|
Crash
|
TV Reviews: Messy at best, the two-episode premiere suffers from wildly uneven performances, beginning with Dennis Hopper at his manic worst.
|
|
The Starter Wife
|
TV Reviews: Turns out a starter wife can be a trophy wife too. Case in point, "The Starter Wife," the Emmy-nominated mini-turned-regular series that returns to USA Network. Debra Messing reprises her role as the eponymous spouse, a Hollywood idiom for the woman who unwittingly prepares hubby for a younger, hotter version. She's rejoined by Chris Diamantopoulos and Judy Davis as the divorcees, decorators and debauchers who live among the rich and ridiculous but are too self-aware not to be, not exactly ashamed, but at least hilariously pithy about their lifestyle choices. A real coup for USA, these characters are not only welcome -- to borrow its promotional slogan -- they have standing reservations.
|
|
Koppel on Discovery: The Last Lynching
|
TV Reviews: Leave it to Ted Koppel to pause before the presidential election to revisit a point sobering in its simplicity: The relatively brief span of time between the possibility of electing an African-American president and some of the signature horrors inflicted against blacks during the 20th century.
|
|
Testees
|
TV Reviews: Every bit as juvenile as its title would suggest, "Testees" lives several rungs down the evolutionary ladder from FX's once-promising and now increasingly disappointing "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."
|
|
Prototype This
|
TV Reviews: From the people who brought you "Mythbusters," Discovery trots out another installment in completely disposable gearhead TV, letting tech geeks run wild with remote-controlled cars and sledgehammers.
|
|
Eleventh Hour
|
TV Reviews: At first blush, "Eleventh Hour" is just CBS' way of wedding "CSI" to "House" -- having a brilliant scientist try to decipher intricate mysteries and solve crimes.
|
|
Kath & Kim
|
TV Reviews: Snide but not smart, "Kath & Kim" will likely leave American audiences scratching their heads, wondering what Australians saw in the concept -- or if something was seriously lost in translation.
|
|
Life on Mars
|
TV Reviews: Every year ABC rolls the dice on one truly first-rate pilot that breaks (or at least bends) the usual mold. "Life on Mars" is the latest gamble -- albeit one predicated on an existing template, that being a BBC drama.
|
|
Valentine
|
TV Reviews: Forget slings and arrows. These days, Cupid is packing heat. Things are so bad on Earth, what with wars, financial crises and technology-driven relationships, that even the gods of love have itchy trigger fingers and no job security.
|
|
Easy Money
|
TV Reviews: Extremely topical, well acted and surprisingly touching, "Easy Money" is a promising new entry from Media Rights Capital. An off-beat dramedy penned by "Sopranos" and "Northern Exposure" writers Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider, the series has that quirky, character-driven appeal that usually resonates well with viewers. Set in a fictional Southwestern town, the show revolves around the Buffkin family, which runs a dubious, quick-cash loan service in the bad part of town. The family of misfits and their oddball clients and friends provide a rich palette from which to draw stories.
|
