Amy Poehler

SNL always goes whole hog for the holidays, but this season in particular has a distinct “eat your vegetables before you eat dessert” quality to it. We have had to wade through a lot of bitter and not very fun hosts and sketches up to this point in the season, and now our patience is rewarded with the homecoming of two of SNL’s favorite daughters, and arguably the most creatively successful of their class, to cheer us up for the holidays.

‘Sisters’ delivers plenty of huge laughs and is required viewing for fans of slob comedies

Now, having saved The Mindy Project from cancellation, the service is starting to prove its worth. And perhaps no show better sums up the value of having Hulu as a viable original programming platform than Difficult People.

By transforming nebulous emotions into relatable characters, directors Pete Docter and Ronaldo Del Carmen have created nothing short of a roadmap into the pre-pubescent mind. It’s not always a happy place, which is entirely the point. Often surreal and always delightful, ‘Inside Out’ is a rousing tribute to pure imagination.

This week, Parks and Recreation, created by Michael Schur and Greg Daniels, will finish its seven-season, 125-episode run. With that conclusion not only comes the end of one of television’s most rewarding series in the past decade, but the end of its main character’s long, memorable arc.

First Letterman’s leaving. Then Colbert goes in Dave’s stead. And now you’re taking Jon Stewart away from me too?!? Damn you Late Night Gods! Still, we most soldier on, and we have about a solid year left with Stewart, and that gives us plenty of time to find a solid replacement. Here are just a …

Though it feels as though Awards Season has already trudged on for months, the 72nd Annual Golden Globes from Sunday night showed the season has really only just begun. On their long road to the Oscars before nominations are announced this Thursday, Richard Linklater’s Boyhood and Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel struck a blow …

I have a medical condition called caring too much about TV. Amy Poehler’s sitcom Difficult People just got a straight-to-series order from Hulu. Originally USA produced the pilot, but then the network decided to move away from developing comedies. USA’s loss is Hulu‘s gain. The comedy stars Billy Eichner and Julie Klausner, who have worked …

The new animated film Free Birds lives in a strange purgatory of concurrently trying way too hard and not trying nearly hard enough. Though its high-concept hook—turkeys go back in time to right before the first Thanksgiving to devise a way for the settlers to not dine on their feathered brethren at the inaugural feast—is admittedly not something animation studios have tried before, the execution is tired, manic, exhausting, and nonsensical.

It’s not a particularly good sign that the end credits for A.C.O.D. are more revealing and poignant than the film preceding them. As the credits roll on one half of the screen, a montage of (presumably) the film’s crew members plays on the other half, as they identify as being either Adult Children of Divorce (hence the titular acronym) or not, defining when or if their parents split up, how, and why.

Some of this year’s Sundance comedy-dramas have had their narratives plucked from the wellspring of their director’s personal experience, though that should never excuse any shortcomings. Yesterday, I wrote a negative review of Francesca Gregorini’s treatment of motherhood in Emanuel and the Truth about Fishes. My primary beef was less with the inherent trauma at …

Louie, Season 3, Episode 13: “New Year’s Eve” Written by Louis C.K. Directed by Louis C.K. Airs Thursdays at 10:30pm ET on FX The last time Louie ended a season, we said goodbye to Pamela, the one who quite literally got away. This time around, it’s Liz (Parker Posey), who finally reunites with Louie thanks …

Community, Season 3, Episode 17, “Basic Lupine Urology” Written by Megan Ganz Directed by Rob Schrab Airs Thursdays at 8pm ET on NBC “Basic Lupine Urology” (an odd title at first until you remember the creator of Law & Order is named Dick Wolf) is light on the character development Community has been trading in …

30 Rock, Season 6, Episodes 3 & 4, “Idiots are People Three!” & “The Ballad of Kenneth Parcell” “Idiots” Written by Robert Carlock, Directed by Beth McCarthy-Miller “Ballad” Written by Matt Hubbard, Directed by Jeff Richmond Airs Thursday at 8pm ET on NBC It’s kind of disheartening to see the show has abandoned the new …