Tim DeKay and Ally Walker, Tell Me You Love Me
Question: HBO is premiering its new show Tell Me You Love Me this Sunday, and to my astonishment, you haven't yet written a single word about it. You're my go-to TV critic, and I'm especially eager to hear your opinion on this one. Some critics love it, calling it the HBO version of a Herskovitz-Zwick program (a huge endorsement in my book), while others think it's dull and pretentious. What do you say?
Answer: Thanks for asking. One of the reasons no official review has yet appeared in the magazine or elsewhere is because there was no room for my regular column in the jam-packed Fall Preview issue (on stands now; I recommend you all go out and get one). The magazine review goes out next week, but this gives me an opportunity to weigh in a few days early, and I'm happy to, because I think Tell Me You Love Me signals HBO getting back on track after John from Cincinnati (which I did feel was dull and pretentious) with a powerful, demanding and at times excruciatingly painful drama about
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Although the February sweeps officially have been over for several days, Sunday night sure felt like a sweeps extravaganza, with game-changing episodes of two major series. Both pivotal hours, of Sci Fi’s Battlestar Galactica and ABC’s Brothers & Sisters, dealt with the fate of daughters whose respective departure and arrival is setting off shock waves for their unconventional families (the Galactica crew and the Walker clan).The episode that undoubtedly will cause the largest stir in TV fandom was Galactica’s riveting and ultimately devastating journey into the metaphysical, as Starbuck (a brooding, tormented Katee Sackhoff) finally faced and embraced her destiny. Which meant, in a series of visions and hallucinations guided by the specter of the not-quite-Leobon as if he were the Ghost of Psychodramas Past, that Kara had to confront the soul-crushing memories of her abusive mother, who instilled in the self-destructive Starbuck a belief that suffering was good f...
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I usually save these things for the Ask Matt Q&A, but I opened the following e-mail from Bill C shortly before watching this week’s episode of Friday Night Lights, and it haunted me (and, frankly, annoyed me) throughout the episode, which I found to be one of the most accessibly and endearingly entertaining of the entire season.Here’s what Bill wrote: “Would it be a real tragedy if Friday Night Lights got canceled? It’s not like we’re talking about a show that, however good it is, does not [sic] match the consistency and creative heights of superior shows like 24, House and Grey’s Anatomy.”Way to use the double negative there, a bit of a metaphor considering the disdain shown for one of the finest dramas network TV has produced in years.In my world of TV appreciation, which has to be flexible enough to include everything from guilty pleasures to reality shows, there are two types of top-tier TV. First and foremost, there are the great entertain...
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Were getting ready for winter break folks but this episode was the perfect finale to what has been a fantastic fall for our beloved ER I have always enjoyed the holiday-themed episodes and tonight was no exception While this one probably wouldnt rank up there with some of the classic Christmases in the ER in my book remember the one where Jeannie Boulet put her star on top of the ER Christmas tree it did have the distinction of featuring Goran Visnjic dressed as a reindeer Just when I thought Luka couldnt get any more adorable I am proven wrong Despite a healthy dose of romances old and new it wasnt all mistletoe and merriment Luka and Abby learned that Ames filed a restraining order after their confrontation The conversation that Luka and Abby had in the apartment was very telling When Abby talked about being afraid of losing what they have she encapsulated in just a few words the concerns of all the viewers who care so much about the happ
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NCIS' Mark Harmon, Susanna Thompson
On Nov. 7 (postponed from its previously announced airdate of Oct. 24), Susanna Thompson (Once and Again, The Book of Daniel) pops up on CBS' NCIS (Tuesdays at 8 pm/ET) as an Army investigator who catches the attention (or is that a-tenn-shun?) of special agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon). The versatile actress recently took a call from TV Guide to discuss what may blossom into a full-fledged love affair for Harmon's oft-taciturn, coffee-addicted character.
TV Guide: Cranky-pants Gibbs in love? Will
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Question: I was wondering what's happening to the family dramas. I used to watch all of them when they were on, but with 7th Heaven going off the air, The Book of Daniel being canceled, Once and Again long gone and American Dreams ending last year, there just aren't family dramas anymore. I miss them. Do you think it's because of the NCIS, CSI, Law & Order shows or because of reality TV? I just want good family dramas back!
Answer: I hear you, and I'm especially worried that with WB and UPN collapsing into CW, Everwood (my personal current fave in the family-drama category) will disappear, making the genre even more of an endangered species than it already is. It's not just that crime dramas and reality shows have taken over the network slots, which is true, but that the TV audience itself has fragmented over the years, with families watching less TV together as a unit; this may have dampened the ratings for some of these "family" shows. These dramas also tend to be harder to
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ERI remember this episode as the one where Luka and Abby started to spend more screen time together, and I recall being very happy about it. Little did we know at the time that they'd be getting back together soon and were on the verge of having a baby together. I also remember that I was glad to see Amy Aquino back on the show. She's one of those actresses who, no matter what part she plays, pretty much always plays the same type of character. We let it slide each time, however, since Amy is just so good at playing a tough cookie. Remember her as the nemesis to Ray Romano in several episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond? Boy did Ray hate her, which just made me love to hate her. Anyway, I hope we get to see more of Amy, along with more of Danny Glover as Pratt's fath
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Susannah Thompson and Aidan Quinn, The Book of Daniel
Question: I have never written on behalf of anything on television before, but tonight I felt compelled. I'll apologize ahead of time because this isn't so much a question as a hope — a plea, if you will — and, well, a venting of sorts. Please tell me that there are some really wonderful reviews coming in on The Book of Daniel and that all the hoopla from the few "loud ones" are not getting all the attention. Please tell me that this series has a chance! I know you know this, but Aidan Quinn is a remarkable actor, and the rest of the show is brilliantly cast. The writing is witty, intense, tasteful, serious and, yes, even funny and entertaining at times. It is, of course, called entertainment, for goodness' sake, and it's fiction! Please tell me that NBC will not bow down to the vocal, narrow-minded population trying to make decisions for the rest of us about what we should and should not watch. Personally, I don't care for all the crime- and sex-related shows on television, but guess ...
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The Book of Daniel's Garrett Dillahunt and Aidan Quinn
Aidan Quinn's Daniel Webster sees and talks to Jesus in NBC's new (and controversial) The Book of Daniel (premiering Jan. 6 at 9 pm/ET, before settling into its Fridays-at-10 time slot). Then again, maybe the good reverend is simply stoned on all the Vicodin he's taking on the sly. Or stressed out about having a gay son or a pot-dealing daughter. Yes, it's that kind of "religious" series.
But as opposed to the most obvious comparison, CBS' God-seeing Joan of Arcadia, Daniel's sit-downs with J.C. (played by Deadwood's Garret Dillahunt) aren't presented as "the grand gimmick." "If someone wants to make it the hook, they could, but I think it's very much just a by-product," Quinn tells TVGuide.com. "The
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In the good old days — say, a month ago — Nightline (weekdays at 11:35 pm/ET, ABC) spending a week in war-torn Iraq would have been something truly special. But Ted Koppel is gone, and with him goes a tradition allowing for context and perspective.
Instead, in the first week of a jumbled Nightline makeover, three correspondents/anchors jousted for airtime most nights. In the process, Terry Moran’s first-person stories — highlighted by a ride-along on a dangerous night patrol with U.S. and Iraqi troops — were just part of a very mixed bag.
The new Nightline isn’t terrible, but it no longer seems as essential because it feels so much less distinctive. In look and tone, especially when ill-chosen coanchor Martin Bashir revs up his strident tabloid engine, this Nightline lite resembles an uneasy cross of (yawn) the evening news and (yuck) a 20/20-style newsmagazine. Given its multitop
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