Family Drama

‘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

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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

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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,

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(Hopefully not) a fond farewell to ‘Parenthood’ (TV review)

I don’t spend too much time anymore worrying about whether a show will be canceled; I take the “enjoy it while it lasts” approach to

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‘The Descendants’ another low-key masterpiece from Alexander Payne (Movie review)

I just got done reading Chuck Klosterman’s novel “The Visible Man,” which deals with the nature of reality. In a wider sense, all pop entertainment

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First episode impressions: ‘Parenthood’ Season 3 (TV review)

I detest the phrase “something for everyone” because 95 percent of the time when an event claims to offer “something for everyone,” it doesn’t interest

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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

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Where have all the epic season finales gone? (TV commentary)

For as long as I can remember, TV has served up an epic season finale or two every May. In recent years, up until 2010,

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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

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‘Parenthood’s’ Sarah Braverman is no Lorelai Gilmore, and that’s a good thing (TV commentary)

Could it be that Sarah Braverman is a better TV character than Lorelai Gilmore? To even type that question seems sacrilegious, but I will say

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