Archive | February, 2013
February 28, 2013 

Jimmy Smits and Donal Logue to Reprise Their Roles on SONS OF ANARCHY’s Sixth Season

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In its fractious fifth season, FX’s biker drama Sons of Anarchy introduced us to two new characters, with varying results.  The first, Nero Padilla (played by Jimmy Smits) started out as a love interest for Gemma (Katey Segal), but ended up being a better father figure to Jax (Charlie Hunnam) than his (increasingly evil) step-father Clay (Ron Perlman).  Nero helped the MC financially and also emotionally as things began to break apart.  As much as he wanted to help lead Jax away from its violence, he ended up caught in its web as well.

Last year we also got the beginning of the story of U.S. Marshall Lee Toric (Donal Logue) in the final few episodes, and it seems Logue will also be back in the new season to expand on that part.  Hit the jump for more on these characters and what we might see of them coming up … READ MORE

February 27, 2013 

THE AMERICANS Episode Recap: “Comint”

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Another nuanced episode of The Americans this week, focusing on the tit-for-tat back and forth of intelligence and counterintelligence.  Just as the FBI found a way to not only encrypt but make portable its communication, the Russians (via Elizabeth and Philip) found a way to hear them anyway.  Within a day the FBI had adjusted the code to block out the Russians, and so forth.  The bigger revelation was not this cat and mouse game, though, but that the Russians discovered that there was a mole.  And, despite their Herculean efforts to keep their agent in the Department of Defense, Adam Dorma (who we meet briefly at the start of the episode), in the end he became as much of a liability to them as an asset because his loyalty was briefly questioned in his moment of distress.  In the spy world, the slightest hesitation could mean everything.  Hit the jump for why you shouldn’t ask questions, even for all of our 35 years and 8 months together! … READ MORE

February 27, 2013 

Ricky Gervais to Bring Back David Brent from THE OFFICE for a One-Off Mini Episode

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British comedian Ricky Gervais is reviving his most famous creation, David Brent from The Office (U.K.).  According to the teaser trailer “Brent’s Back,” we find Brent these ten years later seeming to be doing just fine, and attempting to get back into music (who could forget his earlier forays, from “Free Love Freeway” to “If You Don’t Know Me By Now”?)

The segment will air on BBC One on Red Nose Day (a British fundraiser mega-event that gets some of the country’s biggest names to help raise money for charity) March 15th, and will also be available on Gervais’ YouTube channel that same day.  Hit the jump for more on this mini episode and for a teaser clip … READ MORE

February 27, 2013 

Ron Livingston and Brian Geraghty Join Cast Of HBO’s BOARDWALK EMPIRE

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HBO’s prohibition-era drama Boardwalk Empire, which stars Steve Buscemi as bootlegging Atlantic City gangster Nucky Thompson, ended its uneven third season this past fall with a bloodbath of epic proportions, so it’s no surprise they’re already casting some new faces (even though all luckily of our heroes survived the fallout).

The Hurt Locker‘s Brian Geraghty is reported to have accepted a recurring role for the upcoming fourth season playing Loren Knox, and Prohibition agent with ulterior motives newly assigned to Atlantic City.  Ron Livingston (Band of Brothers) has also been cast in a series regular role as a wealthy out-of-town businessman who starts up a relationship with Gillian Darmody (Gretchen Mol).  For more on these casting choices (with minimal spoilers), hit the jump … READ MORE

February 26, 2013 

Boston’s Finest: TV Review

BOSTON, MA-NOV 3: SWAT officers prepare for the Urban Shield tra

 

Squeaky-clean Beantown cops rule in executive producer Donnie Wahlberg’s engaging docuseries for TNT.

After the travesty of the Jersey Shore-esque Boston series Southie Rules that bowed in January, the town’s image is in need of a cleanse. Time to call the Wahlbergs – Robert, Donnie or Mark – to the rescue. The trio have always made their hometown love of Boston well known, and Donnie’s latest project for TNT, the unscripted series Boston’s Finest, is an ode not just to his beloved city but also to the police who patrol the same streets they live on … READ MORE

February 26, 2013 

Armed and Ready: TV Review

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The Travel Channel’s new series follows Kevin Michael Connolly, who was born without legs, as he challenges himself with extreme adventures.

The series Armed and Ready follows Kevin Michael Connolly, an author, photographer and “self-proclaimed thrill seeker,” as he cliff dives in Hawaii, attempts lumber-jacking in Tennessee, trains with an Army corps and undertakes other high-intensity endeavors. What makes this Travel Channel series different from most though is not what it has, but what it lacks: Connolly was born without legs … READ MORE

February 26, 2013 

PARADE’S END Preview; HBO’s Miniseries Has Storytelling That Blows DOWNTON ABBEY Out Of The Water

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Parade’s End, a new five-part miniseries adaptation by Tom Stoppard (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead) of Ford Maddox Ford’s novels, is everything viewers wanted from Downton Abbey‘s second season, but didn’t get.  Whereas Downton Abbey shunted the First World War to the side (and created it as a place where one could just jaunt home every weekend or whenever one felt like it),Parade’s End uses it as a centerpiece dramatically and emotionally.  The Edwardian period has regained a huge amount of popularity lately, mostly thanks to Downton, but even if you’re growing tired of costume dramas and staid portrayals of a bygone era of England, whose opulance is beyond anything we could imagine, don’t overlook Parade’s End.  It will absolutely not let you down.  Hit the jump for more about the adaptation, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock), Rebecca Hall (The Town) and Adelaide Clemens (The Great Gatsby) … READ MORE

February 25, 2013 

GIRLS Recap: “Video Games”

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This week’s Girls actually found a way to improve upon last week’s fantastic Adam-Ray adventure by focusing, finally, on Jessa.  Jessa has often been a caricature at best, and while we have see a few glimpses of real emotion and fragility with her relationship with Thomas-John, she’s always existed on the fringes of the Girls group, floating in and out of episodes or even the frame (as she did last week).  Jessa’s breakdown with Thomas-John also hinted at a damaged past, one where the stability of a “normal” man would be something she innately seeks, even if consciously she doesn’t recognize it.  In “Video Games” she mentions briefly about how he doesn’t even want to work on their relationship, but suggesting in her tone that she did want to.  She doesn’t want to be her father, and “Video Games” showed us exactly why.  Hit the jump for why “I am the child!” … READ MORE

February 21, 2013 

ZERO HOUR Episode Review: “Face”

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Last week Zero Hour gave viewers plenty to chew on — Nazi devil babies, clones, secret societies, “new” Apostles — and while it was still completely ludicrous, it seemed worth checking out just for the fun.  The pilot went, in professional lingo, “balls out.”  It essentially jumped into the fifth season of Lost, and most everyone seemed fine with it.  This week, “Face” revealed all of Zero Hour’s many, many problems without fun things like devil babies (although we did hear them crying).  Mostly, it’s just really, truly terrible writing.  I don’t know how you can ruin a premise so swollen with potential as one focusing on Nazi conspiracies, but somehow Zero Hour has managed it.  For more on my evisceration of this hour of television, hit the jump … READ MORE

February 20, 2013 

THE AMERICANS Episode Recap: “In Control”

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I solicited a lot of feedback about The Americans this week because I was confused about how I could still be left so cold by a show that seems so beloved and full of things I should like (spies! Russians! Keri Russell‘s hair!).  It seemed I wasn’t really alone though, and there were plenty of people who felt like I did, that while the show was objectively good, it lacked a spark.  However, last week’s episode, “Gregory,” went a long way in repairing my feelings about the show, which is tough and can be difficult to follow.  It’s not a casual experience, but a deeply involved one that asks us to be completely engaged in it, with a fair amount of background knowledge.  It’s a show that, I know, will grow richer with repeated viewings.  Finally though, this week, I saw the light.  “In Control” was a very solidly entertaining hour of TV.  Hit the jump for more on why “one mistake is all it takes.” … READ MORE

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