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10 movies and TV shows John is looking forward to in 2018 (Commentary)

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Here are 10 TV shows and movies I have high hopes for in the new year:

“The X-Files” (TV show, 8 p.m. Eastern Wednesdays, starting Wednesday, Fox) – OK, so I’m not as big on the mythology episodes lately (Haven’t we seen it all before?), but I do love me some Monster of the Weeks. And I won’t say no to an occasional Darin Morgan comedy hour either. With 10 episodes this time around (compared to six in 2016), there’s bound to be a good variety.

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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.

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Fall TV 2016: 8 new and returning shows to watch among the minefield of remakes (Commentary)

The Fall 2016 season is Exhibit A in the case that TV is running low on original ideas: “MacGyver”(8 p.m. Fridays, CBS, Sept. 23) is a straight-up relaunch with a new cast, hoping to capture some of the popularity of the ’80s hit. Even though the movie franchise petered to a close 18 years ago with the fourth entry, “Lethal Weapon” (8 p.m. Wednesdays, Fox, Sept. 21) is coming to TV, complete with the movie’s logo flashed across the trailer every few seconds, apparently to bring up warm thoughts of the films.

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‘Scream’ and ‘Dead of Summer’ make Tuesday nights great again (TV review)

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For the first time since “Gilmore Girls” and “Veronica Mars” aired back-to-back nearly a decade ago, Tuesday night has become appointment-TV night again. A couple of unlikely shows have propped up Tuesday night’s status: “Scream” (10 p.m. Eastern on MTV) and “Dead of Summer” (9 p.m. Eastern on Freeform). Whereas other nights have a decent show here and there (such as Wednesday’s “Penn & Teller: Fool Us”), Tuesday is the only night that currently gets me excited to come home from work and fire up my DVR.

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2015: The summer of horror TV (Commentary)

Entertainment trends are a funny thing. Horror movie releases have slowed to a trickle, whereas a decade ago there was a new one in theaters every week. But horror TV shows were rare then, whereas today, the boob tube is covered with them. Even though horror is still scarier on the big screen for obvious reasons, TV is making a strong case as a home for horror in 2015 — some of the best horror TV ever made, actually.

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Meta to the max: If it’s all been done before, then what’s left to say in ‘Scream 4?’ (Movie review)

Eleven years after “Scream 3,” the casting director of “Scream 4” had a lot of lost time to make up for. While the original film in 1996 brought big-screen attention to “Party of Five” star Neve Campbell and “Friends” star Courteney Cox, this installment isn’t content to pick out a couple Next Big Things.

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