All 22 episodes of ‘Gilmore Girls’ Season 4 (2003-04), ranked
TV review: Like Rory, “Gilmore Girls” Season 4 sometimes struggles to find its footing in the transition to college. But it also boasts some classic episodes.
Family Drama
I wish ‘Wish I Was Here’ was as good as ‘Garden State,’ but that’s a lot to wish for (Movie review)
“Wish I Was Here” would’ve been a better title for 2004’s “Garden State,” where Zach Braff’s character’s use of strong anti-depressants keeps him from engaging with the world. It doesn’t work as well with the actual […]
All 22 episodes of ‘Gilmore Girls’ Season 3 (2002-03), ranked
TV review: “Gilmore Girls” gets complicated as Rory goes through her last year of high school.
All 22 episodes of ‘Gilmore Girls’ Season 2 (2001-02), ranked
TV review: Rory enters her Bad Boy phase as Jess joins “Gilmore Girls” in the second season.
Kristina Braverman ‘Won’t Back Down’ as ‘Parenthood’ bravely tackles school choice (TV commentary)
Mainstream TV dramas, most of which are produced in statist Hollywood, are still far from libertarian-leaning. But “Parenthood,” which as recently as last fall had Jasmine talking about how good she felt voting for Obama in 2008 […]
All 21 episodes of ‘Gilmore Girls’ Season 1 (2000-01), ranked
TV review: It’s about a mother and daughter, but also so much more as Amy Sherman-Palladino breaks through with a hit.
First episode impressions: ‘Parenthood’ Season 4 (TV review)
“Parenthood” (9 p.m. Central Tuesdays, NBC) starts Season 4 with a combination of a pitch-perfect life threshold yarn (Haddie goes off to college), a funny family-dynamic oddity (Crosby finds his son praying) and a believable issue […]
‘Margaret’ brings viewers into troubled characters’ worlds, and New York City (Movie review)
Ostensibly the story of a teenager (Anna Paquin) seeking justice for a woman killed in a bus accident that she feels partly responsible for, “Margaret” (2011) evolves into an immersive treatise on people’s inherent inability to relate […]
Ron Swanson: TV’s greatest libertarian character ever? (Commentary)
Since I’m venturing into politics with this post (which will eventually be about television), I’ll admit my bias up front: I’ll be voting for the Libertarian Party ticket of Johnson-Gray in November. But I think anyone who’s […]
R.I.P. Dick Clark. And I miss ‘American Dreams’ (TV commentary)
I was shocked — pleasantly so — to find the first reference to “American Dreams” only five paragraphs into the Associated Press’ feature obituary on Dick Clark, who died on Wednesday at age 82.