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TV Review: GLEE – Season 4 – “All or Nothing” – Season Finale

By CARL CORTEZ 05/11/2013

Lea Michele in GLEE - Season 4 finale - "All or Nothing" | ©2013 Fox/Mike Yarish

Stars: Chris Colfer, Darren Criss, Jane Lynch, Kevin McHale, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Heather Morris, Matthew Morrison, Chord Overstreet, Amber Riley, Naya Rivera, Mark Salling, Harry Shum Jr., Jenna Ushkowitz Writer: Ian Brennan Director: Bradley Buecker Network: Fox, airs Thursday nights Original Telecast: May 9, 2013 Well, that was a big pile of nothing. The GLEE Season 4 finale “All or Nothing” is about as anti-climactic as they come. It feels like a series finale after everyone involved with the show has given up, not a show with two more seasons committed to it. The joyous, cool and innovative GLEE, …Read On »

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TV Review: GLEE – Season 4 – “Wonder-ful”

By CARL CORTEZ 05/05/2013

Amber Riley in GLEE - Season 4 - "Wonder-ful" | ©2013 Fox/Adam Rose

Stars: Chris Colfer, Darren Criss, Jane Lynch, Kevin McHale, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Heather Morris, Matthew Morrison, Chord Overstreet, Amber Riley, Naya Rivera, Mark Salling, Harry Shum Jr., Jenna Ushkowitz Writer: Brad Falchuk Director: Wendey Stanzler Network: Fox, airs Thursday nights Original Telecast: May 2, 2013 GLEE continues its downward spiral into the Season 4 abyss with another theme week – Steve Wonder. With Rachel (Lea Michele) getting her Broadway callback for FUNNY GIRL and Mr. Schue (Matthew Morrison) getting a thank you call from Rachel for all he did for her, the theme is fitting. It’s about embracing everything …Read On »

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TV Review: GLEE – Season 4 – “Sweet Dreams”

By CARL CORTEZ 04/20/2013

Lea Michele in GLEE - Season 4 - "Sweet Dreams" | ©2013 Fox/Adam Rose

Stars: Chris Colfer, Darren Criss, Jane Lynch, Kevin McHale, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Heather Morris, Matthew Morrison, Chord Overstreet, Amber Riley, Naya Rivera, Mark Salling, Harry Shum Jr., Jenna Ushkowitz Writer: Ross Maxwell Director: Elodie Keene Network: Fox, airs Thursday nights Original Telecast: April 18, 2013 After last week’s devastatingly tasteless and offensive “Shooting Star” episode which dealt with the issue of a school shooting (without having anyone do any shooting, a gun merely went off), GLEE tries to get back on track with “Sweet Dreams” with mixed results. The problem is, once you go down a dark road like …Read On »

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TV Review: GLEE – Season 4 – “Shooting Star”

By CARL CORTEZ 04/12/2013

Jane Lynch in GLEE - Season 4 - "Shooting Star" | ©2013 Fox/Adam Rose

Stars: Chris Colfer, Darren Criss, Jane Lynch, Kevin McHale, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Heather Morris, Matthew Morrison, Chord Overstreet, Amber Riley, Naya Rivera, Mark Salling, Harry Shum Jr., Jenna Ushkowitz, Whoopi Goldberg, Kate Hudson Writer: Matthew Hodgson Director: Bradley Buecker Network: Fox, airs Thursday nights Original Telecast: April 11, 2013 I wasn’t sure what to think when GLEE decided to tackle school violence and kids bringing guns to school. It’s a very tricky topic, if handled poorly could totally fail miserably. If handled properly, it might shine some light on recent events that has been all over the news in …Read On »

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TV Review: GLEE – Season 4 – “Guilty Pleasures”

By CARL CORTEZ 03/24/2013

Darren Criss and Chord Overstreet perform WHAM in GLEE - Season 4 - "Guilty Pleasures" | ©2013 Fox/Adam Rose

Writer: Russel Friend & Garrett Lerner Director: Eric Stoltz Network: Fox, airs Thursdays Original Telecast: March 24, 2013 Let’s just face it – GLEE is running on fumes. Story has become secondary, almost arbitrary and now the show feels like it only exists to sell songs and CDs. The storylines have become ridiculous during the second half of the season, the transition with the graduating glass (most of them conveniently enough in New York) and the remaining McKinley High students has been awkward and the characters continue to do things that make no sense whatsoever (Finn kissing Emma, huh?). …Read On »

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TV Review: CASTLE – Season 5 – “Hunt”

By ANNE LOUISE BANNON 03/03/2013

Nathan Fillion in CASTLE - Season 5 - "Hunt" | ©2013 ABC/Richard Cartwright

Stars: Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic, Susan Sullivan, Molly Quinn, Tamala Jones, Seamus Deaver, Jon Huertas, Penny Johnson Jerald Writer: Andrew W. Marlowe Director: Rob Bowman Network: ABC, Monday nights, 10 p.m. Original Telecast: February 25, 2013 Did we or did we not call in last week’s episode of CASTLE, “Target?” Now, in “Hunt,” we are vindicated – Alexis (Molly Quinn) was, indeed, the target in the double kidnapping. Yes! Better yet, the circumstances were totally unexpected and there was only one loose end left dangling. Okay, it may have gotten picked up, but I didn’t hear that part. So just as the Feds were telling …Read On »

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TV Review: CASTLE – Season 5 – “Target”

By ANNE LOUISE BANNON 03/02/2013

Molly Quinn and Karen David in CASTLE - Season 5 - "Target" | ©2013 ABC/Richard Foreman

Stars: Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic, Susan Sullivan, Molly Quinn, Tamala Jones, Seamus Deaver, Jon Huertas, Penny Johnson Jerald Writer: David Amann Director: Bill Roe Network: ABC, Monday nights, 10 p.m. Original Telecast: February 18, 2013 As much as I watch CASTLE because I enjoy its frivolity and silliness, I do generally love the more dramatic episodes because they tend to be the better crafted overall. Alas, not so with “Target.” This first of two parts feels like the writers had too much story for one episode, but not quite enough for two, since much of the episode involves Castle (Nathan Fillion) mooning about once everyone realizes …Read On »

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TV Review: CASTLE – Season 5 – “Reality Star Struck”

By ANNE LOUISE BANNON 02/25/2013

Penny Johnson Jerald in CASTLE - Season 5 - "Reality Star Struck" | ©2013 ABC/Ron Tom

Stars: Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic, Susan Sullivan, Molly Quinn, Tamala Jones, Seamus Deaver, Jon Huertas, Penny Johnson Jerald Writer: David Grae Director: Larry Shaw Network: ABC, Monday nights, 10 p.m. Original Telecast: February 11, 2013 Let’s be real. Nobody, but nobody is watching CASTLE for the clever mysteries (because they frequently aren’t) and the realistic depiction of police work (because it’s anything but realistic). We watch CASTLE for the relationships between the characters and the sheer fun of it when the writers take off on a parody trip. And we’ve got both in “Reality Star Struck.” The only reason the episode didn’t get a higher grade was …Read On »

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TV Review: COMMUNITY – Season 4 – “Conventions of Space and Time”

By CARL CORTEZ 02/22/2013

Donald Glover and Danny Pudi in COMMUNITY - Season 4 - "Conventions of Space and Time" | ©2013 NBC/Vivian Zink

Stars: Joel McHale, Chevy Chase, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Yvette Nicole Brown, Alison Brie, Donald Glover, Jim Rash, Ken Jeong Writer: Maggie Bandur Director: Michael Patrick Jann Original Telecast: February 21 2013 Network: NBC, airs Thursday nights I keep coming back to the reconstituted COMMUNITY without creator Dan Harmon at the helm, and the third week in, and I’m still not sold that this is the same show I once loved. COMMUNITY created its own DOCTOR WHO-like show within the show called INSPECTOR SPACETIME which has slowly become a major player in the actual show. Naturally, the new showrunners thought …Read On »

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TV Review: COMMUNITY – Season 4 – “History 101” – Season Premiere

By CARL CORTEZ 02/09/2013

Donald Glover as Troy, Alison Brie as Annie, Danny Pudi as Abed, Yvette Nicole Brown as Shirley, Ken Jeong as Sen?or Chang, Gillian Jacobs as Britta, Joel McHale as Jeff Winger, Chevy Chase as Pierce in COMMUNITY - Season 4 | ©2013 NBC/Mitchell Haaseth

Stars: Joel McHale, Chevy Chase, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Yvette Nicole Brown, Alison Brie, Donald Glover, Jim Rash, Ken Jeong Writer: Ben Wexler Director: Tristram Shapeero Original Telecast: February 7, 2013 Network: NBC, airs Thursday nights While it’s no secret that COMMUNITY creator Dan Harmon was unceremoniously fired last season just after the show was renewed, the unfortunate part is that with Season 4, it’s clear he was the glue and “voice” of the show that kept it together. His unique point of view and strange sense of humor kept COMMUNITY alive and well. Even when it had an uneven …Read On »

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