[Televisionary]

A change is coming and I'm going to get personal right now. I haven't posted anything personal on this blog in quite some time, probably ever since I was promoted to West Coast Deputy Bureau Chief at The Daily Beast back in October 2012 and stepped way back from the blog. When I founded Televisionary in the blogging hinterlands of February 2006, I did feel like a bit of an outsider, a television blogger who approached the medium and the work as though I were doing it full-time. It was a lark, something I did while I was also working in television development (and later in acquisitions/programming for a British television network), a chance to exercise my writing muscle while slaving away in the industry. Later, I would pour my heart and soul into this site, after I was pink-slipped, seeing it as less of a diversion and more of a means to an end. More than seven years later, it's astonishing to me to see where those first steps have led me. First, to freelancing gigs wit...

I review Showtime’s fixer drama Ray Donovan , which begins Sunday night and stars Liev Schreiber as a Hollywood fixer whose South Boston past creates present-day troubles. At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, " Ray Donovan : Is the Liev Schreiber–Led Showtime Drama The Next Sopranos ?" in which I review Showtime's fantastic new drama Ray Donovan , which premieres on Sunday night at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The specter of HBO’s still-mourned organized crime family drama The Sopranos, which arguably kicked off the latest golden age of television, can be glimpsed in the foundations of nearly every cable drama that has come since, ushering in an era of the male antihero that has permeated the popular culture. The Sopranos’s mischievous, malevolent spirit flits through Showtime’s outstanding new drama Ray Donovan, which premieres Sunday night at 10 p.m. Starring Liev Schreiber as the titular character, the show—created by Ann Biderman, who also created the gripping...

The AMC series’ season ender offered upheaval in the lives of SC&P’s employees. I speak with Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner about the finale and what’s next. Warning: Spoilers ahead! At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, " Mad Men Creator Matthew Weiner on the Season Finale," in which I speak with Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner about the sixth season finale, going overboard, that look, California, and much more. Not since the end of Season 3 has AMC’s Mad Men—created by Matthew Weiner—ended a season with as much physical, emotional, and psychological upheaval as it did in Sunday night’s episode (“In Care Of”), which closed out the period drama’s sixth and penultimate season. Written by Weiner and Carly Wray, the final episode restructured some of the show’s key underpinnings: Don Draper (Jon Hamm) spilled the truth about his awful childhood in front of his partners and clients; Megan (Jessica Paré), Pete (Vincent Kartheiser), and Ted Chaough (Kevin...

From Stephen King and Steven Spielberg comes Under the Dome, a weird, scary, and potentially great excuse to stay inside this summer. I dissect tonight’s premiere. At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, " Under the Dome Is One Eerie TV Show," in which I review CBS's eerie new drama Under the Dome , based on Stephen King's 2009 novel of the same name, which begins tonight at 10 p.m. ET/PT. In the not-too-distant future, the inhabitants of Chester’s Mill—a small and seemingly idyllic town in Anywhere, U.S.A.—suddenly discover their town is trapped inside an invisible barrier of unknown origin. Birds fall from the sky, numerous vehicles crash, and a blood-red handprint on this transparent dome becomes a sigil of awe and fear. This is the basis for CBS’s intriguing new “event” drama series, Under the Dome, which begins its 13-episode summer run tonight at 10 p.m. (While some have referred to it as a “miniseries,” it is most definitely an ongoing serie...

James Gandolfini, the hulking star of HBO's acclaimed The Sopranos , has died. My piece on the legacy the actor and producer leaves behind. At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "James Gandolfini the Great," my appreciation of the late, great Sopranos star James Gandolfini, who passed away yesterday at age 51 while traveling in Italy. HBO has confirmed the unexpected death of actor and producer James Gandolfini, who passed away at age 51 while traveling in Italy. At press time, the cause of his death was unclear, with several outlets reporting a heart attack or a "sudden stroke." He was due to appear at the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily, where he was slated to paricipate in a panel discussion with director Gabriele Muccino. While Gandolfini appeared in countless film and television roles, ranging from comedies (like Armando Iannucci's wickedly skewering Washington satire In the Loop) to hard-hitting dramas like Kathryn Bigelow's ...

The truth of who Bob Benson is was finally revealed on Sunday’s episode of Mad Men . My take on the revelation and how it connects to Don Draper. Warning: spoilers ahead! At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, " Mad Men : Who Is Bob Benson?" in which I offer my take on this week's episode of AMC's Mad Men and what the true identity of Bob Benson (James Wolk) means for the show and Don Draper. “I used to wonder how you were so expertly servile.” On Mad Men, James Wolk’s eager-to-please ad man Bob Benson—a sort of golden retriever in an impeccably preppy suit who was always ready with an extra cup of coffee or a deli platter for a funeral—offered one of the season’s most hotly discussed mysteries, second only to whether Jessica Paré’s Megan Draper would be murdered. Theories were rampant. Was the perpetually chipper up-and-comer, who inexplicably seemed to materialize at SCDP (later renamed SC&P), a spy from a rival agency, an undercover reporte...

Kevin Whately has been playing gruff, sensible detective Robbie Lewis on Morse and Lewis for 26 years. I speak to him about the possible end of the Oxford copper. At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Oxford's No. 1 Sleuth: Inspector Lewis 's Kevin Whately on Morse , John Thaw, and the End of the Series," in which I speak with Kevin Whately, star of Inspector Morse and Lewis (which returns to PBS' Masterpiece Mystery on Sunday) about playing Robbie Lewis for 26 years, whether this is the end for the Oxford-set drama, and what's next. Inspector Lewis is due for a vacation. After more than 20 years playing Detective Inspector Robert “Robbie” Lewis, actor Kevin Whately has earned a well-deserved break from investigating murders beneath the Oxford spires. Introduced in Inspector Morse’s first episode (“The Dead of Jericho”), Whately’s Robbie Lewis was the Geordie sidekick of the late John Thaw’s erudite and perpetually cranky Inspector M...

If you didn’t watch BBC America’s clone drama Orphan Black , you missed one of the year’s best dramatic performances. My take on why Tatiana Maslany deserves an Emmy nod. Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Emmy Awards’ Dark Horse Nominee," in which I offer a look at one of the year's best television performances, that of Tatiana Maslany on BBC America's Orphan Black , and state why this dark horse deserves at least an Emmy nomination. If you don’t regularly tune in to shows about global conspiracies, illegal medical research, and genetically identical clones, you may be forgiven for not watching Orphan Black , the serpentine Canadian-American science fiction drama that wrapped up its first season earlier this month on BBC America. (Season 2 will air in 2014.) But not watching this compelling and surprisingly emotional cult drama—created by Graeme Manson and John Fawcett—means that you missed out on one of the year’s most intense and aston...

Game of Thrones may catch up with George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels. So what will HBO do if the inevitable does occur? My take on the show's options. At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest post, " Game of Thrones : Will the HBO Series Catch Up to George R.R. Martin's Books?" in which I react to Entertainment Weekly's story on whether Game of Thrones will meet up with (or surpass) the progress of Martin's in-progress novels. After the horror and shock of last week's Red Wedding episode, Season 3 of Game of Thrones ended rather quietly. There were no dragons being born from ancient eggs placed upon a funeral pyre, nor white walkers marching en masse for the brothers of the Night's Watch. Instead, Daenerys Stormborn (Emilia Clarke) is raised above the shoulders of the slaves she freed from bondage and the episode ("Mhysa") more or less set up some new conflicts and story for the fourth season, which should arri...

Yes, that actually did just happen. My take on the latest shocking twist on HBO’s Game of Thrones , and why the disturbing outcome of the Red Wedding was crucial for the series. Spoilers abound! At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "The Red Wedding: HBO’s Game of Thrones Reveals Its Latest Twist," in which I offer my take on this week's shocking episode of Game of Thrones ("The Rains of Castamere") and why the twist was necessary for the longevity and narrative stakes of the series. And they partook of his salt and bread. Oaths are meant to be sacred: after all, a man is only as good as his word. But a world in which oaths are meaningless and void is a terrifying place without logic, justice, or order. On this week’s episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones (“The Rains of Castamere”), we see the ramifications of breaking one’s word. Just as Robb Stark (Richard Madden) betrayed his vow to Walder Frey (David Bradley), promising to marry his daughte...