christian Slater as a double-life-leading former CIA agent, and Lipstick Jungle, starring Brooke Shields, Kim Raver and Lindsay Price as rich white women making bad choices in the Big Apple. Having never seen an episode of My Own Worst Enemy, I can only attest to the quality of Lipstick Jungle (and read on, I will), but by now we should all know that even the best showssnagged enough viewers to stave off the executioners blow... read more
Sanctuary Review. "The Five" (Episode 7)
Apparently we're living in the Year of the Vampire. In the upcoming Twilight film and HBO's series True Blood, vampires live among us. But in the universe of Sci-Fi's Sanctuary, we find out in Episode 7 ("The Five") that they were all killed out before the Middle Ages. Vampires were the race of the Pharaohs and the Caesars, intelligent and powerful, enslaving humans until they were killed off by they church. But they also play a large part in how Dr. Helen Mangus (Amanda Tapping) has lived to be 157 years old. She injected a syrum from preserved vampire blood,... read more
Life on Mars Review: "Tuesday's Dead" (Episode 6)
If a TV show wants to win me over as a fan, they could do no better than to sing the praises of Tom Waits for its viewers. In Life on Mars, during one of Episode 6's most memorable scenes, as Sam (Jason O'Mara) and Annie (Gretchen Mol) are held hostage in a mental ward, Annie tells Sam to think about his happiest moment to keep from going crazy. Sam sets the scene for Annie, saying that Tom Waits was playing on the jukebox and asks her if he's famous yet in 1973. She says he's never heard of him... read more
The Best Outtakes from The Office
The shame of every episode of The Office is that it's only 22-minutes long. Here the best of what we've been missing—scenes that didn't make the cut but maybe should have...... read more
Dexter Review: "Easy as Pie" (Episode 7)
In our haste to dig into this season’s often listless narrative arcs, we’ve ignored some well-drawn work that has edged its way in. Margo Martindale (pictured) makes what will likely be her final appearance on the show this week as Camilla, the file clerk and old family friend who helped Dexter delve into his past in the first season. We learned she was terminal last week, and even if Dexter’s quest to find her the perfect key-lime pie was a pretty transparent ruse, her final hours (and Dexter’s unlikely part in them) were an ingenious way to explore mortality without... read more
Samantha Who? Review: "Help!" (Episode 205)
On last night's Samantha Who? we saw Sam drive for the first time. And then we saw Sam get pulled over for running a red light after freaking out that the cop next to her “knows.” Not sure what he knew, but what we found out is that Sam has a bit of a record in her past, and was swiftly ordered 100 hours of community service.... read more
Heroes Review: "Villains" (Episode 308)
It's the season of villains and episode 42 ("Villains") looks back at how they came to be through the whitened eyes of Hiro during his spirit journey. Mohinder's narration during the intro talks about how some people choose the path of darkness. But almost all those crossroads have been manipulated by a single man, either directly or through his work at "The Company."... read more
The 20 Best Gadgets of the Decade…
The 17 Best Romantic Comedies This Decade
The 50 Best Albums of the Decade…
The 25 Best Movie Performances of the…
Blind Pilot - The Story I Heard
Kim Taylor - Days Like this
B.O.B. - Put Me On
Gregory Alan Isakov - The Moon Song
Punch Brothers - Punch Brothers at CMJ
Anya Marina - Whatever You Like
David Bazan - Hard To Be
