The Starter Wife Review: "The Ex-Files" (Episode 1.06)
Last week, the birth of Molly's love affair with Zach prompted questions about the narrative direction of the new series: Would the 2008 version (a continuation of the mini-series) carry on the banner of emotional complexity? We were hoping that the onset of the relationship would see the kind of dilemmas we relished during Molly's post-divorce period: the insecurity of the fresh tryst, muddled second chances, pride issues, multiple lovers, etc. But this week's installment took the focus of The Starter Wife from the new to the old.... read more
Ugly Betty Review: "Crush'D" (Episode 3.7)
I have a theory that the weakest character on a television show is always the namesake. I call this the “Dawson Leery Hypothesis.” The title character is almost always presented as weak when compared to his/her strong supporting cast. The character grows increasingly annoying as the series continues. Meredith Grey of Grey’s Anatomy is the best current example of this hypothesis. She’s a passive central character surrounded by strong people. She’s a black hole sucking all of the fun out of the show.... read more
True Blood Review: "I Don't Wanna Know" (Episode 10)
Vampires are real. Shape-shifters are real. Psychics are real. And, so we're told, are werewolves and more creatures than we can imagine. About the only thing that's fake in the True Blood universe are bayou witchdoctors, and the exorcisms they perform. Tara learns this sad truth after encountering her exorcist restocking shelves at a drug store, and just like that her personal demons return.... read more
Sanctuary review. Episode 6—"Nubbins"
Sanctuary has borrowed liberally from the sci-fi shows that preceded it. Creators Damian Kindler and Martin Wood are veterans of Stargate SG-1, and the two shows' mythologies—the reality of fabled aliens kept in secret from the general populace vs. the reality of fabled creatures kept in secret from the general populace—are extremely similar. Watching the beautiful, young Ashley Mangus (Emilie Ullerup) fight a gang of crypt keepers quickly calls to mind the heroine of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And the latest episode, "Nubbins," is a tribute to the classic Star Trek episode "The Trouble with Tribbles."... read more
30 Rock review. Episode 3.02—"Believe in the Stars"
30 Rock's second episode of the new season, "Believe in the Stars," was a perfect example of why it's one of the best shows on TV. If the premiere was a bit awkward and tentative, its follow-up was anything but. Its madcap humor tirelessly delivered one joke after another at a lightning fast speed, adding up to one of the funniest episodes in the series.... read more
Life on Mars Review. Episode 5—"Things to Do in New York When You Think You're Dead"
Whoopi Goldberg was the much-publicized guest of this week's Life on Mars, but while it was fun seeing her as Brother Love Butter, the voice of the Black Liberation Army, she wasn't what made this the show's best episode yet. (In fact, her motives for helping Sam were the muddiest thing about the show.) Part of the fun of any time-traveling fantasy is to ponder how someone with the knowledge of 2008 would briefly react to other eras. But Life on Mars digs deeper as Sam Tyler is stuck in 1973 and settling into his life there.... read more
Dexter review. Episode 3.06—"Sí Se Puede"
We’re halfway through Dexter’s third season, and if this week’s episode felt a little inorganic, it served to clean up a series of plot points that had been unfocused over the last five episodes. Miguel’s brother is ostensibly out of the picture after Deb begins to share our suspicion about his connection to the Skinner murders (it isn’t him, alas), and Miguel is officially Dexter’s after-dark partner, albeit an apparently troubled one. Now we can get to the point, assuming there is one.... read more
Samantha Who? review. Episode 2.4—"The Building"
Fresh off last week's first good episode of the season, hopes were high for this week’s installment. And praise be the comedy gods, it delivered.... read more
True Blood review. Episode 9—"Plaisur D'Amour"
Vampires are just the beginning. One of the underlying mysteries of the first eight episodes was what Sam was hiding. Circumstantial evidence and a glimpse of his temper with Sookie made him a suspect in the murders around town, but too much else pointed to him being a genuine decent fellow. But his surprise was much more interesting, and I missed all the clues until just before the big reveal at the end of Episode 9.... read more
The Starter Wife review. Episode 1.05—"Das Booty Call"
In episode 1.05, each member of The Starter Wife's inner circle pursues a secret romance. Joan's sleeping with the lushy British actor; Rodney is jumping through hoops (actually, through windows...not to mention climbing trees) to keep his fling with the action hero under wraps. And then there's Molly, who proposes a casual sex relationship to her writing group instructor, Zach, whom we know to be engaged in more than just the one extracurricular activity.... read more
Arrested Development Stars Keep Making TV Better
For a period of 27 short months, TV was redeemed from all the cookie-cutter sit-coms and increasingly ridiculous reality shows that passed for network prime-time programming by the Bluth Family on Arrested Development. Since February 2005, we've had to rely on cameos from Bluths on other, less awesome TV shows (and in the case of Jeffrey Tambor's Twenty Good Years, much less awesome TV shows). Fortunately they've been many, especially lately:... read more
30 Rock review. Season 3 Premiere—"Do-Over"
First off, it must be said how great it is to have 30 Rock back. Fall TV has been on the air for weeks now, but NBC decided to wait until the end of October to air the premiere of the best sitcom on television (sorry, Office fans, but it's true). The show's first installment of season three, "Do-Over," was sort of like the first day of school after summer vacation: sort of awkward at times, but fast and buoyant and warmly familiar all the same.... read more
Pushing Daisies review. Episode 2.05—"Dim Sum, Lose Some"
You'd be forgiven if you missed the latest episode of Pushing Daisies, seeing how Barack Obama bought airtime on every major network besides ABC (although, inexplicably, the show's ratings increased by 14%, further proof people are t-i-r-e-d of this election.) Regardless, it was an especially enjoyable episode, one that ended on an interesting cliff-hanger involving what has proven to be the over-arching story for the season: Ned's father.... read more
Mad Men review. Season 2 Finale—"Meditations in an Emergency"
The Season 2 finale of Mad Men is set at the most imminently threatening moment of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The panic, rather than serving as the impetus for each brewing confrontation, invades the episode quietly, the characters behaving with a sort of eerie calm. It’s the moment before the bomb falls and they’re in search of redemption.... read more
Dexter review. Episode 3.05—"Turning Biminese"
This week’s big reveal—that Miguel Prado suspected Dexter was more than a one-time vigilante—obviously should have come a few episodes ago. The Prado arc has frustrated fans and has never struck me as particularly viable to the series’ overall development, but now Miguel has an inextricable part in Dexter’s fate. The new subplot provides a much-needed foil to the developing domestic aspect of the series: for the first time, Dexter has someone who knows what he does, and that presents new possibilities as well as a potential threat.... read more
Samantha Who? review. Episode 2.3—“"The Pill"
While my fingers were still crossed for a good episode, who should appear on my screen in the first five minutes of this week's Samantha Who? Why, Tony Hale, of course! Who better to help this fledgling comedy than the star of one of the greatest laugh-fests of all time?... read more
The Starter Wife review. Episode 1.04—“"Mollywood"
So now Joan is sleeping with the actor in rehab, Molly kissed Zach the writing workshop guy and Rodney's been thrown out by his pro-athlete client/john (then wrangled back in...to the closet).... read more
Dirty Sexy Money review. Episode 2.3—"The Star Witness"
"The Star Witness" saw the Darlings all split off into different storylines, at times seeming as if the writers were incapable of creating content for more than two people per scene. It was the soapiest episode of the season thus far and also one of the weakest. The introduction of Nick’s estranged mother should have been the core storyline, however, it played second fiddle to the completely absurd romantic entanglements of the Darling children.... read more
Mad Men review. Episode 2.12—“"The Mountain King""
"Meditations in an Emergency," this past weekend's much-anticipated Season 2 closer of Mad Men, was rumored to be action-packed...inasmuch as the roguishly scrupulous AMC series could be. (Look for Paste's review of the episode later today.) The finale sneak peek on AMC.com casually drew taught of strings of season 2's many repressed conflicts—Don’s infidelity, Betty's mysterious health problem, the corporate future of Sterling Cooper, Pete's marital discord—while the ad men threw around optimistic suggestions about the expansion of the business, futures burgeoning with corvettes and financial independence. But the boyish banter cut short when Paul joked, "Why am I feeling... read more
True Blood Review: "The Fourth Man in the Fire" (Episode 8)
Either Alan Ball or his source material, Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Mysteries series, has had no problem killing off what seemed to be main characters (Sookie's grandmother, one of waitresses at Merlotte's and the three wicked vampires who moved to town). But Bill Compton was certainly off limits—he wasn't the fourth man in the fire. At the end of episode seven we saw the hold other vampires have over Bill, taking him away from his Sookie, but they couldn't keep him inside their den.... read more
The 20 Best Gadgets of the Decade…
The 17 Best Romantic Comedies This Decade
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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
