In its final 10 episodes, “Valerian and Laureline: Time Jam” wraps up by riffing heavily on the “Star Wars” prequels, but it stands as its own thing thanks to its trademark bevy of wild ideas – many involving time travel, as the series fully embraces its title. And as had been telegraphed in the sitcom-esque […]
In his first entry in the Buffyverse, comics legend John Byrne delivers the quintessential vampires-and-war saga, “Angel: Blood & Trenches” (March-June 2009). Previous stories had touched on this idea. In the novel “Spike and Dru: Pretty Maids All in a Row” (2000), vampires feast on soldiers in World War II and the Watchers’ Council sends […]
A year ago, I didn’t give a glowing review to ABC’s “Kevin (Probably) Saves the World,” but I did like it enough to keep watching. Even though I almost canceled it from my DVR a few times, I watched the whole season (which turned out to be the whole series). It wasn’t good, per se, […]
“A Million Little Things” (10 p.m. Eastern Wednesdays on ABC) is the least bad network newcomer I’ve reviewed so far. If the search for answers to why a guy (Ron Livingston’s real-estate mogul Jon) jumped off a high balcony to his death grabs you – hey, this premise made “13 Reasons Why” a hit – then […]
CBS adds to its stable of modernized nostalgia-driven shows (see also “Hawaii Five-0” and “MacGyver”) with “Magnum P.I.” (9 p.m. Eastern Mondays), which drops the comma and trades Tom Selleck’s ‘stache for Jay Hernandez’s goatee, but retains most other elements of the 1980s action/detective classic. I’m guessing old-school fans aren’t as enthusiastic about the update […]
“I Feel Bad” meets my first requirement for a modern sitcom: It doesn’t have a laugh track. Unfortunately, I wasn’t supplying many laughs of my own during the first two episodes, which are available on NBC.com. (The series returns Oct. 4 when it takes its regular NBC timeslot at 9:30 p.m. Eastern Thursdays.) It has some […]
My TV-watching buddy Shaune says of “This Is Us”: “Even when it’s happy, it’s sad.” That contradictory statement perfectly sums up TV’s most emotionally draining show, which is up to its usual tricks in this week’s Season 3 premiere, “Nine Bucks.” Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca (Mandy Moore) sit in his car after a horrible […]
Until the recent “High School Years” comics, the makers of “Buffy” spinoff fiction didn’t consistently commit to the young-adult genre. In the YA line of novels, you never knew if you were going to get a slightly shorter adult novel or something that truly was aimed at young readers. Perhaps this is why the YA […]
First episode impressions (TV review): A strange year for the “X-Men” Universe continues with TV show’s return.
“Manifest” (10 p.m. Eastern Mondays on NBC) isn’t quite the “What does it all mean?” “Lost”-style mystery I thought it would be. Then again, it’s not exactly original, either. It’s just that the TV shows it reminds me of are different ones than I had assumed.