Earlier in this final season, Zeek (Craig T. Nelson) was rushed off to the hospital unexpectedly, after collapsing while celebrating in Las Vegas. He’s been nursing his health ever since – and tonight, he has every reason to be especially celebratory on his birthday. But with the number of episodes to the finale counting down quickly, don’t be too complacent – about the fate of Zeek, or of anyone else on this well-written, tenderly acted family drama.

2015

Jan

ARCHER By David Bianculli

SEASON PREMIERE: The new season of this outrageously loony animated spy spoof – one that, for the most part, relies on wry dialogue rather than cartoon exaggerations for its humor – begins with Archer finding himself in one of those familiar movie plots. He finds himself isolated with a Japanese soldier from WWII who never got word that the war had ended. Archer, of course, is only too happy to be the bearer of bad news. And, as he calls it, “worse news.” Too soon? For a

2015

Jan

PORTLANDIA By David Bianculli

SEASON PREMIERE: For Season 5, Portlandia is going forward by retreating into the past. Specifically, it’s providing stand-alone episodes that qualify as mini-movies, giving a backstory for the various characters played by series chameleons Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein. Tonight, to open this new season and new approach, Portlandia dips into the past of Candace and Toni, those steely-faced feminists who run the Women and Women First bookstore. What do we find there? That they once wor

2015

Jan

BABYLON By David Bianculli

SERIES PREMIERE: Well, it’s almost the premiere, anyway. The pilot episode for this new satirical police series, co-created by Danny Boyle of Slumdog Millionaire fame, was imported by Sundance back in September. But starting tonight, the rest of Season 1 is presented, starring James Nesbitt as a Scotland Yard commissioner who hires an American public relations consultant (Brit Marling) to polish the image of his somewhat unruly police force.

2015

Jan

SHOWTIME’S ‘EPISODES’ – TV’S MOST UNDERAPPRECIATED COMEDY By David Bianculli

This Sunday, Showtime unveils Season 4 of Episodes, which is TV’s least appreciated sitcom. The writing is crisp, surprising and delightful, and the performances even more so…

2015

Jan

FOX'S 'EMPIRE' PROVIDES AN ALL TOO RARE CHANCE FOR A PREDOMINANTLY BLACK CAST TO BRING ON THE DRAMA By Ed Bark

Never mind all the machinations and deceptions involved in orchestrating the next big hit record on Empire. What fourth place Fox really needs is the next big hit TV series... So it’s poured on the promotion for this Lee Daniels-created saga...

2015

Jan

THE MIDDLE By David Bianculli

Kirstie Alley from Cheers is back behind the bar! On tonight’s new episode, she guest stars as “Pam Freakin’ Staggs” (the episode’s title), one of Frankie’s high-school classmates – someone who had no time for her then, but has reappeared to take Frankie (series star Patricia Heaton) under her wing now. Under her wing, and to a local karaoke bar, where the male bartenders serve bright-green cocktails with melon balls. (In the drinks, that is.) Cheers!

2015

Jan

AMERICAN IDOL By David Bianculli

SEASON PREMIERE: This is cycle 14 for this long-running music competition series, which is far past its prime, but seems determined this season to weather the storms and surge ahead. It’s tough going, because what’s surged ahead lately is NBC competitor The Voice, which now draws significantly more viewers than the once-dominant Idol. At its peak in Season 2, American Idol pulled more than 38 million viewers. Last year, it managed only 10.5 million. But there are some positive signs

2015

Jan

EPISODES MARATHON By David Bianculli

Episodes, one of television’s most underrated series, returns Sunday for Season 4 – and tonight, Showtime is providing a public service of sorts by repeating the entirety of Season 3 in a nine-episode marathon, beginning at 8 p.m. ET. Included in here somewhere (I won’t say where, exactly, because it should be served up as a surprise) is what I consider the funniest TV moment of 2014 – and, actually, for the last several years. One hint: It happens during a couples therap

2015

Jan

EMPIRE By David Bianculli

SERIES PREMIERE: The pilot episode of this new Fox series, unfortunately, is a bit too broad and stereotypical, pulling a bit too obviously from both highbrow (Shakespeare’s King Lear) and lowbrow (ABC’s Dynasty) for inspiration. Yet the cast, creators and premise of this drama, which is set in the privileged world of a successful hip-hop record company, bring enough to the table to make you root for it to improve quickly, and hit some notes – dramatic, not musical, that is &nd

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