RELATED STORIES True-crime TV has found its new obsession: The twisted saga of the NVIXM cult, with famous followers like Smallville alum Allison Mack and salacious accusations of sex slavery, has inspired not one but two long-form TV documentaries, along with a number of one-off investigative specials. HBO’s The Vow, which premiered in August, was
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A successful sitcom boils down to two things: characters and chemistry. Even the most inspired premise doesn’t matter after the first few episodes, if the show doesn’t have characters we care about and actors who work well together. Case in point: CBS’ new fall sitcom B Positive, debuting this Thursday, Nov. 5 at 8:30/7:30c. (I’ve
Each episode of FX on Hulu’s A Teacher is preceded by a content warning I’ve never seen before: It warns about “sexual situations,” but also “depictions of grooming that may be disturbing.” And it’s needed, too, because A Teacher — debuting Tuesday, Nov. 10; I’ve seen all ten episodes — is certainly disturbing, depicting a
With Nicole Kidman starring in a HBO drama written by David E. Kelley, it’s easy to imagine The Undoing as a sort of Big Little Lies spinoff, with Kidman’s Celeste moving from Monterey to New York City and finding love again with Hugh Grant after that unfortunate Perry situation. (Hey, she deserves it!) But The
When I mentioned to a colleague that I’d just watched the premiere of AMC’s second spinoff of The Walking Dead, World Beyond, he asked just one question: “Do you think there’s an audience for it?” And I had to admit, I do. The series, which follows teenage sisters Iris (Aliyah Royale) and Hope (Alexa Mansour)
Really, was anyone out there crying out for a Nurse Ratched origin story? The trailers for Netflix’s Ratched — premiering this Friday, Sept. 18; I’ve seen the first four episodes — bill the One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest villain as “one of the world’s most iconic characters,” but as played by Oscar winner Louise
Another Fall TV season is nearly upon us… and it looks absolutely nothing like any of its predecessors. You may have heard something about a pandemic that has turned the world on its head for much of 2020 — and the TV industry has been affected, too, delaying and halting production on countless series. But
Keef Knight just wants to “keep it light,” OK? He’s a Black cartoonist living in ultra-progressive San Francisco and drawing a popular, inoffensive comic strip called Toast ‘N’ Butter that’s about to hit syndication and make him rich. He doesn’t address race in his comics because it’s never been a big factor in his life,
A dark, gritty reboot of the golden oldie Perry Mason? At first, it sounds like a joke, or like a Jack Donaghy idea from 30 Rock. The classic legal drama debuted way back in 1957, which leaves quite a thick layer of dust to brush away, but HBO’s reboot — premiering this Sunday at 9/8c;
RELATED STORIES It’s been just over two years since the theatrical release of Love, Simon, the 2018 rom-com that broke new ground as the first major studio film to center on a gay teen romance. The movie is a charming and inoffensive coming-of-age flick — and your opinion of the film will likely dictate how
RELATED STORIES Snowpiercer‘s four-and-a-half year journey to the small screen ends on Sunday, May 17, when it pulls into the proverbial station at TNT. When all is said and done, was it the little engine that could? Or not quite? What you get out of TV’s Snowpiercer largely depends on what you expect from it.
I’ll say this about Ryan Murphy’s new Netflix drama Hollywood: The costumes are fantastic. With its characters decked out in fedoras, three-piece suits and bejeweled ball gowns, the 1940s period piece co-created by Murphy and his Glee co-writer Ian Brennan — debuting this Friday, May 1; I’ve seen all seven episodes — gives us a
RELATED STORIES Warning: This post contains spoilers for all eight episodes of Netflix’s Too Hot to Handle. Let me state this upfront: I am a certified dating show junkie. I watch The Bachelor — and The Bachelorette. I enjoyed Love Is Blind. I even watch trashier fare like Temptation Island. (Speaking of which: Where is
The Eddy feels like the kind of series that only Netflix would shell out the money to make these days: an artsy, atmospheric slice of life set at a Parisian jazz club and shot largely in French that lingers over its characters like stubborn cigarette smoke. Shot in shaky-cam, cinéma vérité style by Oscar winner
RELATED STORIES DC’s Stargirl is here to brighten up the sometimes-brooding superhero scene with a weekly, multiplatform rollout on DC Universe (starting May 18) and The CW (premiering Tuesday, May 19). But when all is said and done, will the gung-ho teen’s biggest adversary be oh-so-serious supervillains? Brec Bassinger (of Hulu’s All Night) headlines the
It would be wholly understandable if fans of Showtime’s original Penny Dreadful approached its “spiritual descendant” City of Angels with as much trepidation as excitement. How, we might wonder, could any offspring of John Logan’s beloved monster mash live up to the awful beauty of its parent? How could any new characters compare to the
RELATED STORIES They’re hot, they’re dumb and they’re about to become your new obsession. They’re the sexy singles of Netflix’s Too Hot to Handle, an eight-episode reality dating competition with a hands-free twist: For every sexual act committed between players — and that ranges from a peck on the lips to the whole shebang —
Quibi has arrived, with a free trial period and everything. But what is worth watching, right out of the gate? (And what is Quibi again…?) Answer the second question first, Quibi is a streaming service that offers episodes as “quick bites” (ergo its name) of 10 minutes or less, displaying “full-screen” no matter how you
RELATED STORIES The fight about whether or not the Equal Rights Amendment should be added to the United States Constitution has been roiling since 1923 — and whether that statement intrigues or bores you is a good indicator of whether or not you’ll enjoy Mrs. America (debuting Wednesday, April 15). FX’s latest prestige drama covers
You could easily watch a few scenes from Little Fires Everywhere, with Reese Witherspoon starring as a tightly wound mom ruling over a rich suburb, and get fooled into thinking you’re watching a new season of Big Little Lies. But trust me: You’re not. Hulu’s adaptation, which debuts Wednesday, March 18 (I’ve seen the first three episodes)
When it was announced that Grey’s Anatomy and Station 19 were switching time slots, in part to facilitate more crossovers, I’ll admit I groaned. I even did it in print. Like many a Grey’s viewer, I felt like I wasn’t being invited or encouraged to tune in to its spinoff so much as I was being
Is it even possible to watch a Hillary Clinton documentary without bringing one’s preconceived political biases to it? Probably not, so let me be upfront about mine. I voted for Hillary in 2016… but I also voted for her opponent in that year’s primary and earlier in 2008. I was raised in a staunchly conservative
I wanted to love Devs. I really did. I’m a huge fan of Alex Garland, the Ex Machina and Annihilation filmmaker who writes and directs all eight episodes of the FX sci-fi thriller (debuting Thursday, March 5 exclusively on Hulu), and I couldn’t wait to see what mind-blowing magic he might conjure up on his
Is Riverdale getting too dark and gory for you? Well, The CW might have just what you need with Katy Keene — debuting Thursday, Feb. 6 at 8/7c — a light and breezy Riverdale spinoff starring Lucy Hale as the titular fashion designer chasing her dreams in New York City. A glammed-up combo of Sex
RELATED STORIES In the first episode of Showtime’s Work in Progress, Abby (played by Abby McEnany) tells her therapist “if things don’t get better” within 180 days, she’s going to end her life. “I’m surrounded by people who are like, full selves,” she monologues, “and I’m like, this building that has been delayed,” an eyesore
RELATED STORIES Apple TV+, which launched two months ago, has its first truly inspiring series in Little America, a lovely and emotive series about the lives of immigrants in America. Little America, debuting Jan. 17 with all eight episodes, is a scripted anthology in which each standalone episode is based on a true story that
At the risk of sounding like High Fidelity‘s main character: The perfect cover version of a song is tricky to pull off, right? It has to maintain the spirit of the original, while also putting a fresh spin on it that makes you hear it in a new way. Hulu’s new take on High Fidelity
RELATED STORIES First things first: You would have to be one seriously hardhearted bastard not to love The Thing About Harry, Freeform’s belated gay Valentine (premiering Saturday, Feb. 15, at 8/7c). Its leads — Grey’s Anatomy’s Schmitt, Jake Borelli, and newcomer Niko Terho — have chemistry for days. The script, co-written by director and co-star Peter
RELATED STORIES With so much television to choose from, networks are struggling to find ways to make their series stand out. This is the case with CBS All Access’ Interrogation, a gimmicky procedural that allows viewers to watch episodes in any order they please. “When cold case detectives reopen an unsolved case, they abandon the
The fact that USA Network’s new murder-mystery Briarpatch is set in a steamy Texas border town known as Saint Disgrace is a big clue about what’s to follow. It’s a conspicuously quirky setting for a conspicuously quirky show: a funky neo-noir full of eccentric characters that has atmosphere to burn. There’s plenty to like about