Breaking Bad is a complete work, one thought out long in advance and unfolding in its own time.
Occasionally, when NBC shuts a door, it opens a window.
These episodes are mini-dramas that could work on any theatrical stage and yet there’s nothing theatrical about the way they’re presented here.
Luckily, stars Boris Kodjoe and Gugu Mbatha-Raw have more than enough charisma to spare and that’s about 90% of what makes TV tick.
It’s not completely original, but there’s currently nothing on TV even remotely like it.
It was probably inevitable that creator Doug Ellin would shift the focus from the group to the individual.
Mystery Files is all about raising questions that excite that corner of the human imagination attracted to enigma.
As with much of the products being pitched on Mad Men, no one turns out to be exactly as advertised.
Harper’s Island is a gimmick show in the grand but bargain-budget tradition of master showman William Castle.
Taking Chance wants nothing to do with the controversial politics of the Iraq War.
If we are not the accumulation of personal memory, then what are we?
The writers have acknowledged our new understanding of Patty as an enigma in order to tease us with what seems to be a process of humanization.
Pity the poor vampire.
“Skin and Bones” is justification for the entire Fear Itself series.
Mary Harron brings nothing distinctive to the episode, which looks like the rough cut of a Lifetime Network Christmas special.
If it all sounds like cliché upon cliché, well that’s what it is.
John Landis directs the whole thing as though it were a pleasant distraction.
“Family Man” is the third episode of Fear Itself but should have been the first.
There’s very few surprises in this second episode of Fear Itself.
For network TV, the shows of violence and sexuality are striking, and the production values are above average, with the snowbound fort doing most of the work in creating a mysterious atmosphere.