Last summer’s most pleasant surprise turned out to be Claws, TNT’s comedic crime drama about a South Florida nail salon tied up in money laundering for the Dixie Mafia. With a charismatic cast led by Niecy Nash as Desna, a strong focus on female friendship, and an eye-popping Miami aesthetic, Claws turned out to be…
Nine Questions Heading into ‘The Americans’ Series Finale
All my instincts, they return / the grand facade so soon will burn… The show I have long called the best on television, The Americans, airs its 75th and final episode tonight on FX. It’s been a fascinating, totally engrossing ride, and this sixth and final season has been arguably the tightest of the whole run….
‘Animal Kingdom’ Evolves in Season 3
One of the most satisfying changes to the status quo of televised storytelling in this modern age of Peak TV has been a much greater willingness on the part of showrunners to shake things up from season to season. It used to be that consistency was everything — best friends stay best friends forever, roommates…
CNN’s ‘1968’ Revisits America’s Most Turbulent Year
Even before the presidential election, it became a common theme on social media to call 2016 the Worst Year Ever. By the end of that year, we had seen the Syrian civil war and refugee crisis, panic over the Zika virus, the (at best) questionable police shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, the Pulse…
‘The Circus’ is the ‘Inside the NFL’ of News
It is no exaggeration to say that over the last couple of years, the news has become the most interesting thing on television, even in the age of Peak TV. But, as with the glut of Peak TV prestige dramas, it often feels like there is too much for a normal person to absorb it…
‘I’m Dying Up Here’ Comes Alive in Season 2
As a lifelong fan of standup comedy and someone who spent quite a bit of time around the alt-comedy scene in 00’s New York, I was particularly interested in last year’s premiere of I’m Dying Up Here, Showtime’s series exec-produced by Jim Carrey and based on William Knoedelseder’s nonfiction book about The Comedy Store in…
Reality Show ‘Real Money’ is A Slice of Eddie Money Paradise
Everything old is new again. Roseanne is back! Jersey Shore is back! And, until MTV and the Osbournes can come to financial terms for their return, Eddie Money is back, and he brought his own barely-functional family! C’mon, you know, Eddie Money! From the ‘70s and ‘80s? “Two Tickets to Paradise”? “Take Me Home Tonight”?…
‘The Americans’ Writer Hilary Bettis on Moving into the Endgame
If you saw the latest episode of The Americans, “The Great Patriotic War,” I don’t need to tell you that it was a big one. [SPOILERS FOLLOW — don’t read if you don’t want to know.] Paige finally got to try out her fighting skills; Phillip finally slept with Kimmy, Elizabeth killed Gennady and Sophia,…