Posted in Tuesday Round Up by J C on May 24th, 2016
I don’t know what we did, but it must have been serious. We UpcomingDiscers are generally a law-abiding bunch, so I’m a little surprised that we’ve apparently landed in such hot water. How else to explain this week’s arrival of the Major Crimes division at our door? Naturally, I’m yanking your chain…none of us here […]
Posted in No Huddle by Gino Sassani on May 19th, 2016
Bob Newhart is one of the last in a dying breed of comedians, at least on television. He had a reserved, almost deadpan delivery that drew your attention not because of raunchy material or manic display of hijinx. He was obviously comfortable with being the brunt of all of the jokes. His half embarrassed and […]
Posted in No Huddle by J C on May 4th, 2016
“Oh crap…I’m going back to Cleveland.” I had never seen a single episode of Hot in Cleveland before I sat down to review season 5. So why did it feel like I’d been watching this show my entire life? Turns out, it’s entirely by design. On the surface, it doesn’t seem like I’m the target […]
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 7th, 2016
“There’s always room for improvement.” Banshee is one of those improbable plots that finds a way to pull us into the action all the while ignoring how unlikely any of this might really be. Of course, we do that all the time. It’s certainly unlikely we’re going to face a zombie apocalypse or run into […]
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on March 16th, 2016
“Perhaps we’ve grown so used to horror, we assume there’s no other way.” Given the quantity and quality of death and destruction we’ve witnessed over the previous four years, the most shocking thing Game of Thrones could do in its fifth season was offer a tiny glimmer of hope. After all, optimism in Westeros and […]
Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on February 9th, 2016
Season one of From Dusk Till Dawn gave us a ten-episode remake of the hit original movie while setting up a mythology to stretch its story over numerous seasons. Season two wastes no time in blazing its new path as it continues the blood-soaked adventure that departs from the famed Titty Twister and takes us […]
Posted in Contests, Tuesday Round Up by J C on November 24th, 2015
We are smack dab in the middle of the most wonderful time of the year. Thanksgiving week falls right in that sweet spot between Halloween and Christmas…and so does A Christmas Horror Story, courtesy of RLJ Entertainment. Comedy Central goes Inside Amy Schumer: Season 3, Lionsgate blazes through American Ultra, Wild Eye Releasing stops at […]
Posted in No Huddle by J C on November 9th, 2015
“Why, this is getting more farcical by the moment!” It’s easy to point at the 1960s Batman TV series and laugh. For Dark Knight loyalists who insist their hero be gritty and tortured, the show is (at best) a campy amusement. At worst, it’s an embarrassing atrocity. The two most important things to note are […]
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on October 20th, 2015
“This is the beginning of something, not the end.” There weren’t any Lost-style mysteries to be resolved here. And unlike The Sopranos or Breaking Bad, this particular series never really hinged on whether the lead character lived or died. (Although a moment in Ep. 5/“Lost Horizon” seems to nod toward fan speculation that Don Draper […]
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 29th, 2015
“To understand what I’m about to tell you, you need to do something first. You need to believe in the impossible. Can you do that? Good. Because all of us, we have forgotten what miracles look like. Maybe because they haven’t made much of an appearance lately. Our lives have become ordinary. But there is […]
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on September 17th, 2015
“You need to promise…something goes wrong, you need to drop a bomb on this whole mess.” The biggest literal bang on Homeland came courtesy of the explosion that wiped out CIA headquarters in the season 2 finale. However, many fans and critics would argue the subsequent third season was an even bigger bomb. (I thought […]
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 14th, 2015
“My name is Walter O’Brien. I have the fourth highest IQ ever recorded: 197. Einstein’s was 160. When I was 11 the FBI arrested me for hacking into NASA to get their blueprints for my bedroom wall. Now I run a team of geniuses, tackling worldwide threats only we can solve…” By now you are […]
Posted in No Huddle by William O'Donnell on August 28th, 2015
In 1887, readers of the popular periodical Beeton’s Christmas Annual were to receive quite a special treat. There wasn’t much fanfare or hype to the event. Inside the pages of the magazine was a story called A Study In Scarlet. It was a detective story, perhaps like many published before, except for the detective himself, […]
Posted in No Huddle by Gino Sassani on August 25th, 2015
“Trauma is messy.” So begins life at Grey-Slone Memorial Hospital without Dr. Wang, and for the show Grey’s Anatomy, the loss of Sandra Oh. But there won’t be time to dwell on that loss as the story shifts to the departure of another of the show’s most popular characters and actors. Patrick Dempsey spent more […]
Posted in No Huddle by Gino Sassani on August 21st, 2015
“Let’s do it!” NCIS has become the number-one-rated television show in the world. It might stand alone in that distinction, but it certainly doesn’t stand alone. Last season saw a new spin-off that took us to New Orleans. It’s hard to believe that it was six years ago now that NCIS: Los Angeles took to […]
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 19th, 2015
CBS has finally decided to release the number-one-rated show in the world on high-definition Blu-ray. It’s a milestone event for the network and for fans of the show, and it only took 12 years to get it done. To be fair, Blu-ray hasn’t quite been around for 12 years, but many networks have gotten us […]
Posted in No Huddle by J C on August 17th, 2015
Everyone on TV has nicer clothes and a bigger home than you do. And I’m not just talking about fictional doctors or lawyers. Even small-screen characters with relatively modest incomes manage to live in palatial apartments. Need proof? The 2 Broke Girls in CBS’s hit sitcom have an apartment that is literally big enough to […]
Posted in No Huddle by J C on June 15th, 2015
“People you knew — people you forgot you knew — all ready to spend your money. And we got to be careful. We got to be smart.” We look at professional athletes who’ve hit the genetic jackpot and make unseemly amounts of money, and we assume that they’ll be financially set for the rest of […]
Posted in No Huddle by J C on March 9th, 2015
Even though one of the main characters in The Red Road is a police officer, the show’s six-episode first season plays less like your typical cop drama and more like an extended profile of two strained communities. There’s the fictional town of Walpole, N.J. and the Lenape tribe that lives in the neighboring Ramapo Mountains. […]
Posted in No Huddle by J C on January 13th, 2015
“Those who are feared make peace. Those who are kind get killed.” Both temperaments are well represented throughout the first season of Tyrant, FX’s Middle East-set family drama. I say “family drama” because even though the show features plenty of political power plays and double-crosses, Tyrant is at its best when it focuses on the […]
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on January 6th, 2015
The most remarkable thing about Looking might be how thoroughly unremarkable it is. This is a double-edged sword for HBO’s dramedy, which follows the love lives of three gay friends living in modern-day San Francisco. The series sidesteps the headline-grabbing sensationalism that accompanies many other shows that prominently feature gay characters. (Looking at you, Ryan […]
Posted in No Huddle by J C on November 14th, 2014
I had never seen a single episode of Hot in Cleveland before I sat down to review this season 5 DVD set. So why did it feel like I’d been watching this show my entire life? Turns out, it’s entirely by design. On the surface, it doesn’t seem like I’m the target audience for Hot […]
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on November 10th, 2014
“It’s noble work. It is useful. You are angels of mercy…I just never thought that I would end up here.” The geriatric care wing of a hospital — where the employees are undermanned and overworked, and many of the patients are in a near-catatonic state — is not the most obvious sitcom setting. As a […]
Posted in No Huddle by J C on October 14th, 2014
Everyone on TV has nicer clothes and a bigger home than you do. And I’m not just talking about fictional doctors or lawyers. Even small-screen characters with relatively modest incomes manage to live in palatial apartments. Need proof? The 2 Broke Girls in CBS’s hit sitcom have an apartment that is literally big enough to […]
Posted in No Huddle by Gino Sassani on September 30th, 2014
To the point, Criminal Minds is very compelling television. Ever since The Silence of the Lambs and perhaps long before, we have been fascinated by serial killers and the profilers who try to get inside their heads. To see evidence of the continuing trend, one needs only look toward the success of films like Zodiac […]
