Happy Friday! We have slightly less horror movies this week, a romantic comedy, a Brad Pitt-led drama, and the Downton Abbey movie. Trailers are below the fold.
Tag: Downton Abbey
What To Watch: 09/19/2019
Not only do we have new shows (as well as a primer for a returning show and the NBC return of a PBS classic) trickling in as we speed towards the big week of September debuts, we have a whole new forum as BET launches … Continue reading What To Watch: 09/19/2019
What To Watch: 08/18/2019
Sunday’s all about hope, and preaching and all that’s righteous — at least on tonight’s TV. JASON’S PICK: The Righteous Gemstones [HBO, 9p] The writers behind Danny McBride’s biggest successes go to his well once more, and this time pairs him with John Goodman … Continue reading What To Watch: 08/18/2019
Emmy Nominations Thoughts: Katherine
The Emmys are my Oscars. I love the Oscars too, but there’s far more yelling on my end for the Emmys than any other award, as I feel deeply invested on an emotional level. (Whereas I look at cinema through a critical and cultural lens.) … Continue reading Emmy Nominations Thoughts: Katherine
Sunday’s Best Reviewed: Downton Abbey
The online critics agree with us that last night — in addition to being jam-packed — was an A-1 quality evening on the telly. And it was Downton Abbey‘s unfathomable plethora of happy endings that ultimately won the day. Was it manipulative? Without a doubt; however, it was everything for which a Downton fan could hope. The sometimes dour Togetherness scores a winning night with a focus on Brett & Alex’s friendship beyond the relationships. The Alexandrians, with Rick at the forefront, come together to take the fight — and its a brutal one — to new enemy, the Saviors, as Negan and Lucille loom over all on The Walking Dead.
Sunday, March 6th’s Best: Downton Abbey (9.6/10)
Playing off the Dowager Countess’ final burn, Jen Chaney of Vulture eulogizes the long-running and hailed series as one that “provides more than the English version of a happy ending. It’s an ending that’s happy by any standard.” She adds, “it was impossible to watch this last episode with anything other than a full heart and warm affection. This show will be deeply missed.” And that was pretty well the consensus. TV Fanatic‘s Caralynn Lippo sums it up: “It was as perfect a closing moment as one could hope for from a monumental series like this: The reluctant end of an era.” Emily L. Stephens at AV Club bids goodbye in as earnest a way as the series. “Downton Abbey, I’ve loved you for your beauty and your excesses, despite your often careless writing and erasure of honest conflict,for your melodrama and your humor. For good or bad, we’ve been together a long time, and I’ll miss you.
The Rest of the Night:
Togetherness – 9.3
The Walking Dead – 8.6
Girls – 8.3
The Last Man on Earth – 8.2
Shameless – 8.0
Billions – 8.0
Vinyl – 8.0
Once Upon a Time – 7.5
Bob’s Burgers – 7.0
The Good Wife – 6.4
Quantico – 5.9
What to Watch: 02/28/2016
It’s the most wonderful niiiiight of the year. Unfortunately, some people were dreaming too much of a white Oscars, but it’s still a wonderland for movie fans. There’s even some other programming on, apparently. Some major show from across the pond decided to end its U.S. run this same day. There’s got to be a Dowager Countess line for this. Also, check out Katherine’s wonderful, thorough Oscar coverage here if you haven’t yet!
KATHERINE’S PICK:
The 88th Academy Awards [ABC, 8p]
Chris Rock hosts a particularly controversial year, which had better award Carol like, everything.
NAVANI’S PICK:
The 88th Academy Awards [ABC, 8p]
After all the controversy over #oscarsoswhite this year the question whether to skip the awards weighed heavy on me but it turns out my loyalty to Chris Rock trumps all.
JASON’S PICK:
The Walking Dead [AMC, 9p]
Yeah, yeah, I’ll be watching the Oscars, but in that time of filler and bizarre musical numbers in between Supporting Actor/Actress and the final flurry of awards, there’s time to switch over to see the first post-Richonne day, and find out exactly what Jesus the Escape Artist has to say to them.
ALSO ON TAP TONIGHT:
- Vinyl on HBO has been polarizing, but many have loved it. Third episode airs tonight.
- Later on It’s Not Television, we got angst and more angst with Girls and Togetherness.
- And then there’s the end of the line for the Grantham Family, as they celebrate Christmas 1925 and for the love of [insert higher being here], let Edith catch a break! Downton Abbey on PBS tonight, of course.
Weekend’s Best Reviewed: Downton Abbey
With its sorta, kinda final episode (the installment next week was a Christmas Special in the U.K.), Downton Abbey earns raves by returning to one of its most reliable fan-pleasers — vicious family strife. All appeared to be looking up for perennially unlucky Lady Edith, so of course it would have to come crashing down courtesy, as per ther ushe, of sister Mary, but did that backfire? Underrated B-movie style monster show Grimm is the weekend’s surprise runner-up as conspiracies collide, and Monroe gets his inner wolf on. A thought-provoking, but mostly transitionary episode punctuated by a stunning last few seconds leads to mixed reviews for last week’s champion, The Walking Dead. Vinyl continued to neither delight nor offend. While reviewers had mostly positive vibes, The Good Wife confused many, and Shameless fell further as the annals of the Gallagher clan would seem to be running on fumes.
Weekend’s Best: Downton Abbey (9.5/10)
When two different reviewers use the word “bananas” to describe the oh-so-proper PBS period drama, Downton Abbey, you know you’ve got a crazy episode. It’s the last of the “series” in British TV terms, but not the finishing point of the series in the U.S. as there is one special left for next week. But, oh, what a set-up for that final act. Jen Chaney of Vulture gives it a perfect score, while lamenting “why did you make me love you when there’s only one more episode of you left?” TV Fanatic‘s Caralynn Lippo added the “penultimate installment of the series managed to capture that early Downton charm, drama, and joy. It was outstanding.”
The Rest of the Night:
Grimm – 9.0
Togetherness – 8.5
The Walking Dead – 8.4
Girls – 8.3
The Vampire Diaries – 7.7
Vinyl – 7.7
Billions – 7.5
Sleepy Hollow – 7.0
The Good Wife – 6.9
Shameless – 6.3
What to Watch: 02/21/2016
It’s a busy night of television: we’ve got dead walkin’, cartoons folk-singin’, records spinnin’, law talking ladies and guys lawyerin’, CSI’s cyberin’, and one classic program coming back, while another fades into the annals of history — well, almost (Brits love to get cheeky with the specials). Our selections from this crowded field boast 38 seasons, mostly logged by one record-breaking family show.
NAVANI’S PICK:
Girls [HBO, 10p]
Another season of mid-twenties drama and debauchery ensues with Shoshana in Japan finding herself, Marnie preparing for her wedding (yup, that happened), Hannah with her new boo and Jessa, wait what does Jessa do again? In any case, looking forward to more cringe worthy, awkward moments.
JASON’S PICK:
Downton Abbey [PBS, 9p]
We in the U.S. finally get to see the Season 6 finale, and while there are no more seasons, there will be more intrigue between the upstairs and the downstairs next week with the “Christmas 2015 Special.” This episode promises twists and turns and a mounting intrigue between sisters Mary and Edith (#TeamEdith…Mary is just that awful).
KATHERINE’S PICK:
The Simpsons [Fox, 8p]
Bart invites a homeless woman to live in his closet, and Lisa discovers that the woman is a noted folk singer. Then The Simpsons goes deep: the woman, like many homeless people, has substance-abuse issues. Will this be as emotionally scarring as the time Lisa’s beached whale died? Is it bad that I hope so?
ALSO ON TAP TONIGHT:
- Those Walking Dead‘s dead walkers put quite the hit on Rick’s psyche last week, but the Alexandrians came together in the end, and tonight’s the aftermath and a likely very short calm between the storms. Process whatever happens for the next hour on AMC’s Talking Dead. It may not be long enough.
- Mercy Street makes its real and complete first season exit on PBS (cuz we’re ‘Murricans!) with Lincoln visiting, while the medical intrigue builds to a climax.
- HBO’s well-pedigreed punk rock expose Vinyl earned mostly solid reviews, but don’t ask your local rock critic friend, because it earned some bitter enemies.
- On CBS’ The Good Wife, another show in its final season, Alicia works with the federal government, while Eli & Tascione are thrown together which is always a whole lot of eccentric (and sometimes hallucinogenic) fun.
- Keeping Up with the Kardashians finishes up its eleventh season on E!, which hints that a lot may have happened since the O.J. days.
- Just reading about the Food Network’s All Star Academy spanning the globe to offer ingredients from Mexico, Thailand, and Italy is making us hungry, so we’re out of here. Peace!
The Weekend’s Best Reviewed: Downton Abbey
Regularly scheduled TV ground nearly to a halt as the Super Bowl sucked most of the air out of the room, but a few popular shows aired new episodes, all of which to positive reception. While the vaunted Downton Abbey won by a nose, it’s the oft-maligned and shopworn SNL that stole all hearts this weekend with Larry David’s consistently funny return, to go along with the cameo of his presidential candidate doppelganger Bernie Sanders, and it probably would have snatched the crown, if critics grades matched their write-ups
Weekend of February 7th’s Best Reviewed: Downton Abbey (8.5/10)
As we barrel ahead towards Downton oblivion, it’s unsurprising that the quality would peak in the antepenultimate episode. AV Club loves the recent “more vigorous, more self-aware” Abbey. Jen Chaney of Vulture wins my heart by comparing the visiting hoi polloi of the surrounding villages as “all the Whos in Whoville” while declaring “Hell hath no fury like a Dame Maggie Smith scorned.” TV Fanatic‘s Caralynn Lippo welcomed the drama’s “hilarious as expected” comedic touch as the clueless aristocrats attempted to explain the history of their abode and lifestyle to the locals, not all of whom slack-jawed yokels.
The Rest of the Night:
Saturday Night Live – 8.5
Based on the disconnect between the imperfect grades and glowing prose, I sense that a lifetime of lukewarm SNL has hardened reviewers from giving the show a perfect grade. The AV Club‘s excellent Dennis Perkins stretched to find a worst sketch on a “uniformly solid show,” but then poured praise on said sketch. Gillian Healey of Vulture called Larry David’s turn “A banner episode not soon to be forgotten,” which seems to warrant more than 4 out of 5 stars, but maybe that’s just me. If you want the true measure of this episode against the canvas of years of mediocrity, check the comments section of AV as they are usually pretty brutal on the long-running program, but tonight you had to dig deep to find even one #CancelJost.
Shameless – 8.5
The Gallagher family’s bidding adieu to their abode made for moving television as Myles McNutt of AV Club called it “easily the most emotional Shameless has made [him] in a long time.” At TV Fanatic, Paul Dailly raves in a 5/5 review that “plenty more stories to tell before this one shows any signs of age.”
Billions – 8.0
Even the uneven Billions earned high praise, Vulture labeling its fourth offering a “high-paced, crackerjack episode.”
Sunday’s Best Reviewed: Galavant
This new feature will scour the internet for reviews of the previous night’s programs to see what shows we might first want to catch up on our DVR’s or favored streaming site. Or just have our suspicions confirmed that, yes, last night’s episode of Blah Blah Blah was no-good, awful, piece of trash. In any case, we’ve taken the ratings, put them through our hackily derived, pointless formula and here ya go…
Sunday, January 24’s Best: Galavant (8.6/10)
Dan Fogelman’s little medieval musical comedy that could beat out the return of Mulder & Scully, the Gallagher family’s continued depravity, and good ol’ reliable Downton to fairly easily capture the top-reviewed show of last night. The AV Club avers that the program has “earned its darkness,” and showed “balls” of which its pilot could never have dreamed. IGN was a bit less glowing, liking the double episode overall, but adding that the “second half-hour didn’t quite hold the momentum of the first installment.”
The Rest of the Night:
Shameless – 8.5
Frank’s debauched affairs got nice write-ups where they did, but I could only find two reviews. AV Club gave it a solid B+ and dubbed it “a definite improvement over last week’s outing,” but lamented the catch-22 in its need to reinvent itself — as they do, the situations become more contrivance.
Downton Abbey – 7.7
The soft-spoken Brits earned solid reviews for this mostly transitionary episode where Thomas the Evil Footman learned it’s hard out there for a butler (particularly when he’s a jerkface) and the hapless Daisy went about saving her one time father-in-law.
Billions – 7.5
AV Club calls the second episode of this Showtime Paul Giamatti/Damian Lewis drama about Wall St. hijinks (but serious ones) “much improved” from its disappointing debut.
The X-Files – 6.7
Everybody wanted so much to believe in this reboot (well, technically a very late arrival of Season 10 of the original) of one of the best shows of the 1990s, featuring the original cast, but reviews of its opening episode have been tepid to say the least. We’ll let you hunt down the reviews, but here’s hoping tonight’s episode brings back the quirky sci-fi, shady characters, and snappy interplay between the leads which made The X-Files legend.
Screen Scholars 