TV

Uncompromising L&O Ends Run

Law & Order, CTV, NBC

by Marc Zaffran
24.05.2010

Today will go down in TV history: NBC is airing the final episode of its 20-year-long drama series, Law & Order. The mother ship of the successful franchise which spawned three – and soon, a fourth – spinoff shows will bow out after 456 episodes.

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Unwatched People’s History

Cold Case

by Marc Zaffran
14.04.2010

On paper, Cold Case sounds like a run-of-the-mill cop show. Set in Philadelphia, it follows a small team of detectives investigating unsolved, sometimes decades-old crimes. First aired by CBS in 2003, this unassuming, far-from-the-headlines Sunday night drama will probably end its seven-year run this May. You probably didn’t watch it, and can’t catch up with [...]

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Behind Leno’s Prime-Time Flop

Jay Leno Show, NBC

by Marc Zaffran
05.03.2010

In retrospect, NBC’s decision to replace its entire 10 o’clock drama line-up by a daily Jay Leno Show was not only ill-advised, it was suicidal. For a simple but irresistible reason: on an occasional basis, viewers may prefer to spend easy time with talk show hosts and glamorous guests – but, in the long run, [...]

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The Ultimate Guido Guide

Jersey Shore, MTV Canada

by Clay Hemmerich
21.01.2010

This winter, television viewers are quietly tuning into MTV Canada to indulge in a new guilty pleasure, reality series Jersey Shore. How much can one expect out of a reality television show about eight “Guidos” (stereotypical Italian-Americans who enjoy being “jacked and tan” and are always confident and sometimes to a fault) in their early [...]

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RIP Springfield, D’oh!

The Simpsons, Episode 450

by Jay Mark Caplan
13.01.2010

In the early ‘90s, The Simpsons was the most important show on TV. Primetime’s first cartoon series furnished my generation’s lexicon with quotables, broadened our range of pop culture references and introduced us to the non sequitur, a style of humour that would become a mainstream standard, now used to sell Old Spice and Bud [...]

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The Glam Side of Ostracism

Glee, Fox TV

by Jay Mark Caplan
09.12.2009

The epic struggle between jocks and geeks has been raging in TV land for years. The premise might be battle-weary, but it’s not dead yet. This season’s standout hit is another high school comedy, the new Fox series, Glee. It’s funny, but there’s also a potent Broadway kicker: the geeks of Glee sing and dance.

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Re-hashing Same Old Dystopia

The Prisoner, AMC

by Christopher Zanti
03.12.2009

AMC is developing quite the little track record. I may not be up to date with Mad Men (although, I enjoyed the first season considerably), but I am convinced that Breaking Bad is easily the best show on television. And so, I was eagerly anticipating The Prisoner, a solid network’s reimagining of Patrick McGoohan’s landmark [...]

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