Fond farewell: ‘Friday Night Lights’ (TV review)
I’m not married and I know that if I ever lived in Texas I’d die from the heat, yet I always respected “Friday Night Lights,” TV’s best show about marriage and best show about Texas. On Friday […]
Sports
First episode (of new season) impressions: ‘Friday Night Lights’ (TV review)
“Friday Night Lights” (7 p.m. Central Fridays on NBC) continues to do the little things well: In the fifth-season premiere, Landry goes through his own version of “American Graffiti,” playing one last show with Crucifictorious, saying […]
First episode impressions: ‘Hellcats’ (TV review)
As the new shows roll out, I’ll be doing “first impressions” reviews of some of the debut episodes. First up is “Hellcats,” which airs at 8 p.m. Central Wednesdays on The CW.
Fall TV opening day is here; ‘Hellcats’ throws out the first pitch (Commentary)
Welcome to opening day of the fall TV season, a day traditionally filled with hope and trepidation. Although there are four returning series that I absolutely adore (“Life Unexpected,” “Parenthood,” “Fringe” and “Star Wars: The Clone Wars”), […]
On ‘Friday Night Lights,’ why can’t the football stuff be good too? (TV commentary)
Critics have often emphasized that “Friday Night Lights” isn’t just for football fans, because so much of the drama happens off the field. That’s completely true, but what’s not often mentioned is the flip-side of the equation: […]
State of Television Address: New fall shows (Commentary)
Here’s a look at the noteworthy premieres of the fall season. I’m skipping over the bland sitcoms (even if they’re based on a clever Twitter feed or star Joanna Garcia) and the procedural remakes (“Hawaii […]
State of Television Address: Returning shows (Commentary)
With last week’s “Glee” season capper, we’ve come to the end of the TV year (more or less), and I’m ready for my State of Television Address. Usually it’s a three-parter, but I’ll skip the […]
‘Friday Night Lights’ introduces us to our new favorite team (TV review)
The NFL draft hype has finally passed, but we still can’t escape football, because “Friday Night Lights” (7 p.m. Central Fridays) has just started its fourth season on NBC (following its run on DirecTV, which I don’t […]
6 ways J.D. Salinger influenced modern pop culture (Book commentary)
Like everyone, I think “Catcher in the Rye” is a brilliant book. I think J.D. Salinger’s other three books (actually compilations of his magazine short stories and novellas) range from very good to OK — […]
John’s favorite movies of the Aughts (Commentary)
Next, here are my top 10 … OK, 20 … movies of the Aughts. 1. “Garden State” (2004) — I’m not going to lie: This is just a romantic fairy tale — average Joe finds true love with […]