The Week: Most Recent television

The ill-fated search for the next Glee: A timeline

The Week — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:09:00 -0400

Television history is littered with abortive efforts to bring musical storytelling to the small screen: Cop Rock, Viva Laughin, the list goes on. But after Glee debuted to enormous ratings in 2009, rival networks and studios took another run at the TV musical in a frantic effort to replicate its success. Tellingly, only one of the resulting concepts made it to air: NBC's erratic Broadway soap-opera Smash. The latest attempt, from American Idol producer Simon Fuller, is a musical drama about a fledgling California band. How does it compare to the other would-be Glees projects that have come &mdash...

Did Glee do Whitney Houston's songs justice?

The Week — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 15:05:00 -0400

Glee has made a tradition of paying tribute to music icons like Madonna, Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, and Michael Jackson through hour-long episodes devoted to their music and legacies. Tuesday night, the Fox musical series remembered Whitney Houston with an episode that featured seven of her classic hits, juxtaposing the characters' fears about graduating high school and having to say goodbye against their mourning over Houston's death two months ago. The show opened with an a cappella version of "How Will I Know" (Watch the video below.), and also included hits like "I Have Nothing" and "Saving...

8 Glee controversies: A slideshow

The Week — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 17:02:00 -0400

On Sunday, Fox celebrated 25 years of envelope-pushing TV programming. No current Fox show embodies that spirit more than Glee, the song-and-dance soap opera that has come under fire for its aggressively frank portrayals of teen sexuality, empowered gay students, and more. As the show's recent arc about a transgender character makes headlines, here's a look at some of Glee's biggest controversies:

Mad Men: The 'Fat Betty' backlash

The Week — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:25:00 -0400

When Mad Men viewers got their first glimpse of polarizing housewife Betty Francis this season, January Jones' character was struggling to zip herself into a party dress and failing, despite the help of both her kids. The harsh truth: Betty's gotten fat. The surprising sight of Jones — pregnant in real life at the time of filming — outfitted in a body suit and prosthetic makeup quickly divided fans, and a bonafide backlash has erupted. (One fan has even set up a Twitter feed, @FatBettyFrancis, to mock the whole ordeal.) Here, a guide to the "Fat Betty" controversy...

'Zou Bisou Bisou': The scoop on the bizarre French song from the Mad Men premiere

The Week — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:25:00 -0400

The long-awaited fifth season premiere of Mad Men on Sunday arrived with both hearty critical approval and a veritable theme song of its own. (Warning: Spoiler alert.) Fans and reviewers are buzzing about the "bizarre, come-hither burlesque" routine that Don Draper's new wife, Megan, delivers at the surprise 40th birthday party she throws for him in circa-1966 Manhattan. The lithe young bride, played by Jessica Pare, performed a sultry version of "Zou Bisou Bisou," a hitherto little-known French ditty. Here, everything you need to know about the strangely indelible song:

What was the scene?
Though...

7 reasons Mad Men's season premiere is 'insanely riveting'

The Week — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:45:00 -0400

"If Sunday night's two-hour return episode of Mad Men ended after the first four minutes, it would still put the show in contention to win its fifth straight Emmy as the best drama on television," says David Hinckley at New York's Daily News. That's tantalizing news for the AMC drama's passionate fans who've been starved without a new Mad Men episode for 17 months. (Tense negotiations between the network, studio, and creator Matthew Weiner led to a production delays.) When we last left Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, the ad agency's creative overlord Don Draper had startled everyone by proposing...

Is Newsweek 'shilling' for Mad Men?

The Week — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 11:08:00 -0400

Major magazines tend to look back fondly on the 1960s, when the media landscape was dotted by a handful of towering names, but Newsweek has taken nostalgia to another level. Its new issue is dedicated to Mad Men, the retro TV phenomenon whose highly anticipated fifth season premieres Sunday. The cover — featuring Don Draper & Co., and declaring "Welcome Back to 1965" — is even done up with a retro Newsweek logo and font. And in a dream assignment for advertising agencies, all of the issue's ads are designed in a clever '60s style of which Draper himself would approve. (Though there...

Has Mad Men's spoiler phobia gone too far?

The Week — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 11:50:00 -0400

Another teaser for Mad Men's hotly-anticipated fifth season, which premieres March 25, was released Tuesday, and once again, it contains absolutely no new footage, instead rehashing images from past seasons. (Watch the video below.) Meanwhile, media sites are leaking a letter that Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner penned to critics who were given early screeners of the show's two-hour premiere. In the letter, Weiner implores those reviewers not to spoil a single plot point of the episode. "I know you are aware how strongly I feel that the viewers are entitled to have the same experience you just had...

The 10 most exciting fall TV castings (so far): A slideshow

The Week — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 07:30:00 -0500

Each spring TV critics blog with glee as pilot castings are announced, revealing which big-named movie stars may finally be slumming it on the boob tube, and which TV veterans could make heralded returns. While there's no guarantee these pilots will be picked up, from Dennis Quaid's first regular TV role to the reunion of Roseanne and John Goodman, here's a look at the most exciting castings so far this pilot season:

Glee's Michael Jackson tribute: 'Unbelievably awful'?

The Week — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:24:00 -0500

This songs of Michael Jackson invaded the halls of McKinley High School Tuesday night, when Fox aired its much-anticipated Glee tribute to the King of Pop. Glee has paid homage to musical icons before with mixed results. Thumbs up: Its Madonna episode. Thumbs down: Its exercise in all things Britney Spears. "Michael" was brimming with no less than nine of Jackson's iconic songs, plot twists (including Rachel's will-she-or-won't-she engagement to Finn), and typically cringe-inducing dialogue (Mr. Schu: "Unless you have proof that he tampered with the slushie, the police aren't interested in getting...

5 reasons critics hate I Hate My Teenage Daughter

The Week — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:36:00 -0500

If you call your sitcom I Hate My Teenage Daughter, you're practically begging critics to riff on the title. And with headlines like "You May Hate Teenage Daughter" and "I Hate My Teenage Daughter: The feeling is mutual," reviewers have been happy to oblige. Fox's new comedy series, which debuts Wednesday night, stars Jamie Pressly (an Emmy-winner for My Name Is Earl) and Katie Finneran (a Tony-winner for Broadway's Promises, Promises) as best friends and mothers of two vile, "mean girl" teenagers. The two moms, victims of bullies back in high-school, are terrified of their daughters. And critics...

Mad Men's ending revealed: Is Matthew Weiner's plan satisfying?

The Week — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 11:44:00 -0500

Though the long-delayed season five of Mad Men hasn't even begun, the show's creator has already decided how he wants to end the entire series. In an interview with Grantland, Matthew Weiner says he hopes to conclude the retro-sixties series — current contracts specify at least seven seasons — with a fast-forward to the present day. The show, says Weiner, tries to capture human life and "human life has a destination… It's 2011. Don Draper would be 84 right now. I want to leave the show in a place where you have an idea of what it meant and how it's related to you." Are Mad...

Glee's 'touching' sex episode

The Week — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 12:22:00 -0500

Was it good for you? On Tuesday's episode of Glee, two of the series' most popular couples — Finn and Rachel, and Kurt and Blaine — had sex for the first time. Before what's become known as the "sex episode" even aired, it sparked controversy. The Parents Television Council weighed in predictably, calling the show's decision to "celebrate children having sex... reprehensible." Others focused on the fact that Glee's writing staff gave equal weight to both teen couples — gay and straight — as they grappled with the prospect of losing their virginity. Now that the episode...

Hell on Wheels: Can AMC revive the TV western?

The Week — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:33:00 -0400

Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Lone Ranger — westerns were once a dominant TV genre. In recent decades, however, the Old West has struggled for relevance on the tube. On Sunday, AMC attempts to change that with its new series Hell on Wheels. Set during the construction of the Union Pacific railroad in 1865, the drama follows a vengeful Confederate soldier searching for the men who raped and murdered his wife. AMC is known for inspiring copycat programming, with Mad Men spawning Pan Am and The Playboy Club, while The Walking Dead has several studios prepping zombie series. Could Hell...

Rock Center: Can Brian Williams make hard news a primetime hit?

The Week — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:35:00 -0400

On Monday night, for the first time in two decades, NBC launched a primetime news magazine show: Rock Center with Brian Williams. Filling the slot last occupied by the ill-fated Playboy Club, Rock Center, hosted by the famously witty NBC Nightly News anchor, featured news segments by correspondents Kate Snow and Richard Engel, and a talk show-like interview with Jon Stewart. The news magazine genre once dominated network TV, as the shows cost relatively little to produce, turning even middling ratings success into major profits. But increasingly, networks eschewed news shows...

Allen Gregory: Jonah Hill's 'snotty' new animated series

The Week — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:00:00 -0400

On Sunday, Fox unveiled the latest addition to its powerhouse animated-comedy block which includes The Simpsons and Family Guy. The new show, Allen Gregory, stars Jonah Hill (Superbad, Moneyball) as the titular 7-year-old, a pretentious sophisticate who carries a briefcase, boasts of his friendship with Sandra Bullock, and swills Pinot Grigio at the lunch table while blustering about Charlie Rose. After Sunday's premiere, critics are bemoaning the series' failure to fulfill its potential. What went wrong?

The main character is unlikable: "If you've ever encountered a snotty 7-year-old...