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TV Review: CASTLE – Season 5 – “Cloudy with a Chance of Murder”

By ANNE LOUISE BANNON 10/03/2012

Nathan Fillion and Jodi Lyn O'Keefe in CASTLE - Season 5 - "Cloudy with a Chance of Murder" | ©2012 ABC/Vivian Zink

Stars: Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic, Susan Sullivan, Molly Quinn, Tamala Jones, Seamus Deaver, Jon Huertas, Penny Johnson Jerald Writer: Elizabeth Beall Director: Kate Woods Network: ABC, Monday nights, 10 p.m. Original Telecast: October 1, 2012 For all those who have complained (with some reason) that their light-hearted whodunnit had been co-opted by the drama monsters the past few season, the old CASTLE is back with “Cloudy with a Chance of Murder.” But it’s even more fun now that author Rick Castle (Nathan Fillion) and Det. Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) are lovers. The only problem they’re having is trying to keep it quiet. See, Kate is […]Read On »

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TV Review: FRINGE – Season 5 premiere – “Transilience Thought Unifer Model-11”

By CARL CORTEZ 09/29/2012

Lance Reddick, Blair Brown, Joshua Jackson, Anna Torv, John Noble and Jasika Nicole in FRINGE - Season 5 | ©2012 Fox/Kharen Hill

Stars: Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, Jasika Nicole, John Noble, Lance Reddick, Blair Brown, Georgina Haig Writer: J.H. Wyman Directors: Jeannot Szwarc, Miguel Sapochnik Network: Fox, airs Friday nights Original Telecast: October 28, 2012 I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, FRINGE is one of the most ambitious and ground-breaking science-fiction series ever. It never rests on its laurels and it’s always quick to change its tone, focus and concept season by season in an attempt to tell challenging and complex stories even die-hard fans would never expect. After Season 4, FRINGE was on the bubble and almost didn’t return […]Read On »

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TV Review: CASTLE – Season 5 – “After the Storm” – Season Premiere

By ANNE LOUISE BANNON 09/25/2012

Stana Katic in the Season 5 premiere episode of CASTLE - "After the Storm" | ©2012 ABC/Vivian Zink

Stars: Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic, Susan Sullivan, Molly Quinn, Tamala Jones, Seamus Deaver, Jon Huertas, Penny Johnson Jerald Writer: David Amann Director: Rob Bowman Network: ABC, Monday nights, 10 p.m. Original Telecast: September 24, 2012 Think of “After the Storm” as the part two of last season’s CASTLE finale “Always,” which you may recall I was decidedly miffed about. And still am. Yet, despite teases from the network, it does look like we finally have a couple working out their relationship rather than the whole will they/won’t they routine. And this is one jam-packed episode. I speculated last spring that the planned hit on Det. […]Read On »

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TV Review: BREAKING BAD – Season 5 – “Gliding Over All” – Midseason finale

By EGAN BRUMLEY 09/04/2012

Anna Gunn and Bryan Cranston in BREAKING BAD - Season 5 - "Gliding All Over" | ©2012 AMC/Lewis Jacobs

Stars: Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn Writer: Moira Walley-Beckett Director: Michelle MacLaren Network: AMC, airs Sunday Nights Original Telecast: September 2, 2012 “Gliding Over All” wraps up the first half of Season 5 of BREAKING BAD, and sends us into the (suddenly all too long) break between the Season’s first and second halves asking questions we thought we’d reasonably be asking at this point anyway. In the past 8 episodes Walter White (Bryan Cranston) has successfully risen to the top of criminal underworld in the Southwest, become a ruthless killer, and eliminated or neutralized anyone who could stop him […]Read On »

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TV Review: BREAKING BAD – Season 5 – “Say My Name”

By EGAN BRUMLEY 08/28/2012

Mike (Jonathan Banks) dumps his weapons in BREAKING BAD "Say My Name" | (c) 2012 Ursula Coyote/AMC

Stars: Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn Writer: Thomas Schnauz Director: Thomas Schnauz Network: AMC, airs Sunday Nights Original Telecast: August 26, 2012 “Say My Name” is a pivotal and gut-wrenching episode of BREAKING BAD, and one that answers many of the questions that have been building since the season began. Questions such as: Is Walt really capable of becoming “Jesse James?” In Mike’s (Jonathan Bank’s) memorable turn of phrase, just because Walt shot Jesse James doesn’t make him Jesse James. But the opening sequence of “Say My Name” says otherwise. Walt, Jesse, (Aaron Paul) and Mike meet the crime […]Read On »

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TV Review: BREAKING BAD – Season 5 – “Dead Freight”

By EGAN BRUMLEY 08/14/2012

Jesse Plemons in BREAKING BAD - Season 5 - "Dead Freight" | ©2012 AMC/Ursula Coyote

Stars: Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn Writer: George Mastras Director: George Mastras Network: AMC, airs Sunday Nights Original Telecast: August 12, 2012 “Dead Freight” is BREAKING BAD’s most plot-heavy episode this season, as it details Walt, (Bryan Cranston), Jesse, (Aaron Paul), and Mike’s (Jonathan Banks’s) complicated plan to heist methylamine from a freight train to support their burgeoning drug business. Despite a shocking climax, however, the episode’s focus on exposition related to heist-planning leaves “Dead Freight” without the emotional punch of previous episodes. Still, the build-up to the heist is entertaining, and having the absolute certain knowledge that the […]Read On »

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TV Review: BREAKING BAD – Season 5 – “Fifty-One”

By EGAN BRUMLEY 08/10/2012

Bryan Cranston and Anna White in BREAKING BAD - Season 5 - "Fifty-One" | ©2012 AMC/Ursula Coyote

Stars: Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn Writer: Sam Catlin Director: Rian Johnson Network: AMC, airs Sunday Nights Original Telecast: August 6, 2012 “Fifty-One” is perhaps the most harrowing episode of BREAKING BAD this season, as it deals primarily with the toll Walter White’s (Bryan Cranston’s) year-long transformation has taken on his wife, Skyler (Anna Gunn). Since Walt’s become a power-hungry madman, we were aware that this toll was heavy, but this episode features several gasp-worthy moments that is notable not only for the depiction of Walt’s depravity, but for its abject sadness. Some of those difficult domestic moments include: […]Read On »

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TV Review: BREAKING BAD – Season 5 – “Hazard Pay”

By EGAN BRUMLEY 08/02/2012

Bryan Cranston in BREAKING BAD - Season 5 - "Hazard Pay" | ©2012 AMC/Ursula Coyote

Stars: Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn Writer: Peter Gould Director: Adam Bernstein Network: AMC, airs Sunday Nights Original Telecast: July 29, 2012 Having convinced Mike to handle the business side of their new drug operation, Walt and Jesse begin to cook meth again, and they begin to fill the void left in the underworld by Gus’s death. But Walt’s ego is already creating fissures in the new partnership. Again this week on BREAKING BAD, Mike (Jonathan Banks) gets the best line, as he tells Walt (Bryan Cranston) “Just because you shot Jesse James – don’t make you Jesse James.” […]Read On »

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TCA 2012: NBC talks COMMUNITY Season 5 possibilities, the move to Fridays and the recent showrunner changeover

By A.C. FERRANTE 07/24/2012

Joel McHale in COMMUNITY - Season 3 - "Biology 101" | ©2011 NBC/Lewis Jacobs

With COMMUNITY getting new showrunners, only a 13-episode commitment and a new timeslot on Fridays, the question remains – how committed is NBC to the ground-breaking and highly original series? At today’s NBCUniversal Summer 2012 Press Tour, NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt discussed the COMMUNITY situation and what’s happening with NBC’s comedy slate in general “I think we’re going to transition with our comedy programming trying to broaden the audience and broaden what the network does,” says Greenblatt. “Those Thursday comedies [30 ROCK, PARKS AND RECREATION, THE OFFICE), which the critics love and we love, tend to be a bit […]Read On »

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TV Review: BREAKING BAD – Season 5 – “Madrigal”

By EGAN BRUMLEY

Jonathan Banks and Laura Fraser in BREAKING BAD - Season 5 - "Madrigal" | ©2012 AMC/Ursula Coyote

Stars: Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn Writer: Vince Gilligan Director: Michelle MacLaran Network: AMC, airs Sunday Nights Original Telecast: July 22, 2012 The bomb that killed drug kingpin Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) in last season’s BREAKING BAD finale had, for better or for worse, a liberating effect on Walter White (Bryan Cranston). The success of Walt’s plot to kill Gus not only removed the sword of Damocles from above Walt, and his family’s, heads, but also validated the image he’d been nurturing of himself as a cunning, ruthless drug lord. But for Gus’s former “Head of Security,” the world-weary […]Read On »

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