Cheers to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit for a multigenerational tour de force from Michael McKean and Cameron Monaghan.
Want more Cheers & Jeers? Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!
Spinal Tap funnyman McKean turned in his scariest dramatic performance ever as a reality-TV producer who drugs and...
read more
One of the better things about a good episode of NBC's stalwart Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is that you can rarely tell where it's headed. Is tonight's cameo-heavy hour (10/9c) the latest condemnation of reality TV's sordid excesses? Sure looks that way at the start, as we encounter an especially slimy Michael McKean (relishing his repulsiveness) as the predatory producer of a crap-tastic train wreck titled Showgirls, featuring young hopefuls who would do "whatever it takes" to land the starring role in a Broadway musical. (No small irony this is airing the week of the all-important-to-NBC Smash premiere, where such things could never happen!) As he liquors up a nervous contestant for her "audition," he leers for her to "seduce the audience. Let them know you want this." Doesn't take a genius to know where this is going.
read more
You hear the bickering the second you enter the soundstage.
"Sing it already," he says.
"Oh, quiet," she says.
"No, you."
"No, you!"
If it weren't for William H. Macy's impish grin and the huge laugh Emmy Rossum lets out, you'd think the actors might actually come to blows. But that's how they roll on the set of Shameless, Showtime's energetic dramedy about life inside the downtrodden Gallagher household. The cast acts like...
read more