In the beginning there were the heavens and the earth. Planet Earth II has come and gone on BBC TV in the UK, and word is, it was good. Not just good, in fact, but special...

2016

Dec

'FRONTLINE: EXODUS' TAKES A CLOSE-UP LOOK AT THE REFUGEE CRISIS By Alex Strachan

It was just the latest in a seemingly endless parade of sad news stories. A trickily timed evacuation near the Syrian city of Aleppo was tossed into doubt this past weekend after six buses assigned to help civilians flee to safety from six years of war were set ablaze...

2016

Dec

TV’S TRUE CRIME TALES: THE YEAR’S DEFINING TREND By Alex Strachan

In 1996, back in the day when November sweeps was a thing, Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood was resurrected as a two-night miniseries on CBS...

2016

Dec

GET REAL! REALITY TV IS NOT, LIKE, ACTUALLY REAL By Alex Strachan

News flash! Reality TV is not actually real. We know this, of course. Prying beneath the surface, though — taking a hard look at how the sausage is actually made — can be both fun and edifying...

2016

Nov

MUST-SEE TV REDEFINED: NETFLIX SURVEY REVEALS WHICH EPISODES DRAW VIEWERS IN FOR KEEPS By Alex Strachan

We all know about binge-viewing. It’s the business model that drives streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime, in the same way — not so long ago — it was the driving force behind DVD box sets...

2016

Nov

’WESTWORLD’ EVOLVES FROM PULPY SCI-FI THRILLER INTO SHOW ABOUT BIG IDEAS By Alex Strachan

No one could spin a yarn quite like Michael Crichton, so it was probably inevitable that the 1973 movie thriller Westworld would be spun off for the small screen one day...

2016

Nov

HOW ‘SURVIVOR’ BECAME THE MOST IMPORTANT SERIES IN AMERICAN TV HISTORY By Alex Strachan

The millennials and Gen-Xers merged last week on Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X. To the casual viewer, it might have looked like any other Survivor outing...

2016

Nov

LIVE FROM NEW YORK, IT’S 'SNL' ELECTION POLITICS LIVE By Alex Strachan

Live from New York, on tape in West Coast time zones, it’s Saturday Night Live this weekend. It’s the last live show before the Nov. 8 election...

2016

Nov

PBS’ 'NATURE' TELLS YOU EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT THE EVOLUTION OF CATS BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK By Alex Strachan

One story about cats is that they cut a silent deal with humankind, back in the days of Ancient Egypt. The story goes like this: 'We’ll keep your granaries free of birds, rats, and mice,...and in return, you’ll provide us with the occasional treat...'

2016

Oct

THE BOOK WAS BETTER: ’THE DURRELLS ON CORFU’ A NICE TRY, BUT TV CAN ONLY DO SO MUCH By Alex Strachan

I first read My Family and Other Animals when I was a child..

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