Following, some thoughts on another very busy weekend of summer TV. (At this point, I'm almost looking forward to the fall season starting, so I can catch my breath.)
CHI-TOWN CHICANERY: Corruption, mendacity, a thick smog of cynicism. Ain't we got fun? And so the audaciously downbeat political drama Boss returns to Starz (Friday, 9/8c), anchored and dominated yet again by Kelsey Grammer's tremendous performance as Chicago mayor (aka "boss" man) Tom Kane. A self-righteous bastard and unrepentant bully, this Machiavellian manipulator is notorious for "sacrificing that which is most precious for his political survival" (including sending his own daughter to prison and having his once-trusted turncoat adviser killed). Juggling more baggage than O'Hare during a blizzard, Kane is also beset by demons, manifesting as visions and hallucinations and ghosts, all symptoms of a debilitating brain disease — or maybe it's just good old guilt.
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The Strike Back team had just arrived in Mozambique to kick off shooting this season when they ran into a major problem: As the country faced an uprising by thousands of freedom fighters clutching real RPGs and AK-47s, the government wasn't so sure what to make of the show's crew.
Mozambique officials...
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Rhona Mitra is ready for action! The Boston Legal alum has joined forces with Cinemax's counterterrorism drama Strike Back for its second season, debuting in August. "This show is all the things that excite me," says the actress. "I find it...
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The Gates may seem a bit familiar — vampires and werewolves and witches, oh my! — but the producers of the new ABC series (premiering Sunday, June 20 at 10/9c) want viewers to know that it's not just another True Blood.
Check out photos from The Gates
The series, which grew out of a movie pitch about a community built on the gates of...
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It's no longer news that summer is among TV's busiest seasons — but this year, cable is getting more competition than usual with scripted fare from the networks. The difference being that cable channels (USA, FX, TNT, Syfy, ABC Family and the pay giants, to name a few) tend to put their best foot forward with critically championed signature shows. The networks? Not so much.
Still, ABC is going unusually gung-ho, launching three new dramas of varying quality and distinction within a single week. Its Sunday combo of the whimsical Scoundrels and the sinister The Gates at least aims for something a bit different, while Thursday's Rookie Blue misfires with a tired arsenal of generic cop-show clichés.
Rookie doesn't try hard enough to stand out, while the Sunday shows may be guilty of trying a bit too hard...
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