Friday, April 29 2011
‘Law & Order: Criminal Intent’ Final Season Premiere
The return of Detectives Goren and Eames to Law & Order: Criminal Intent denotes the end of USA’s attempts to domesticate the show and returns it to its earlier, eerier incarnation.
Monday, April 25 2011
American Experience: Stonewall Uprising
Forty-two years ago, "the forces of faggotry" rose up. As Lucian Truscott IV remembers writing those words in his Village Voice column, he notes that his use of the term “fag” was deliberate, that reclaiming the word helped to build the community.
‘Campus’ Series Premiere
The new series from the makers of Green Wing feels like comedy by the numbers.
Friday, April 22 2011
‘Treme’ Season Two Premiere
David Simon's interest in cities has always been how they happen: how do particular practices and ideas become normalized, and how do these reveal crosscurrents of power?
Friday, April 15 2011
‘Game of Thrones’ Series Premiere
Game of Thrones is densely plotted and epic in scope, full of graphic violence and lots of sex, it's tremendously entertaining.
‘The Whitest Kids U’Know’ Season Five Premiere
Season Five's saving grace may be the troupe's attempt at a long-form narrative, titled "The Civil War on Drugs."
Wednesday, April 13 2011
‘Happy Endings’ Series Premiere
The characters' dynamic in Happy Endings is most engaging when the humor skews towards the darker side.
Tuesday, April 12 2011
Frontline: Football High
Frontline: Football High examines the costs of the game's changing technologies and expectations.
Monday, April 11 2011
American Experience: The Great Famine
American Experience: The Great Famine remembers that Herbert Hoover was once "the embodiment of an America proud of its newfound sense of itself as an altruistic nation."
Wednesday, April 6 2011
‘Breaking In’: Office Work
There's plenty of comedy potential in a show about weekly heists. But the first two episodes of
Monday, April 4 2011
Money and the NCAA
"You shouldn't care," about student athletes getting paid, Michael Lewis says, "unless you have some weird obsession with justice."
Sunday, April 3 2011
‘The Killing’ Series Premiere
The Killing offers a circuitous introduction to the detective, Sarah, and the case that will waylay her plans, with details that are insistently odd and creepy.
Friday, April 1 2011
‘CHAOS’ Series Premiere
The recyclings in CHAOS have a nasty edge, and some of its parody turns xenophobic.
Tuesday, March 29 2011
Independent Lens: Pushing the Elephant
As ambassador for the humanitarian organization, Mapendo International, Rose Mapendo tells her story again and again, encouraging her listeners to draw lessons from it.
‘Body of Proof’ Series Premiere
Yet another medical-mystery-forensics drama set in a large American city, Body of Proof establishes early that Megan has good reason to be crusty and arrogant.
Friday, March 25 2011
Todd Haynes Reimagines ‘Mildred Pierce’
In HBO's miniseries Mildred Pierce, beginning on 27 March, Mildred embodies the sort of ambition and resilience that might seem ideal during a depression -- or even a great recession.
Monday, March 21 2011
Triangle: Remembering the Fire
As the film makes clear, the story of the Triangle Fire is actually many stories, fragmented, frightening, and heroic.
Monday, March 14 2011
‘The Fab Five’: We’re Gonna Shock the World
The Fab Five were winning games -- 56 all together, over two seasons. This made them objects of admiration as well as anxiety.
Wednesday, March 9 2011
Survivor: Redemption Island
The new season of Survivor is off to a strong start, despite what seemed like a questionable decision to bring both Russell and Rob back one more time.