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Showing posts from November, 2011

The Daily Beast: "Bravo’s Addictive Work of Art"

The art-world reality competition, Work of Art , with its oddball artists, overly harsh judges, and a terrifically animated mentor has become must-see television. Let’s be honest: Many of us watch reality television to fulfill a voyeuristic need to peer into other people’s lives, and to perhaps feel better about our own. The staggering success of Bravo’s Real Housewives franchise would seem to prove this, just as, similarly, the cable channel’s reality shows tap this universal human need within the context of competition. We’ve seen pastry chefs break down about Red Hots, fashion designers make competitors’ mothers cry ( Project Runway ’s Jeffrey Sebelia, we’re looking at you), but the drama has perhaps never seemed quite so real or the participants quite so tortured as the artists on Bravo’s highly addictive Work of Art , currently airing its second season Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest story, "Bravo’s Addictive Work of Art ,...

The Daily Beast: "Showtime's Homeland: The Best New Show of the Season

There is no room for argument: Showtime’s provocative and gut-wrenching psychological thriller Homeland is the best new show of the season. Revolving around two very unreliable narrators engaged in a series of riveting mind games, Homeland explores an America 10 years after 9/11, surveying the damage done to both the national psyche and the central protagonists. Claire Danes plays Carrie Mathison, a CIA operative with both a mental illness and a troubling sense of personal guilt that she missed crucial intelligence prior to the Sept. 11 attacks; Damian Lewis (Life) plays soldier Nicholas Brody, a prisoner of war who returns home to a family that long thought him dead, and who may or may not have been turned into an enemy of the state during his eight-year captivity in Iraq. Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, entitled "Showtime's Homeland : The Best New Show of the Season," in which I talk to the show's co-creators Alex Gansa and Howard Gor...

The Daily Beast: "Community on Hiatus: Why NBC Is Making a Mistake"

Community fans, this is your St. Crispin’s Day moment. Dumping Community in favor of shifting around the Thursday-night comedies feels a bit like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Community, after all, is not the iceberg that’s sinking NBC. Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest story, " Community on Hiatus: Why NBC Is Making a Mistake," in which I look at the case for and against keeping the brilliant and subversive comedy around. For right now, Community airs Thursday evening at 8 p.m. on NBC.

The Daily Beast: "American Horror Story: The Craziest Show on TV"

The most divisive show on television is FX’s American Horror Story , a haunted-house drama created by Glee ’s Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, with viewers and critics loving it, hating it, or loving to hate it. Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, " American Horror Story : The Craziest Show on TV," in which Maria Elena Fernandez and I, in our latest He Said/She Said discussion, examine the show's merits and failings and attempt to come to something resembling an agreement about the show. (Spoiler: we don't.) What is your take on American Horror Story ? Head to the comments section to discuss, debate, and react. American Horror Story airs Wednesdays at 10 pm ET/PT on FX.

The Daily Beast: "The Teens of Parenthood"

In NBC’s Parenthood , the show’s teens--including Mae Whitman, Sarah Ramos, and Miles Heizer--often walk away with the most heartbreaking and emotional storylines. Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, entitled "TV's Most Talented Teens" (formerly known as "The Teens of Parenthood "), in which I sit down with Whitman, Ramos, and Heizer to discuss their characters, on-set camaraderie, and, yes, the haircut that launched a thousand tweets. Parenthood returns with new episodes tonight at 10 pm ET/PT on NBC.