Levinson news clips: TV reviews

Pres Laura Roslin vs Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson on The Closer

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:52:57 -0700

High octane on last night's Closer between Captain Raydor (Mary McDonnell) and Brenda Leigh Johnson , and likely more in store... Battlestar Galactica meets The Closer.

blog post review: President Laura Roslin vs. Brenda Leigh Johnson on The Closer

The Shield: Speculations on What Might Happen After Final Scene

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:19:23 -0700

Now that the Shield and its superb finale and final scene are available to see on DVD, I offer some speculation on what Vic Mackey may now be up to...

blog post review: What Might Happen After Final Scene on The Shield

The Shield in Perspective (no spoilers)

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:56:27 -0700

Why The Shield may be the best series ever on television - certainly the last episode of the final season was best finale. A non-spoiler analysis, with comparisons to Lost, The Sopranos, and The Wire.

blog post review: The Shield in Perspective (no spoilers)

use "Search Episodes" above right to find podcast reviews of Lost, The Sopranos, and The Wire ...

True Blood Pours Back in for Season Two

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:38:29 -0700

True Blood pours back in for its second season with a steamy episode, featuring a hot, unclothed scene with Bill and Sookie, and Maryann in bed with Sam when he was just a young dog- er, man...

blog post review: True Blood Pours Back In

podcast review of Season 1: Revving Back Up for True Blood

Lost Season 5 Finale 1 Month Out: Richard and Jacob

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:01:23 -0700

A thought about the Lost Season 5 finale 1 month after broadcast - it's about Richard and Jacob, and how the finale could have been more compelling and satisfying in one regard...

blog post review: Richard and Jacob

also Lost: Keys to What's Really Going On

and this podcast: Lost Season 5 Finale: Jacob and Locke

The Closer Reopens

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:38:43 -0700

A retrospective on The Closer thus far, as it reopens for business with its 5th Season on TNT with unique mix of detective work and humor. Comparisons explored with Bones.

blog post review: Closer Reopens

Sneak Preview Review of Weeds 5.1-3

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:31:33 -0700

Sneak preview review of the first three episodes of the new season 5 of Weeds, which starts on Showtime tonight. No spoilers in this review, just general discussion of tone of the series, but I can you its darker than ever, with rays of hilarity still sneaking through.

blog post review: Weeds 5 Sneak Preview Review

Stoking Up for Weeds: Review of Season 4 Finale

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 11:43:24 -0700

With Season 5 of Weeds to light up again on Showtime this Monday, a review of the Season 4 finale seemed apt ... I'm rarely surprised by television surprises - I even predicted the flash forwards on Lost at the end of season 3 - but I gotta say that the Season 4 finale took me totally and delighted off guard...

blog post review: Weeds 4.13

Revving Up for True Blood: Review of Season 1 Finale

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:38:51 -0700

Revving up for the second season of True Blood, to begin soon on HBO ... a review of the highlights of the Season One finale, its satisfactions and questions...

blog post review: Last Bite of the Season

In Treatment, In Retrospect

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:03:54 -0700

HBO's In Treatment delivers with just talk ... a review of Season 2 and all five therapy threads...

blog post review: In Treatment, In Retrospect

The Tudors Season 3: Women and Painting

Fri, 22 May 2009 18:07:27 -0700

Beauty of women and the reliability of the painted record play a major role in Season 3 of the Tudors. Review and analysis, with kudos to Thomas Cromwell for his savvy on these questions.

Blog post review: Cromwell on Tudors: "Surely All Art is a Lie"

also: The Tudors: Hard History and Sweet Flesh

24 Season 7 Super Finale!

Tue, 19 May 2009 15:52:27 -0700

A superb ending to in many ways the best season of 24, in which the series reinvented itself and major characters received power, jolting development and resolution. [This review is chock full of spoilers, so if you're a fan of the show, don't listen to until you've seen every second of the two-hour finale.]

blog post review: 24 Season 7 Finale!

Bones: Science, Hilarity, and Crime

Sun, 17 May 2009 17:36:22 -0700

Review of the Season 4 finale of Bones, with brief commentary on the entire series. A highly appealing combination of science, hilarity, and crime, but Bones and Booth need more bed time, together...

blog post review: Bones: Science, Hilarity, and Crime

Lost Season 5 Finale: Jacob and Locke

Thu, 14 May 2009 17:50:37 -0700

The Lost Season 5 finale is mostly the story of Jacob and Locke and another man ... as well as a showdown at the Swan, where Jack wants to wipe out five seasons of Lost history ... a full and appreciative and speculative analysis...

blog post review: Lost Season 5 Finale: Jacob and Locke

and this podcast: Lost Season 5 Finale 1 Month Out: Richard and Jacob

Fringe Season 1 Finale: Science Fiction at its Best

Wed, 13 May 2009 16:14:49 -0700

Alternate realities and science fiction at their very best in this brilliant, stunning Season One finale of Fringe. Powerful personal and political differences in this alternate reality [spoilers in this podcast]

blog post review (with spoilers, and screen shot of newspaper): Fringe Season One Finale

Star Trek: Reset and Resplendent

Sat, 09 May 2009 18:30:49 -0700

J. J. Abrams does the seemingly impossible in the new Star Trek : thrill devoted fans (myself included) and open up new vistas for the orginal crew of the Enterprise. How does he manage to this with such style and savvy? Hint: think time travel. [Spoilers in this podcast review.]

blog post review: Star Trek: Reborn, Reset, Resplendent

historical context: How Star Trek Liberated Television

lots of good stuff about time travel

Lost 5.15: Moral Compasses in Glistening Motion

Thu, 07 May 2009 14:47:16 -0700

Kate is now the moral compass of the story, in this brilliant, emotionally and intellectually daring penultimate episode Lost Season 5. At least two time loops also satisfyingly closed, with a big new question arising: who will have ultimate power on the island - Locke, Richard, or Jacob? And just when it seems Sawyer and Juliet might find some last happiness, Kate walks down the stairs into the room...

blog post review: Moral Compasses in Motion on Penultimate Lost

Stephen King, Arthur C. Clarke and Star Trek on Fringe

Wed, 06 May 2009 13:23:29 -0700

Stephen King's pyrokenesis , Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End , and even someone who thinks he's Spock all made an appearance in the penultimate first season episode of Fringe. Not to mention a molten window that records sound - an possibility I explored in my nonfiction book The Soft Edge and my science fiction novel The Silk Code . A great episode, for people who love science fiction and media history.

blog post review: King, Clarke, and Star Trek in Penultimate Fringe

Battlestar Galactica Caprica

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:20:58 -0700

The Battlestar Galactica prequel movie Caprica is all about copies - do they defeat death or undermine humanity ... it was also good to see Bill Adama as a boy, and meet his father Joseph, the laywer...

blog post review: BSG Caprica: Exquisite Flawed Copies

more about the paradox and impossible of perfect copies, on p. 52 of The Soft Edge

Lost 5.14: Obsession Trumps Paradox

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:06:21 -0700

Faraday attempts to do the impossible in Lost 5.14 - stop the chain of events that caused Flight 815 to crash - but of course he can't succeed, despite what he tells himself. But the reason raises a profound emotional question: which is more important, a mother's love for her son, or protecting the timeline of the island?

blog post review: Eloise, Daniel, and Obession Trumping Paradox

Lost: The Problem of Baby Aaron and the Oceanic Six

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:28:12 -0700

A special on the Oceanic Six and Lost brought home a point that's been bothering me for weeks now: The point was made many times that all of the Oceanic Six had to return to the island. How come Aaron - who, in my view, was a stretch to include in the Oceanic Six in the first place - did not have to return? Perhaps his non-returning was responsible for some of our people landing in 1977 and the rest in 2007 - but we need more of an explanation...

blog post review: The Problem with Baby Aaron and the Return of the Oceanic Six

24 Season 7 Hr 19: One Great Spinning Season

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:45:18 -0700

24 continues to keep us immersed in a whirlpool of complex characters of uncertain loyalties. Can Tony really be bad? The evidence is mounting up against him, but I explain why I'm still holding for a better result. And I offer a theory about how Jack can survive without Kim's help: let's say Jack developed an immunity to the pathogen when he was exposed to a little of it in Sangala...

blog post preview: One Great Spinning Season

Lost 5:13: Meets Star Wars

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:27:16 -0700

Some tingling time-travel paradox possibilities in Lost 5.13 , in which Miles sees himself as a baby, meets his father Marvin Candle aka Dr. Chang back in 1977, and sees the Hatch being built. His companion for most of this is Hurley, who has become the resident science fiction expert on Lost , and talks to Miles about Luke, Darth, The Empire Strikes Back , and fathers and sons. I think of this episode as Lost meets Star Wars and The Sixth Sense ...

blog post review: Lost Meets Star Wars in 5.13

Astonishing Surprise in 24 Season 7 Hr 18

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:15:52 -0700

Kim Bauer returns to see her father - Jack is apparently dying from exposure to the bio-weapon - but that's not the astonishing surprise at the end of Episode 18, Season 7 of 24. I provide a detailed analysis, and why I don't believe what we saw on the screen is what it seemed to be...

blog post review: 24 Season 7 Hour 18: Astonishing Surprise and Analysis

Lost 5.12: Passover Edition

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:28:27 -0700

Lost 5.12, aired on the first night of Passover, has some interesting parallels to the story of Moses in Egypt ... release from bondage, quest to regain a promised land, intervention of forces greater than humanity, lots of hieroglyphics ... no time travel that I know of in the Jewish tradition, but back on Lost, Ben becomes Locke's slave...

blog post review: Ben v. Charles, and Locke's Slave

Fringe 1.15: Significant Baldness

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 13:23:18 -0700

J. J. Abrams Fringe returned with one of its best episodes, featuring a feral child who can feel what's going on, regarding people that he cares about. Not only that, but he's bald, and may have a connection to what I think of as the eternal bald observer ...

blog post review: Feral Child, Pheromones, and Bald Man

Sarah Connor Chronicles: Season 2 Finale

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 14:02:53 -0700

We learn all kinds of fascinating things in the Season 2 finale of The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which also sets up some important new plot threads, which I hope are given a chance to developed on a third season.

blog post review: Sarah Connor Chronicles Season 2 Finale

Lost 5.11: Clockwork Perfect Time Travel

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:18:51 -0700

A brilliant, time-travel savvy episode of Lost, which explains how the past can seem to be changed, only to bring into being the future that we already know. And not only is the shooting of young Ben resolved, we also at last get a satisfying answer at to why Kate left Aaron back in LA.

blog post review: Clockwork Perfect Time Travel

Lost 5.10: The Impossible Cannot Happen

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:19:06 -0700

Episode 5.10 of Lost appears to pitch us into another delicious, exquisite paradox when Sayid seems to do the unthinkable, the impossible back in 1970s Dharma-town. This podcast explores what might happen if that unthinkable actually occured, and why it's all but certain it did not...

blog post review: The Impossible Cannot Happen On Lost

and enjoy this podcast about Lost Loops

Big Love Season 3 Finale: Bigger Love

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:43:14 -0700

An at turns breathtaking, heart rending, heart warming Season 3 finale of Big Love, with two crucial expansions in the Henrickson family.

blog post review: Bigger Love

Tudors Season 3 Sneak Preview: Hard History and Sweet Flesh

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 11:51:49 -0700

Spoiler-free sneak preview review of first two episodes of Season 3 of The Tudors - great history, sweet sex, politics, nudity, and two fine new actress additions to the cast as our British ancestors claw, fight, and love their way in our modern age.

blog post review: Hard History and Sweet Flesh

Battlestar Galactica Finale: Not Goodbye But See You Around

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 13:58:37 -0700

Battlestar Galactica's series finale will be recognized as a classic in science fiction. It answered most questions wonderfully - with the exception of Kara Thrace, and what and who she is. But BSG has left deep roots that it and it's offspring will likely be with us a long, long time.

blog post review: Battlestar Galactica Series Finale: Not Goodbye but See You Around

Lost 5.9: Two Times and a Baby

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:55:24 -0700

Lost 5.9 is a another excellent, all-island episode. It's now clear who is in 2007 and who in 1977, all on the island, which raises the question of why? What happened in that new plane crash? The answer will provide some important clues. And it's good to see Ben again as a boy, and that ticking time bomb in his mind... as well as some other much younger versions of The Others...

blog post review: Two Times and a Baby

Lost 5.8: True Love Ways

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 13:14:35 -0800

Sawyer and Juliet find true love back in the 1970s on this fabulous all-island episode 5.8, which may also hold out some time-loopy hope for Charlotte and Faraday. We also get some excellent Darma-time back story, filling in some good details on their relationship to the Hostiles, and what led to the Hostiles' alliance with Ben.

blog post review: True Love Ways on Lost

A Theory about How the Oceanic Six Will Be Chosen

Lost 5.7: Bentham and Ben

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 13:04:56 -0800

A walloping surprise in 5.7 - the suicide of Bentham (Locke) was really a murder ... committed by Ben. So does this mean that Ben is unremittingly evil? The pleasure of Lost is that it's never quite that simple ... possibly Ben was doing Locke and everyone an important service...

blog post review: Lost 5.7: Benthan and Ben

Lost 5.6: More New Questions

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 14:41:18 -0800

Lost 5.6 is an important transitional episode, which raised more questions than it answered. Why did Kate leave Aaron? Who beat up Ben? Why did Sayid and Hurley come to the airport? And, who was that woman with Sayid (and the other Iraqi guy)? Good to see our people back on the island, in any case, even if the explanation was a little thin...

blog post review: Lost 5.6: Lots of New Questions

Lost 5.5: Two Time Loops and Mind Benders

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:06:13 -0800

A great time-travel loop between Jin and Rousseau, and a possible loop between Faraday and Charlotte in this fine episode, and this podcast tells you how you can unravel, or least make a little sense, out of them...

blog review: Two More Time Travel Loops and Mind Benders

Lost 5.4: A Saving Skip Back in Time

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:02:49 -0800

I knew that this major character wasn't dead - listen to my podcast review of the Season 4 finale - turns out he's saved by a time skip back that must have happened right before the explosion ... Other great moments in this fine episode, including true love and time travel...

blog post review: A Saving Skip Back in Time

24 Season 7 Hour 6

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 16:20:39 -0800

Adrenalin pumping through every minute of Season 7 Hour 6 of 24 - with reveals about the President's cabinet, who is trustworthy and not, and more ... Listen at the end of the podcast for a prediction about the identify of the FBI mole!

blog post review: 24 Season 7.6: Adrenalin and Major Developments

identity of the mole: And the mole is ...

Lost 5.3 Loops

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:12:27 -0800

Excellent episode, with development of the Richard and Locke story, and Desmond and Faraday, too. In one sense, a continuation of the great Desmond time travel story from Season 4, and, speaking of time travel, a paradoxical doozy of a loop involving Richard, Locke, and a certain compass ... This podcast contains a special 4-minute segment at the end, in which the time travel loop is explained ... well, sort of...

blog post review of this episode: Lost 5.3: Loops, and the Bomb!

blog post review of time loops essay: The Richard-Locke Compass Time Travel Loop

24 Season 7 Hour 5

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:15:47 -0800

Season 7 of 24 continues to be a powerhouse, as Hour 5 sees Jack forced to take a good guy leader of Sangala hostage, and attractive FBI agent Renee Walker, too, all so Jack can infilitrate the bad guys. But did Jack go too far, and actually kill Renee as ordered? I doubt it - Jack only does the bad is that is necessary for the greater good, never more - and, besides, Renee is too good a character to kill off so soon.

Blog post review of this episode: Doing Bad Things to Prevent Worse on 24

Lost Returns in Five Dimensions

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 14:38:31 -0800

Lost returns with a fabulous Season 5 two-hour premiere that gives us some real answers to what has been going on ... time travel, vengence, on the island three years ago, and in and out of the past, and Los Angeles and the UK in the present ... with just about every character, past and present, getting a great, wrenching, heart-tugging workout...

Blog post review of this episode: Lost Returns in Five Dimensions

24 Season 7 Hours 3 and 4

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 13:46:51 -0800

Great to see the guerrilla CTU, and I knew Tony wasn't bad. I still think Jack and Renee are soulmates, even though Jack did have to choke her out to help Tony escape. But Renee's approach to suspects with crucial information is not that different from Jack's after all. Great to see Buchanan back, too, especially out of his suit.

blog post review of this episode: 24 Season 7 Hours 3 and 4: Jack and Tony and the Guerrilla CTU

24 Season 7 Hours 1 and 2

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:59:43 -0800

Renee Walker, FBI, is one of the best women ever on 24, and makes a fine couple with Jack. Tony Almeida is back, and apparently bad, but maybe not ...

blog post review: 24 Season 7, Hours 1 and 2

blogpost review of Redemption: A 24 Even Keith Olbermann Might Like: Redeemed and Ticking!

More Damages

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:17:30 -0800

Ellen's sure that Patty put out a hit on her last season, and this motivates what Ellen is up to this season ... but do we really know that for sure ... in fact, do we really know that anything that we see or hear on Damages is what it seems to be ... that's the show's charm....

blog post of this review: Lying about Damages

24: Redemption

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:52:24 -0800

This two-hour movie delivers a new, deeper, more thoughtful Jack Bauer, along with the first woman President.

blog post review: A 24 Even Keith Olbermann Might Like: Redeemed and Ticking!

Lost Season 4 Finale: Six Thoughts Plus One

Fri, 30 May 2008 11:23:13 -0700

examination of who is in the coffin and why ... also, is Jin's fate 100%? ... where did the island go to ... increasing role of time travel in Lost ... and, what was that in the 4.12 replay about Boone, Libby, and Charlie?

blog post review: Lost Season 4: Six Thoughts Plus One

more about Jeremy Bentham and Lost: Who Is in the Coffin?

Lost 4.12: Hurley's Numbers on the Dashbboard

Sat, 17 May 2008 16:47:35 -0700

Lost has made great progress in at least partially unraveling some mysteries this season - Locke's relationship to the island, what makes Ben and the island tick, how Desmond can see the future ... But what about those numbers? Nothing until this episode, when they appear on the dashboard of Hurley's car. Another inexplicable coincidence ... we learn nothing more about these numbers that keep popping up, but it was reassuring to see they're still in the picture...

blog post review: Hurley's Numbers on the Dashboard

more about inexplicable coincidences: Keys to What is Really Going On in Lost

Lost 4.11 Unlocking Locke (Plus: A Theory about How the Oceanic Six Were Chosen)

Sat, 10 May 2008 12:39:42 -0700

A mindblowing episode ... Is timeless Richard Alpert really Locke's father? ... is he also Ben's father ... and do Locke and Ben have the same mother ... this goes against some of what we seem to know so far, but consider the possibilities ... also: a special new theory about how the Oceanic Six were/will be chosen...

blog posts:

Unlocking Locke

Lost 4.10: Almost a Dream Come True

Fri, 02 May 2008 11:27:00 -0700

Jaters will love this episode ... Jack and Kate are together and almost happy in the flashforward ... but, of course, things go wrong ... and Christian, Jack's father, has something to do with it ... he also makes an appearance back on the island to Claire... a superb puzzle wrapped in an enigma episode...

blog post review: Almost a Dream Come True

Lost 4.9: Daughters and Some Truth About Ben

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:19:40 -0700

daughters, rules, coordinates, and some truths about Ben all figure in this brutally brilliant episode of Lost...

blog post review: Daughters, Rules, and Some Truths about Ben

Battlestar Galactica is Back and Bristling!

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 14:55:17 -0700

Who is the 12th Cylon ... did Starbuck really get to Earth ... how reliable is Caprica Six's impression that all five secret Cylons are near her .... why did the Cylons call off their apparently victorious attack? These and other tantalizing puzzles glisten and taunt in the superb opener to the final season of BSG, and are considered in this podcast...

blog post review: Battlestar Galactica's Back and Bristling

More about Lost 4.8: Michael, Ben, Baby Aaron, and Oceanic Six

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:30:18 -0700

Special bonus podcast: Thinking about Lost 4.8 this past week ... Michael's drive to take his life shows he's ultimately good ... Ben is Sloan on Alias (hard to say whether he's bad or good until the end) ... and the coming attractions should not have revealed who is in the Oceanic Six...

blog post reviews :

Baby Aaron and the Oceanic Six: What the Coming Attractions Should Not Have Shown

Ben and Michael, Good and Evil, Alias Echo

Lost 4.8: Michael and Alex

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:23:39 -0700

We finally get Michael's story from the time he left the island, to the present, in a superbly rendered Episode 8 of Lost (with another Mama Cass Elliot song). We also learn something important about the island and immortality. But what may be most important is what we may have learned about Ben, when something happens to Rousseau and Karl, but not Alex...

blog post review: Lost 4.8: Michael and Alex

Lost 4.7: Flash Both Ways

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:53:06 -0700

A beautiful, bittersweet episode of Lost, in which Sun has her baby, off the island, in Korea, in a flashforward, and Jin's rushing to the hospital ... but not to be with her, because we're seeing him in a flashback ... Sun made it off the island, Jin did not ... and the question now is: who is the last of the Oceanic Six?

blog post review: Flash Both Ways

Lost 4.6 The True Nature of Ben

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 09:47:52 -0800

This episode of of Lost was, on the surface, about Juliet ... but it was really about Ben, and asking us, once again, to wonder if there is any good in Ben, or it he all evil ...

blog lost review: The True Nature of Ben

Lost 4.5: Desmond 1 and Desmond 2

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:24:19 -0800

We get some superb closure on Desmond is this marvelous and marvelously told tale ... his relationship with time, and with characters long and recently arriving on the show ... this is both a masterpiece of time travel as an individual episode, and an important contribution to understanding what's really going on in Lost...

blog post : Lost 5.5: Desmond 1 and Desmond 2: The Exquisite Loops of Time Travel

essay: Keys to What's Really Going in Lost

if you like time travel: The Plot to Save Socrates

Lost 4.4: Kate and ... Jack and Aaron, Kate and Sawyer

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:39:30 -0800

Kate's episode ... We learned why she was not in prison when we last saw her in the future in the finale of Season 3 ... We learned that Jack loved her after they got off the island, and she loved Jack ... But why can't they get together? What is it about Claire's baby that's keeping Jack away? ... And, back on the island, why does Kate spend the night in bed with Sawyer, but refuse to sleep with him? Fascinating answers and questions...

Blog posts Lost 4.4 Kate and ... and Lost 4.4 Jack and Aaron, Kate and Sawyer

And enjoy this special 20-minute podcast Science Fiction in the New Golden Age of TV -a look at Lost , The Sarah Connor Chronicles , Journeyman , Battlestar Galactica , and Heroes

Lost 4.3: Thirty Minutes and Big Ben

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 09:54:53 -0800

best episode so far this superb season, with Sayid almost falling in love and killing two people in his flashforward ... while back on the island Kate and Sawyer may be getting together ... and a clock arrives 31-minutes into the future...

blog post review: Thirty Minutes and Big Ben

Lost 4.2: Five Flashbacks and Three Rational Explanations

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 10:10:22 -0800

Lost returns to its flashback format in this excellent episode - but there are five of them, for five different people, and they are short. Plus, we get some rational explanations for a few of Lost's mysteries...

blog post review: Five Flashbacks and Three Rational Explanations

Subscribe to this free weekly 4-minute podcast about Lost on your cell phone: 415 223 4124

More Thoughts on Lost 4.1: Those Who Went with Hurley and Those Who Stayed with Jack

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 15:18:53 -0800

a careful examination of why Locke, Ben, Rousseau, Alex, Karl, Claire, and Sawyer chose to go with Hurley . . . and why Jack, Kate, Rose and Bernard, Juliet, Sun and Jin, and - most importantly - Desmond and Sayid - did not ...

blog post review: Those Who Went with Hurley and Those Who Stayed with Jack

Subscribe to this free weekly 4-minute podcast about Lost on your cell phone: 415 223 4124

Lost 4: 1: Hurley and Samuel Johnson

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 10:09:25 -0800

who are the Oceanic Six ... how did Hurley get off the island ... dreams, paradox, and philosophy collide and converge in this excellent beginning of Lost's new season...

blog post review: Lost's Back Full Paradoxical Blast

Subscribe to this free weekly 4-minute podcast about Lost on your cell phone: 415 223 4124

The Wire Is Back! Sneak Preview (No Spoilers)

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 18:51:14 -0800

This final season of The Wire will focus on a Baltimore newspaper - giving The Wire something in common with Journeyman . Homicide 's Meldrick (Clark Johnson) is playing a major role, and that's good news all around. Marlo's crew looks good and tough, McNulty's American accent is better than ever, and Steve Earle is doing "Down in the Hole" ... What more can you ask for?

Weeds 3:15: Finale: The Fire and the Clean Slate

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 17:45:17 -0800

What better way than a fire to wipe the slate clean for Nancy, and allow her and her family to start anew someplace else next season ... Or will they, and will Nancy be doing something different from what she did last year ... the opposite of a cliff hanger - this finale sweeps away the cliff and leaves us wondering what Nancy will encounter in the valley next year...

Also - listen at the end of this podcast for the CONTEST winners ! (Contest announced in my review of Episode 13 , and again in Episode 14 .)

Weeds 3:14: Just When Nancy Thought It Couldn't Get Any Worse...

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 21:41:23 -0800

Weeds has always mixed some harrowing experience into its hilarity, and now it has set up next week's finale to deal with a catastrophe pretty close to home in Southern California ... the wild fires ... I think Showtime deserves credit for going ahead with these last two shows, which were filmed in the summer, well before last month's fires in California...

listen at the end of this podcast for ADDITIONAL CLUES about how to win a free, cool Weeds poster...

Journeyman 8: Livia's Story

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:03:48 -0800

Journeyman keeps on getting better and better. Unlike Quantum Leap, Journeyman is weaving pieces of Dan's missions into his larger story. In Episode 8, we finally find out where Livia lives ... she gets pushed from the past into the future, just as Dan gets pulled back from the future to the past...

Weeds 3:13: Shane Pays the Price

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 21:33:13 -0800

Shane Botwin, Nancy's younger son, has always been a source of bright sanity in the world going out of control all around him ... But he's only a boy, after all, and in Episode 13 he begins paying the price...

listen at the end of this episode for a chance to win a free, cool, Weeds poster!

my novel, The Plot to Save Socrates

Heroes Meets 12 Monkeys

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 17:28:40 -0800

Heroes Season 2 now has at least two time travelers - Hiro and Peter (who has absorbed his powers), and possibly Kensei, who appears in the present. Good thing, too, because our heroes will need all the time traveling they can do to stop a deadly plague ... much as is in the best time travel movie ever made, 12 Monkeys. But Heroes also has Claire and Nikki...

my latest novel, The Plot to Save Socrates

Weeds 3:12: Nancy and Conrad!

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 15:25:19 -0700

Nancy has had a tough time of it, sexually, on Weeds. It look her a long time to get over her deceased husband, and what sex she has had has been physical with not much passion. But in Episode 12 of Season 3, she and Conrad finally get together .... the question is, what will happen to break this up in the concluding episodes this season?

my latest novel, The Plot to Save Socrates

Journeyman 6: Unabomber and Tachyons

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 16:21:12 -0700

Episode 6 of Journeyman features Dan getting closer to his brother, our learning a little more about Livia, and Dan meeting a unabomber-like character who may have some connection to our tachyon scientist...

my current novel, The Plot to Save Socrates

Dexter Meets Heroes

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 16:16:26 -0700

As NBC's Heroes struggles to find a cohesive central story, Dexter is achieving a dark, almost super-hero status, replete with masterful enemies, Lois Lanes, and soulmate Batgirls...

Tachyon Telephone podcast

my latest novel, The Plot to Save Socrates

Journeyman 5: More On Tachyons

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 22:39:19 -0700

Dan squares his absences with his son Zack - who approves of his dad's "magic" - meets his own photojournalist father, and gets a visit from tachyon scientist Dr. Langley in this fine episode of Journeyman...

blog post of this review

blog post of this analysis

Tachyon Telephone: A Journeyman Extra!

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 19:31:37 -0700

Tachyons are hypothetical particles that travel faster than light. Some theorists think these could enable instant communication to the past and the future. This podcast explores how that might have worked for Journeyman Dan, in episode 4 of the NBC's time-traveling new series.

Greg Benford's Timescape

my time-travel novel, The Plot to Save Socrates

20-minute podcast: Time Travel in Fact and Fiction

Tell Me You Love Me Seven Times

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 14:08:00 -0700

Some of the relationships are far-fetched, but the acting as well as the sex continues to be passionate on HBO's Tell Me You Love Me. And the series deserves credit for taking chances, and portaying so many different sexual relationships in so many walks of life.

blog post review of this episode

my latest novel, The Plot to Save Socrates

listen also to podcast about Episode One

Movie Review: Michael Clayton and the Surprise Beginning

Sun, 14 Oct 2007 20:58:27 -0700

Writer, director, producer Tony Gilroy gets kudos for reinventing the surprise beginning ... Michael Clayton is an enoyable, harrowing ride into the heart of darkness that beats in at least part of corporate America. Fine acting, from George Clooney as Clayton to Sam Gilroy (Tony's son) who plays a bit but memorable part as copy boy.

my blog post review

my latest novel, The Plot to Save Socrates

Heroes 2: 3: Hanging Questions

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 13:50:42 -0700

Heroes Season 2 Episode 3 was excellent in many ways - Claire, Mr. Bennet, Hiro, and Peter all proceeded well in their new stories, and it was good go to see Sylar back in evil business, and good to see Nikki in any business. But we need some answers, already, about how Peter and Nathan managed to survive that explosion in the sky...

The Plot to Save Socrates - my latest novel

Journeyman

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 17:33:39 -0700

Rome's Kevin McKidd stars in this Quantum Leap-ish time-travel series ... but Journeyman is much more sophisticated in its story-line than Quantum Leap, and pays even more attention to the complex personal life of the time traveler than to the leaps... The show is shaping up as one of the best time travel series ever on television.

blog post reviews of every episode start here

my time-travel novel, The Plot to Save Socrates

Californication

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 15:26:19 -0700

Television is finally growing up - Californication has sex, nudity, hilarious situations and even some good exploration of relationships. What I like most about this new series, however, is how well it depicts the life and feelings of a 40+ year-old writer...

blog reviews of every episode of Californication start here

my latest novel, The Plot to Save Socrates

Tell Me You Love Me

Sun, 07 Oct 2007 13:31:41 -0700

Television has come a long way since I Love Lucy. We're in the midst of a refreshing libertine revolution, in which television is finally giving us the adult exploration of relationships we used to find only in the movies. HBO's Tell Me You Love Me is leading the pack, with full nudity, explicit sex, and a look at four couples and their difficult relationships.

my latest novel, The Plot to Save Socrates

listen also to podcast about Episode Seven

Mad Men

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 15:30:47 -0700

AMC's Mad Men, finishing its debut season, offers an entertaining and instructive look into the Madison Avenue advertising world of 1960. Steeped in smoking, male chauvinism, and authentic 1960 culture attitudes, this series is a treat.

The Plot to Save Socrates my latest novel

Dexter's Back!

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 16:43:22 -0700

Dexter's back, and better than last year ... which is saying a lot, since Dexter was the best new show on television last year. This year's characters are sharper than ever, and are joined by Keith Carradine, a master FBI guy who is looking into the body parts that turned up in the water (because that's where Dexter joined them) and Jamie Murray as sultry Lila, who have something in common with Dexter...

The Plot to Save Socrates my latest novel

podcast review of Season One: First Place to Dexter

Heroes 2:2

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 12:58:52 -0700

Good to see Hiro, in Episode 2 of Heroes 2, preserve Kensei's legacy by stepping up - or on - to the horse, putting on Kensai's armor, and saving the beautiful girl ... This is classic and always satisfying time-travel gambit - the time traveler makes happen the very event he went to past to either protect or prevent from happening ...

and The Plot to Save Socrates (time travel novel)

Heroes 2:1

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 12:26:56 -0700

Levinson News Clips returns with weekly 2-3 minute reviews of the best shows on television ... starting with the new season of Heroes ... which finds Hiro in medieval Japan, Parkman a detective on the NYPD, two new South American heroes with powers we haven't seen before, and much more ...