Film Festival

Keeping things in moderation: 'Boardwalk Empire'

Your local TV critic will be heading to Los Angeles to talk about vintage Jersey gangsters

Keeping things in moderation: 'Boardwalk Empire'

"Boardwalk Empire" rivals Steve Buscemi and Michael Pitt will be together at least one more time tomorrow night in LA.

Credit: HBO

Just a heads-up about both a TV-related event I'll be involved in tomorrow night, as well as how that'll affect the blog for the next few days.

Tomorrow night, I'll be in LA to moderate a "Boardwalk Empire" panel featuring Terence Winter and a good chunk of the season 2 cast: Steve Buscemi, Kelly Macdonald, Gretchen Mol, Vincent Piazza and all the Michaels: Pitt, Shannon, Stuhlbarg and Kenneth Williams. It's for members of the TV Academy as part of the show's Emmy campaign, but it will also be streamed live on Emmys.com and Emmys.tv, from around 7:30 to 9 p.m. Pacific. It's rare to have this many castmembers from the show together (even the first press tour session was, I believe, just Winter, Buscemi and Macdonald), so we'll be talking about a lot of stuff from both seasons, and not just the Nucky/Jimmy events from the end of season 2.

Because of my travel schedule, I'm not going to have time to do episode write-ups of anything on Wednesday or Thursday I haven't already seen in advance. So I'll have "Community" and "Parks and Rec" going up tomorrow, but "Suburgatory" (and the other ABC comedies) "Don't Trust the (Broccoli) in Apt. 23," "Awake," and the "30 Rock" live show are all going to be skipped. (Someone on Twitter reminded me the other ABC sitcoms are repeats tonight.) I may come back to the "30 Rock" episode several days late, but given my feelings about the first live show, it may not be worth anyone's time to wait.

'New Girl' - 'Tomatoes': Mommy's all right, daddy's all right

Jess wants passion, Nick wants hope, and Schmidt suffers an injury

'New Girl' - 'Tomatoes': Mommy's all right, daddy's all right

Hannah Simone and Max Greenfield in "New Girl."

Credit: FOX

A quick review of last night's "New Girl" coming up just as soon as I like ice skating for fun, not to save life...

'Cougar Town' - 'Money Becomes King': Fifty-fifty vs. 100%

Jules and Grayson go to couples counseling, Laurie starts a business and Andy pranks Bobby

'Cougar Town' - 'Money Becomes King': Fifty-fifty vs. 100%

Travis tries to give Laurie some advice on "Cougar Town."

Credit: ABC

A quick review of tonight's "Cougar Town" coming up just as soon as I find enough courage to pull a tab off the "Drummer Wanted" poster...

Review: 'The L.A. Complex' moves from Canada to the CW

Import drama about showbiz wannabes feels retro, yet better than many real CW shows

  • Critic's Rating B-
  • Readers' Rating B
Review: 'The L.A. Complex' moves from Canada to the CW

Cassie Steele in "The L.A. Complex."

Credit: CW
Watching "The L.A. Complex," the Canadian drama that the CW will begin airing tonight at 9, reminded me of an exchange from the classic "How I Met Your Mother" episode "Slap Bet." The gang has just discovered that Robin was a one-hit wonder as a teenager in Canada, and as they watch the video for "Let's Go To The Mall," Marshall observes, "This is the '90s. Why does it look like 1986?"
 
Robin, sheepish about the whole thing already, shrugs and explains, "The '80s didn't come to Canada 'til, like, '93."
 

Firewall & Iceberg Podcast, episode 125: 'The L.A. Complex,' 'Mad Men,' 'Game of Thrones' & more

Dan and Alan also talk about the 'Girls' backlash and check in on reality TV

The

On this week's Firewall & Iceberg Podcast, Dan and I come to an unexpected consensus on the CW's Canadian import "The L.A. Complex" (I'll have a written review posted tomorrow morning), do our periodic Dan's Reality Round-Up segment, answer a bunch of mail (including a lot of "Girls" discussion), check in on "Mad Men" like usual but also devote a few minutes to recent developments on "Game of Thrones." Busy busy busy.

The line-up: 

NFL on FOX (00:00:50 - 00:04:20)
"L.A. Complex" (00:04:15 - 00:13:05)
Dan's Reality Roundup (00:13:00 - 00:26:20)
Listener Mail - Two "Girls" Queries (00:26:35 - 00:39:10)
Listener Mail - Twitter Etiquette (00:39:20 - 00:43:15)
Listener Mail - "Arrested Development" on Netflix (00:43:20 - 00:50:10)
"Game of Thrones" (00:50:20 - 00:59:55)
Sunday's "Mad Men" (01:00:00 - 01:15:20)
 
As always, you can subscribe to The Firewall & Iceberg Podcast over at the iTunes Store, where you can also rate us and comment on us. Or you can always follow our RSS Feed, download the MP3 file or stream it on Dan's blog.
 
And as always, feel free to e-mail us questions for the podcast.

'Mad Men' - 'Far Away Places': The HoJo code

Peggy, Roger and Don take three very different trips

'Mad Men' - 'Far Away Places': The HoJo code

The passage of time was a major issue for Don and everyone else on this episode of "Mad Men."

Credit: AMC

A review of tonight's "Mad Men" coming up just as soon as I buy you a backscratcher...

'Girls' - 'Vagina Panic': We're the ladies?

Hannah and friends suffer the consequences of good and (mostly) bad sex

'Girls' - 'Vagina Panic': We're the ladies?

Jemima Kirke, Lena Dunham and Zosia Mamet in "Girls."

Credit: HBO

A review of tonight's "Girls" coming up just as soon as I make the continent of Africa on your arm...

'Veep' - 'Fundraiser': Plastics!

What did everybody think of HBO's new political satire?

'Veep' - 'Fundraiser': Plastics!

Anna Chlumsky in "Veep."

Credit: HBO

I posted my review of HBO's "Veep" on Friday morning. Now it's your turn. What did everybody think of Julia Louis-Dreyfus as V-POTUS? If you're a fan of Armando Iannucci's UK work, did this stack up, or did you miss the presence of Malcolm Tucker? Were any "My Girl" fans scarred by seeing Ann Chlumsky in this kind of role? How do you feel Tony Hale did? And, most importantly, are you going to watch again? 

Though I enjoyed this show a lot, I'm not planning to do weekly write-ups of it. Not only are Sundays a complete bear, but the three episodes I've seen are all very much of a piece, and I doubt I'd have interesting/different things to say each week, even if my time was less constrained.

So have at it, and I'll check back in either later in the season if they do an unusual episode, or else at the very end.

'Game of Thrones' - 'Garden of Bones': I smell dead people!

Joffrey sends Tyrion a message, Robb launches an attack, and Melisandre shocks Davos

'Game of Thrones' - 'Garden of Bones': I smell dead people!

Liam Cunningham as Davos in "Game of Thrones."

Credit: HBO

A review of tonight's "Game of Thrones" coming up just as soon as mathematicians rule the world...

'Awake' - 'Nightswimming': He made me a mixtape!

The series' first real dud focuses too much on the guest stars

'Awake' - 'Nightswimming': He made me a mixtape!

Even the publicity photos for this week's "Awake" focus too much on the guest stars at the expense of Jason isaacs.

Credit: NBC

A quick review of last night's "Awake" coming up just as soon as I have a cassette player...

Alan Sepinwall

About This Blog

All through his childhood, Alan Sepinwall's relatives told his parents, "All that boy does is watch television! How's he going to make a living doing that?" His career as a TV critic has been 15 years and counting of his attempt to answer their concerns. "What's Alan Watching" is a blog whose title is self-explanatory: Alan watches TV shows, then writes about what he watched. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com

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