Every fall, a handful of new sitcoms emerge, eager to bump out returning classics with a new slate of wacky, irreverent characters in wackier and more irreverent situations. Most are by-the-books takes on classic tropes that, if nothing else, abide so closely to formula they end up entertaining because of it (Fox's Grandfathered, for example), but each year there's usually one outlier. This show can be referred to as "the gimmick" - it's a sitcom in which everything is by-and-large normal and traditional until the show's candy-coated calling card is introduced, meant to upend expectations and revitalize the format (but that at the end of the day ends up doing neither).
Faking It is still a humorous nexus of forward-thinking, silver-tongued teenagers, but the second half of season two also cements the show as something else: a damn good ensemble sitcom.
Exceptionally directed but with no dramatic situations or characters to latch onto, Narcos' fact-vomiting narration gives Netflix's new series the feel of an unusually well-made documentary and not much else.
As the dog days of summer come to a close, We Got This Covered ranks the best of the best of the season's most sizzling cable - and streaming - offerings.
What is Awkward without the scathing wit and emotionally relevant stories of earlier years? A season opener that lacks the bittersweet charm of its own 30-second ads. Or, to put it in Tamara's own words: one Big Fail Mary.
Simultaneously madcap and uniquely powerful, Boyish Girl Interrupted is Tig Notaro in rare form, with a bravura final twenty minutes of which most comedians can only dream.
On paper, planting Craig Robinson as the star of his own sitcom in which he shenanigan-izes his way into teaching public school kids music isn't a bad idea. Robinson has proved his mettle along with the likes of Seth Rogen and Danny McBride in movies like This is the End, and the tease of seeing his shtick once a week is endearing.
"I loved him with all my heart," Caitlyn Jenner's mom, Esther, remarks midway through the premiere of E!'s new reality series I Am Cait. "And I certainly love her with all my heart." It's one of a handful of surprisingly moving moments in a show that has a certain hands-off air surrounding it. Airing this Sunday, June 26, I Am Cait is far less exuberantly produced than the bombastic Keeping Up With The Kardashians or the modesty-challenged #RichKids of Beverly Hills. The network opts for a more languid, documentary feel for its new show and, given the tricky tightrope they must walk in presenting Caitlyn to the world, it's pretty easy to see why.
Suitably blood-drenched and lavish, but narratively hollow, Spike's new mini-series Tut is about as slow moving as the titular boy king's mummified corpse, and feels just as fresh.
Somewhat ordinary in both execution and ultimate meaning, Tig is effective in the end as a satisfying dramatic comedy because of one simple thing: these events happened, and this unassuming little woman dealt with them in stride.
