John Hansen and Michael Olinger review movies, TV, books and comics
For as long as I can remember, TV has served up an epic season finale or two every May. In recent years, up until 2010, there were the season-enders of “24” and “Lost.” Before that, we had “Buffy” and “The X-Files,” just to scratch the surface.
Continue reading “Where have all the epic season finales gone? (TV commentary)”
Here are my first impressions of the Season 2 premiere of “Glee” (7 p.m. Central Tuesdays, Fox).
Continue reading “First episode (of new season) impressions: ‘Glee’ (TV review)”
Here’s what I’ll be watching for on my top 10 returning fall shows, listed in order of airdate. All times are Central.
Continue reading “Fall TV: What to watch for on 10 returning favorites (Commentary)”
A friend of mine recently said he hates “Glee” (the first-season finale will air at 7:59 p.m. Central Tuesday on Fox). He shared his opinion after the episode that featured two KISS songs, and he’s a big KISS fan, and I think it might have been the first episode he watched, but still, he makes a valid point: Why perform songs if they are going to be inferior to the original version?
Continue reading “The inevitable ‘Glee’ backlash: Is it here already? (TV commentary)”
My favorite character on “Glee” (8 p.m. Central Tuesdays on Fox) is Brittany. Normally, liking an extreme background character on a show puts you in a class of your own, but when you mention you like Brittany, you’re likely to hear “I know, right? She’s stealing the show.”
Continue reading “The cult of ‘Glee’s’ Brittany (TV commentary)”
1. “10 Things I Hate About You” recently returned, and it hasn’t missed a beat from its run last summer. Although it more openly admits to being aimed at all ages, “10 Things” is treading the path paved before it by “Lizzie McGuire” and “Zoey 101” — two other shows about teenagers with humor for adults. For example, when Kat complains about how the school is “violating our Constitutional rights,” Bianca says, “God, you’re like a live feed from C-SPAN.” It’s slightly too witty for believable teen-speak, but it’s just right for adults who find the clichés of teen worries equally relevant and absurd.
Continue reading “5 random observations about current TV shows (Commentary)”
Although two shows on this list are much missed and a third (“Dollhouse”) is on its way out, 2009 was generally a year when TV networks got smarter about marketing.
Putting together my top 20 songs of the decade list is more personal, more a matter of taste, than compiling the TV and movie lists. There will be a few songs on this list that you love, too, but mostly it’s stuff you have no interest in sampling, let alone purchasing.
Continue reading “John’s favorite pop songs of the Aughts (Music commentary)”
Why is “Glee” (8 p.m. Central Wednesdays on Fox) the first widely popular scripted music show? I’m almost certain the answer is “random chance,” but that would make for a rather short blog post, so I’m going to theorize a bit further.
There was no second-episode jinx for “Glee” (8 p.m. Central Wednesdays on Fox) when it returned to the schedule this week. It’s too early to declare it the best new show of the fall, but it’s definitely a frontrunner.
Continue reading “‘Glee’ gets subtler, but big songs still drive the show (TV commentary)”