[Televisionary]

If you didn’t watch BBC America’s clone drama Orphan Black , you missed one of the year’s best dramatic performances. My take on why Tatiana Maslany deserves an Emmy nod. Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Emmy Awards’ Dark Horse Nominee," in which I offer a look at one of the year's best television performances, that of Tatiana Maslany on BBC America's Orphan Black , and state why this dark horse deserves at least an Emmy nomination. If you don’t regularly tune in to shows about global conspiracies, illegal medical research, and genetically identical clones, you may be forgiven for not watching Orphan Black , the serpentine Canadian-American science fiction drama that wrapped up its first season earlier this month on BBC America. (Season 2 will air in 2014.) But not watching this compelling and surprisingly emotional cult drama—created by Graeme Manson and John Fawcett—means that you missed out on one of the year’s most intense and aston

Game of Thrones may catch up with George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels. So what will HBO do if the inevitable does occur? My take on the show's options. At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest post, " Game of Thrones : Will the HBO Series Catch Up to George R.R. Martin's Books?" in which I react to Entertainment Weekly's story on whether Game of Thrones will meet up with (or surpass) the progress of Martin's in-progress novels. After the horror and shock of last week's Red Wedding episode, Season 3 of Game of Thrones ended rather quietly. There were no dragons being born from ancient eggs placed upon a funeral pyre, nor white walkers marching en masse for the brothers of the Night's Watch. Instead, Daenerys Stormborn (Emilia Clarke) is raised above the shoulders of the slaves she freed from bondage and the episode ("Mhysa") more or less set up some new conflicts and story for the fourth season, which should arri

Yes, that actually did just happen. My take on the latest shocking twist on HBO’s Game of Thrones , and why the disturbing outcome of the Red Wedding was crucial for the series. Spoilers abound! At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "The Red Wedding: HBO’s Game of Thrones Reveals Its Latest Twist," in which I offer my take on this week's shocking episode of Game of Thrones ("The Rains of Castamere") and why the twist was necessary for the longevity and narrative stakes of the series. And they partook of his salt and bread. Oaths are meant to be sacred: after all, a man is only as good as his word. But a world in which oaths are meaningless and void is a terrifying place without logic, justice, or order. On this week’s episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones (“The Rains of Castamere”), we see the ramifications of breaking one’s word. Just as Robb Stark (Richard Madden) betrayed his vow to Walder Frey (David Bradley), promising to marry his daughte

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

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

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

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,