Last night we saw the finale of the second season of the brilliant HBO series Girls. Creator Lena Dunham receives a lot of backlash for her use of full frontal nudity and the show in general but Girls is one of the best television shows around right now. Yes the characters aren’t always likeable and the story lines don’t always …
The connection between music and animation is an incredibly close one. In 1940, Walt Disney pioneered with his first animated full-length feature, a musical telling of Snow White and even before, cartoons were common in movie theaters, rounding out the double bills along with newsreels and comedy shorts. For decades, audiences watched shorts this way …
As with any favorite, the TV series we love, those we come back to time and again, tend to say a lot about us. They remind us of who and where we were when we first saw them and help us chart how we’ve grown and changed over the years. They become guides, informing our …
From its very beginnings as a genre, Western film has trafficked in the iconic, in the larger-than-life imagery of the tall tale and the never-ending, expansive wilderness that forms the crucial backbone to these stories. More than perhaps any other genre, Westerns deal in types, with their characters standing in for the Other, the Immigrant, …
With Eastbound & Down’s series finale set to air this Sunday and the 2012 MLB season a few weeks underway, baseball is on the brain of many a sports-loving TV fan. With such a long and rich history, and such a strong place in American culture, it’s only natural for so many series to take …
In honor of leap day, those extra 24 hours we get every four years, a time travel list seemed in order. One of the most consistent and popular tropes of genre fiction, time travel opens up worlds of possibility and, when used in well, can allow writers avenues to explore character and story in creative …
It’s Valentine’s Day and, for many, that means date night. In this economy, however, a night on the town can be prohibitive. What’s a TV lover to do? Perhaps this is an acceptable alternative? A quiet night in, with a nice, homemade dinner, a few drinks, and a few hours with the perfect show. Here …
Over the past few seasons, while True Blood became HBO’s #1 show and serialized storytelling hit creative highs with Breaking Bad, Justified, and Game of Thrones, one network series has quietly become a go-to for fans of intelligent, well-made serialized genre television. The Vampire Diaries may not be a perfect show, but it carefully avoids …
Most people watch TV passively, as a way to wind down their day or relax with their family. Then there are TV fans, who sit forward in their seats, eager to be challenged and inspired as well as entertained by their favorite series. In general, whether viewed actively or passively, TV is in its nature …
It’s that time of year again- Halloween; ‘tis the season for ghouls and ghasts and spooks galore. There have been few true horror series, such as Tales from the Crypt and Masters of Horror, and for this admitted scaredy-cat, finding TV episodes to watch can be tough. Here are seven fun and spooky episodes to …
A nice house in the suburbs with a picket fence, 2.5 kids, and a dog playing in the yard. For many and for many years, this was the American dream. Interesting that no other kind of pet is mentioned. Not cats, not birds, not fish. Dogs. Though this affinity for canine companionship isn’t shared everywhere …
TV is full of shows set in their own universes, worlds different from our own (sometimes slightly, sometimes drastically) that open up new avenues for storytellers to explore. It can be a lot of fun to ponder what it would be like to live in a particular universe, to explore that different world, but would …
Cop shows have been around almost as long as television itself and have run the gamut, from procedurals to sitcoms to serialized dramas. They’ve given us some of TV’s most memorable and enduring characters, not to mention some of the medium’s best performances. Yet, upon examination, disproportionately few of the detectives who grace our screens …
One of the great things about the genres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror are that they allow writers to break the rules. If a topic is taboo or controversial, put it on a distant planet and it’ll usually get past the censors. If a character needs to confront their issues over a friend’s death, …
The right music can make all the difference in a TV show. It can elevate a scene, imbue it with nuance and meaning, or destroy it, either under- or over-playing the emotion and rendering it lifeless or trite. Many have opinions on the best or most memorable TV theme songs, but far fewer have anything to say …