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The Daily Beast: "Mad Men: The Bizarre Megan Draper as Sharon Tate Conspiracy Theory"

Is Mad Men ’s Megan Draper about to be murdered à la Sharon Tate? Internet conspiracy theorists say yes. My take on the rumors and what the show’s costume designer has to say. At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, " Mad Men : The Bizarre Megan Draper as Sharon Tate Conspiracy Theory," in which I examine the current Internet conspiracy theories swirling around Mad Men 's Megan Draper and see what the show's costume designer, Janie Bryant, had to say about the star t-shirt and more. On AMC’s Mad Men this season, Megan Draper (Jessica Paré), the actress wife of Jon Hamm’s Don Draper, has had some success in her own career, landing a meaty role on an ongoing daily soap opera where she’s now playing twins Colette and Corinne. In this week’s episode (“The Better Half”), Megan took to the balcony of the Manhattan apartment she shares with her adulterous husband. Nearby, Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) has accidentally stabbed her boyfriend, Abe (Charlie Hofheimer

The Daily Beast: "17 Shows Worth Watching This Summer"

Get out of the sun—there’s recovering zombies, addictive serial-killer mysteries, and the Breaking Bad finale on TV. My take on what not to miss for this cool summer season. At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "17 Shows Worth Watching This Summer," in which I round up 17 shows worth watching during the sweltering months to come, from FX's The Bridge and BBC America's Broadchurch to ABC Family's Switched at Birth  and CBS's Under The Dome . (Plus, Showtime's Ray Donovan , which SHOULD NOT BE MISSED.) Summer isn’t the television wasteland that it used to be. While the broadcasters are still figuring out what to do with their real estate during these lazy months (original drama? reality competitions? burn-offs?), cable channels have long known the power of airing high-profile series throughout the heat, and there is quite a lot of original programming to be seen during these next sweltering months. CBS is launching the event ser

The Daily Beast: "Arrested Development: Why Netflix’s Revival Failed"

Fans eagerly awaited the return of Arrested Development , brought back from the TV graveyard by Netflix. Jace Lacob on why the show’s fourth season revival falls flat. At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, " Arrested Development : Why Netflix’s Revival Failed," in which I review Season 4 of Netflix's Arrested Development revival, for which all 15 episodes were released yesterday. Unfortunately, despite my obsession with Arrested Development 's first few seasons, I didn't enjoy this at all. If you have an Internet connection, you know Arrested Development returned from the dead on Sunday, with all 15 episodes of the show’s fourth season available on Netflix on the same day. This strategy falls in line with the other original series rollouts that the streaming platform has launched this year, from House of Cards to the abysmal Hemlock Grove, given the belief that Netflix wants to offer the viewer “choice” as to how it consumes content: will yo

The Daily Beast: "Meet Flynn McGarry: America's Next Great Chef is 14 Years Old"

McGarry and BierBeisl chef Bernard Meiringer. (Will McGarry) The chef behind hit Beverly Hills pop-up restaurant Eureka is Flynn McGarry. I sit down for an elaborate 11-course meal and interviews the teenage prodigy. At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Meet Flynn McGarry: America's Next Great Chef is 14 Years Old," in which I sit down with 14-year-old culinary prodigy Flynn McGarry, whose $160 a head supper club and pop-up restaurant Eureka has become destination dining in Los Angeles.(Plus, see my Instagrams of my May 1st meal at McGarry's Eureka and read what McGarry has to say about several specific dishes from the menu .) A recent 11-course tasting menu at Eureka, a monthly pop-up restaurant at Los Angeles’ BierBeisl, included a dish of fresh and dried English peas concealing a hidden parmesan and whey pudding, a live scallop under a cucumber foam, gnocchi made from ash, and an unctuous sous-vide egg yolk encircled by hedgehog mushrooms,

The Daily Beast: "The Dark Lure of Gillian Anderson's The Fall"

BBC Two’s The Fall , starring Gillian Anderson and Jamie Dornan, debuts on Netflix on May 28. My take on Anderson and Dornan’s searing performances and why you need to watch. At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "The Dark Lure of Gillian Anderson's The Fall ," in which I review BBC Two's serial killer drama The Fall , which stars Gillian Anderson and which makes its Stateside debut next week on Netflix. It is virtually impossible to talk about The Fall—BBC Two’s addictive and provocative serial killer drama, which begins streaming stateside on Netflix on May 28—without mentioning the ghost in the room: Prime Suspect. The allusion to Prime Suspect, a massive hit on both sides of the Atlantic, is well founded. For one, The Fall is the closest that television has come to capturing the taut alchemy of Prime Suspect: part police chase, part psychological portrait of the hunted and the hunter. At the time of its premiere in 1992, Prime Suspect captured

The Daily Beast: "2013 TV Upfronts Wrap-Up: Bring On the New Television Shows"

The broadcast network upfront presentations are over. Jace Lacob on the 51 new scripted shows heading to television next season. What will you watch? At The Daily Beast, you can read my final upfronts post, "2013 TV Upfronts Wrap-Up: Bring On the New Television Shows," in which I wrap up our broadcast network upfronts coverage and take a look at the 51 new scripted series heading to ABC Television Network, CBS, NBC, FOX, and The CW for the 2013-14 season. The upfront presentations are (finally) over. Now that the dust has settled, it's easier to get a larger picture of what's going on for next season. The numbers: 51 scripted series have been ordered by the broadcast networks for the 2013–14 season. There are 29 new dramas for next season and 22 comedies. Thirty-one shows will launch in the fall, and 20 are being held for a later date, should some of the fall offerings fail to enflame the public's imagination. On the network level, ABC picked up 12 new sc

The Daily Beast: "The CW Reveals Its 2013-14 Primetime Schedule: Hart of Dixie to Monday, Supernatural to Tuesday, The Carrie Diaries to Friday"

I examine The CW's 2013-14 primetime schedule, which includes five new dramas and moves around returning shows ( Supernatural, The Carrie Diaries, Hart of Dixie ) across the week. At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest upfront report, "The CW Reveals Its 2013-14 Primetime Schedule," in which I take a look at The CW's fall schedule. (Videos and comments from Mark Pedowitz tk.) The CW took the wraps off of its 2013-14 primetime schedule on Thursday morning, marking the final day of the broadcast network upfronts. Among the changes afoot at the nearly seven-year old network: Hart of Dixie and Beauty and the Beast are moving to Mondays, Supernatural moves to Tuesdays, and The Carrie Diaries gets pushed to Fridays at 8 p.m. Nikita, which will have its final season of a six episodes, will be held until midseason. The network ordered five new dramas for next season, which will be scattered throughout Tuesdays (The Vampire Diaries spin-off The Originals), Wednesday