It’s that time of year again for my list of favorite TV characters on shows that are currently airing or recently wrapped their season.
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First episode impressions: ‘iZombie’ Season 4 (TV review)
On Monday, the Diane Ruggiero/Rob Thomas show that started off as a sly way to get “Veronica Mars”-style witty mysteries back on the tube surpassed its more famous forebearer in number of seasons. While “iZombie” (9 p.m. Eastern Mondays, The CW) strikes me as being less popular and less acclaimed than “Veronica,” it always finds a spot on my year-end top 10 lists and it’s getting to the point where the duo’s shorthand descriptor should be “the creators of ‘Veronica Mars’ AND ‘iZombie.’ ”
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John’s top 10 TV shows of 2017
We’re living in a historical transitional period for TV, as streaming services compete with traditional networks and cable/satellite channels for our entertainment dollar. As such, television has never been better, regardless of how it gets to us. Appropriately, my list of the year’s best shows consists of half network shows and half others, and kicks off with a streaming series.
John’s 10 favorite TV characters at the moment (Commentary)
Here are my 10 favorite TV characters at the moment, as the traditional season winds down and the summer season begins:
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John’s top 10 TV shows of 2016
These were my 10 favorite shows of 2016:
1. “Atlanta” (Season 1, FX) – Donald Glover’s brainchild is a crazy mix of “Curb Your Enthusiasm”-esque wry observations (Earn’s inability to order a kids’ meal), envelope-pushing storytelling choices (the pundit roundtable parody) and outright horrific violence (Earn witnesses a murder, then moves on like it’s just another day in the ATL). It comes together as an on-point – albeit still crazy — portrait of being a dead-broke young adult on the backstreets of a collapsing American city.
John’s 10 favorite TV characters at the moment (Commentary)
As we wind down the traditional season and gear up for some summer shows, here’s a look at 10 TV characters who have my attention:
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John’s top 10 TV shows of 2015
These were my 10 favorite TV shows of 2015:
1. “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” (Season 1, The CW) – In blending musical numbers, broad comedy and genuine character drama about a troubled 20-something, Rachel Bloom’s brainchild is the most ambitious show of the year. By doing all three of those things well (particularly the musical numbers, which are consistently clever and catchy in the way they explore Rebecca’s and other characters’ neuroses), it’s also the best show of the year. I’ll be following whatever Bloom does next, but I hope this series defies the low ratings and sticks around awhile, at least long enough for an official soundtrack release. (Here are my 10 favorite songs so far.)
Fall TV 2015: 6 returning favorites worth checking out (Commentary)
The ax fell fairly lightly on TV shows at the end of last season, and as a result we have a nice selection of returning shows to choose from. Here are the six I’m most looking forward to, ranked in order of my anticipation for them:
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John’s 10 favorite TV characters at the moment (Commentary)
Here are my 10 favorite characters of the moment on shows that recently concluded their season, are ongoing or will soon return for the summer season:
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For current popular shows, what’s the end game? (TV commentary)
By their very nature, some shows have end games and some don’t. A show about families and relationships, like “Parenthood,” simply looks for a grace note (and it found a good one in its series finale in January); it’s not as if it can end with everyone’s life in a state of perpetual perfection. At the other end of the spectrum, a murder mystery like last fall’s “Gracepoint” has a strictly defined finish line: “Who killed Danny Solano?”
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