Touch Review: "Entanglement" (Episode 1.5)
Touch is a series that week to week treads a very fine line. In an hour every week, the show tries to connect people from all over the world and make their connections engaging, touching and exciting, while also trying its best not to seem cheesy or far fetched. Most of the time the show throws everything it can at you. Just this week, we get stories from three different countries, involving birth, murder, gender roles, unrequited love, divorce and 9/11. Sometimes these ideas and links get muddled, but “Entanglement” gets most of what does make Touch work right. read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsNew Girl Review: "Normal" (Episode 1.20)
For the second half of this season of New Girl, the show has refined its ability to give all of its characters worthwhile, fleshed out storylines. But sometimes, it is fun just to watch the cast screaming the names of presidents during a drinking game, while being careful not to touch the ground since of course, it is lava. Such is the spirit of “Normal”, an episode that doesn’t only give us individual storylines, but also great group moments that show just how far the writers of this freshman series have come. read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsTouch Review: "Kite Strings" (Episode 1.4)
David Simon, creator of The Wire, recently said in a New York Times interview, that it was unfair for people to criticize his show because they were not aware of the beginning, middle and end, and how everything works together. Simon does have a point, with some shows like The Wire, knowing how all the puzzle pieces fit makes for a more engaging and enjoyable experience. A show like Touch also suffers from this problem. Now while Touch will almost certainly never attain the status of The Wire, considered by many to be one of the greatest shows of all time, it also shares the problem of trying to build a complex interconnecting world, all while keeping the audience engaged without having them know the endgame. But unlike The Wire, which was centralized in Baltimore, Touch connects the entire world, from Iraq to Virginia and everywhere in between. This makes it harder to see how everything will come together in the end. But with “Kite Strings”, for the first time since the pilot, Touch feels like it has an endgame in mind, one that will at the very least attempt to connect all these disparate stories. read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsNew Girl Review: "Secrets" (Episode 1.19)
On New Girl, the only truly sustained “relationship” has been between Schmidt and Cece, a barely-friends-with-benefits that has been hidden from everyone. But since last week’s episode involved Winston finding out about this pair up, we knew it wouldn’t take long for the entire apartment to find out and quickly be surprised and disgusted by the duo. In fact everyone in the group finds out about the unholy alliance before the first commercial, thanks to Nick’s fear of secrets. In the appropriately titled “Secrets”, the group starts to learn the secrets within each other that they kind of with would have remained secret. read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsFringe Review: “Nothing As It Seems” (Episode 4.16)
I’m going to pick some nits before this is over, but let’s get one thing clear off the top. This was the most entertaining episode of Fringe in quite some time. Not the most emotional or most informative or most eye-opening, but easily the most entertaining. read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsNew Girl Review: "Fancyman (Pt. II)" (Episode 1.18)
In the first part of the “Fancyman” series of episodes, we saw Nick and Jess taking the high road, to become decidedly more adult in their futures. Jess decided to go out with the successful and older Russell, played by Dermot Mulroney, while Nick wanted to embark in the world of leather chairs, fancy sweaters and a deeper understanding of hunting. With the second part, we see the polar opposite of the two, while watching as Cece, Schmidt and Winston become a bit wiser in their approaches. read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsTouch Review: "1+1=3" (Episode 1.02)
When Fox decided to premiere the pilot of its new show _Touch_ two months ago, it was an odd way for the network to debut its newest drama. Airing your pilot separate from the rest of the series can be a way for viewers to build excitement for your upcoming show, but after watching the show’s second episode “1+1=3”, it seems more likely that Fox was trying to have some distance between _Touch_’s promising debut and its incredibly familiar yet much weaker follow up episode. read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsAlcatraz Review: "Garrett Stillman," "Tommy Madsen" (Episodes 1.12 & 1.13)
When it comes to J.J. Abrams produced shows such as _Alias_, _Fringe_ and _Lost_, their first seasons and finales seem to have much in common. The first seasons become a basic prologue to what the show will become, while the first season finale usually answers some of the questions that have been asked thus far, but also raises many more questions than before. Take for example, _Lost_’s first season finale, in which the show had set up the idea of a mysterious hatch and in the finale, the hatch was opened, only leaving the viewers with more questions. The two hour finale of _Alcatraz_ kind of leaves the audience like the cast of _Lost_ at the end of its first season: looking down at the answers to their questions, yet wondering where exactly that leads them. read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsManny Series Finds Replacement For Abby Elliott
Mere days after SNL star Abby Elliott was ousted from her starring role in Fox’s Ned Fox Is My Manny after a disappointing table read, the producers have found a replacement in Dakota Johnson, according to Deadline. read more
Found in: TV, NewsNew Girl Review: "Fancyman (Pt. 1)" (Episode 1.17)
Every once in a while, _New Girl_ deals with the idea of differing classes, mostly because Schmidt makes an untold amount of money, while Nick is usually struggling to pay for drunken poker bets and has the credit rating of a homeless ghost. But in "Fancyman (Pt. 1)", we meet Russell, played by Dermot Mulroney, a character so successful he makes Schmidt look like a pauper and inspires Nick to want to be so successful that he could be president of Earth. read more
Found in: TV, Reviews
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