30 Rock 701 Review - Dunston Checks In

Many shows seem to return to their former glory once an actual end is in sight. It gives the writers a new-found purpose, and that may be the case for 30 Rock here in season seven.

"Governor Dunston" continued the longer arcs of Jack trying to tank NBC and Liz's attempt at pregnancy nicely, while adding some hilarious moments with Tracy Morgan as the eponymous politician, along with a couple of guest appearances by Catherine O'Hara and Bryan Cranston.

Morgan as the aloof Vice Presidential candidate, who looked exactly like Tracy Jordan, was funny enough in and of itself - with the "okey dokey doo" and ripping his pants off at the podium - but the fact that it was a direct call back to Tina Fey as Sarah Palin made it even better.

To read the rest of my review of last night's 30 Rock, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor 210 Review - Teen Titans

Well... we all have to wait until next week to find out who has made it into The X Factor's Top 16.

Fortunately, we were held over with a whole bunch of talent from the Old Geezers and Teens categories. Sure, there were a couple of misses here and there, but like I've said many times already this season, there just seems to be much more talent this year than in 2011.

Let's take a look at who is in good shape to make it through to the live shows, and who might be in danger of heading home. Remember only four can make it through from each category...

Old Geezers

1. David Correy: While I still think The X Factor isn't as good of a strategy for finding his birth mom as actually going somewhere to find her, I still love this guy. That was a fantastic audition. He has the extra factor, AND a great voice. Loved him. Bieber's manager said it was pure passion.

To read the rest of my review of last night's The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

Nashville 101 Review - Welcome to Music City

With a quickly established set of complicated characters, engaging original music built within this authentic setting and endless possibilities for intriguing stories down the road, Nashville is the best new show of 2012.

No matter what stories you tell, if you don't have truly interesting characters, nobody is going to care. Fortunately, Nashville has created a number of them in just the one hour of its pilot.

Between Charles Esten as songwriting legend Deacon Claybourne, Eric Close as mayoral candidate Teddy Conrad and Clare Bowen as poet-turned-songstress Scarlett O'Connor, the supporting cast will be fun to watch develop as the first season moves forward.

Having said that, it's still the two leading ladies who are going to carry much of the burden of the series. Thankfully, both Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere seem up to the challenge as fading country star Rayna Jaymes and up-and-comer Juliette Barnes, respectively.

To read the rest of my review of last night's series premiere of Nashville, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor 209 Review - Oh The Drama

The X Factor announced its Top 21 this week, put us through some incredibly fake drama before revealing the true Top 24, continued with more faux anger when L.A. Reid was given the Over 25s... and finally concluded with some singing on Wednesday!

This year's categories are different from last season. We have the Young Adults (roughly 18-24), the Over 25s (what I will affectionately refer to as the Old Geezers from here on out), the Groups, and the Teens (17 and under).

Who made it through? Who got the cut?

Young Adults
Cece Frey
Willie Jones
Jennel Garcia
Nick Youngerman - Who?
Paige Thomas
Jillian Jensen - She broke Demi's heart.

To read the rest of my review of Wednesday's The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Voice 310 Review - The Battle Zone

The Voice was in full theft mode Tuesday night, as the new "steal" option was utilized once again by the coaches.

With an hour of airtime, we only got to witness three battles. I'm not complaining that we missed Celica vs. Lisa and Rudy vs. Charlie, because they probably weren't all that interesting, but maybe a little less practice time and they could afford to show ALL the battles!

Let's see who won and who lost this time around in the Battle Rounds...

Team Cee Lo - Cody Belew vs. Domo - "Telephone"

The Battle: It's difficult not to want Domo to fail due to the fact that there seems to be no limit to her arrogance. She definitely didn't fail nearly as much as she did in the blind auditions, but it was obvious once again that she just doesn't have the vocal chops to be interesting in this competition. Her performance wasn't enough to compete with Cody's voice, even if this song was way out of his comfort zone.
My Choice: Cody
Cee Lo's Choice: Domo Cody, wow I literally typed Domo while Cee Lo was speaking because I thought she was a lock.
Battle Grade: C+

To read the rest of my review of last night's The Voice, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Voice 309 Review - Steal Away

The Voice began its Battle Rounds on Monday, but this time there was a new twist that benefited a few contestants and certainly everyone watching.

One of the major problems with the Battles in the past was that it seemed they would purposefully pit two really talented contestants against each other in order to create an awesome performance that would make that specific episode more enjoyable for fans.

The problem ended up being that after that great moment, one of those two extremely talented singers was completely out of the competition (see: Anthony Evans). That wasn't good for the future of the season. Thanks to the new "steal" option after one coach picks his/her winner, that issue is moot.

In essence The Voice gets to have their moment of cake, and then eat it too as the rest of the season goes on. Let's see how much better that made this week's first episode of season three battles...

Team Blake - Casey Muessigmann vs. Terry McDermott - "Carry On Wayward Son"

The Battle: I'm not one to disagree with Michael Buble, but why would you want Casey to change out of his country style if that's who he is? Both of these guys did really well, but it seemed like Casey was singing the song, while Terry just WAS the song. Just because Terry seemed more comfortable with the song, that doesn't mean that it was more impressive. The difficult task the Casey was given was not something to take likely.
My Choice: Terry
Blake's Choice: Terry
Battle Grade: A-

To read the rest of my review of Monday night's The Voice, head over to TV Fanatic.

Homeland 202 Review - Via Text Message

After only two episodes of its second season, it is crystal clear that Homeland is going to keep coming at viewers with non-stop pulse-pounding and surprising television.

Between the meet-gone-bad with Abu Nazir, Carrie running for her life through the streets, the Marines questioning what happened with Tom Walker and that final video clip Saul started watching, "Beirut is Back" was a perfect example of this show at its Emmy-winning best.

Let us begin with the fact Carrie was indeed right about her intel. Her instincts were correct, which means she's even closer to her old self. That certainly isn't to say that she's back at the top of her game. As she noted, being wrong about Brody f*cked her up.

Listening to her talk about that, and then watching her go up on the roof during a major freak out, was disconcerting. In just one short season, it has been incredibly easy to let Carrie Mathison into our lives. Witnessing her struggle so much shouldn't be easy on us.

To read the rest of my review of last night's Homeland, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Office 903 Review - You're Not Jim!

When I first saw the cold open as a promo for "Andy's Ancestry," I laughed my face off. When I saw it again, it was still hilarious. By the time this episode of The Office aired, the joke had lost most of its punch, but that doesn't mean it wasn't one of the best openings we've seen in a long, long time.

What a prank! Jim and Pam took some pretty great strides to get Dwight's goat with this one. Between informing their actor friend on the ins and outs of Jim's job, getting him Jim's voicemail password, Pam kissing him straight on the mouth and taking the time to shoot a brand new family portrait, I'd say this one might have taken the most planning ever.

Once the heart of the episode began there were a number of plots going on at once. The one that worked best was Nellie and Pam's bonding intertwining with Jim and Darryl's bonding. I know readers have taken issue with Nellie in the past, but I continue to enjoy her style of comedy. Her being a terrible driver...not funny. Nellie taking joy in lying to Andy...very funny.

To read the rest of my review of this week's The Office, head over to TV Fanatic.

30 Rock 701 Review - Tanking It

The seventh and final season of 30 Rock began this week, and "The Beginning of the End" started the abbreviated run out with a bang. Classic one-liners and references were joined by a hilarious plotline that ended with Jack and Liz teaming up to tank NBC.

The idea that Jack - and now Liz as well - wants to tank NBC so that Hank Hooper will sell the company to the guy who makes the only successful Easter Egg dyeing company in the world is funny in and of itself.

It also creates an atmosphere rich with opportunities for humor, like Jack coming up with ridiculous new shows for the network. God Cop may have had the most play here, but Homonym may have been funnier, and Tank It was certainly more idiotic.

To read the rest of my review of this week's 30 Rock, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor 208 Review - Don't Forget the Lyrics

They are just racing through these eliminations on The X Factor, as Thursday's Boot Camp Battles seemed to be the final test before cutting the 60 remaining contestants down to 24 for the judges' houses.

Other than speed and efficiency, this season of The X Factor also seems to be doing a much better job at finding talent...or at least showcasing it. There was a wealth of it on display tonight, so let's recap what all went down with The Good, The Bad, and The Judges...

The Good

Tara Simon vs. Jennel Garcia: Both sounded good, but Simon hated the song choice of "Landslide" because it was too mellow. It's really not fair to some that another contestant can bully them into a song, but that's how the game is being played, and life isn't always fair.  Even though Jennel wasn't comfortable with the performance, I think she has done enough to make it to the next round.

Carly Rose Sonenclar vs. Beatrice Miller: I don't remember seeing Beatrice before but she started "Pumped Up Kicks" with a nice tone. Yikes, when Carly jumped in though, the game was completely changed. For a 13 year-old girl, she has such great tone, power, and style.

To read the rest of my review of this past Thursday's The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor 207 Review - The Whitney-Off

For weeks now, The X Factor has been improving on not only its own mistakes from last season, but also the bad habits that American Idol has developed over the years. That didn't change this week, as the first night of Boot Camp was short and sweet - and nobody got hurt.

Well... the 60 or so contestants who were eliminated were certainly hurt, but because The X Factor decided to just show us some of the highlights, some of the train wrecks, and then get to the first round of cuts, the viewers at home were left unscathed by the boring middle rounds that these singing shows have forced on us year after year.

Boot Camp started with around 120 contestants. We are already down to half that amount, and it will end with just 24 hopeful acts. Let's take a look at who impressed us, and who had us looking away with The Good, The Bad, and The Judges...

The Good

Diamond White: She is just a complete professional. She was so girly and friendly while talking, but as soon as that music started it was go time! She put a nice little spin on "I Have Nothing," which is a song that everyone says you shouldn't sing.

To read the rest of my review of last night's The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Voice 308 Review - Had Me at Thang

The extended teams of 16 may end up paying dividends down the road in the third season of The Voice, but for right now, they just seemed to make the blind auditions last much too long.

All four coaches added their final two team members on Monday night, which means next week we move onto the Battle Rounds. The superstars had some funny bits and the performers had some serious talent, but Carson Daly's awkward behavior was definitely the highlight of the night.

Between his "I knew it!" when the coaches turned for Nathalie - clapping like he's Brendan Fraser - and the look of such concern when he uttered "Come on Cee Lo!" when the coach wouldn't turn around, Carson made for a bunch of unintentional comedy on this final night of auditions.

Most of us were watching for the singers, though, so I digress. Let's take a look a how the coaches rounded out their teams, who has the best squad moving into the next round, and which was the most successful at securing performers throughout the season...

To read the rest of my review of last night's The Voice, head over to TV Fanatic.

Homeland 201 Review - Locations, Locations, Locations

Between the critical acclaim, its abundance of fans and one of the most impressive nights at the Emmys ever*, Homeland is coming off of one of the best seasons in television history. That's a lot to live up to.

"The Smile" did an astounding job, not only at returning with the excitement, suspense and heart we were used to from last fall, but also at sidelining some of my worries that the idea of season one was so good that the writers might not be able to re-imagine the magic a second time around.

* Homeland was the first show since Cagney & Lacey in 1985 to win four out the big five drama awards (Garnering series, actor, actress and writing, but failing to earn directing honors). There have been a lot of great series over the last 25 years or so that failed to accomplish what Homeland did at last Sunday's Emmys.

The season premiere wasn't in-your-face impressive in the way most pilots have to be in order to grab our attentions. Rather, it dropped us back into this world with characters that we grew to know, love and/or hate last season. Most of them were in new situations, but because all of them were strongly written and acted, everything felt very familiar.

To read the rest of my review of last night's season premiere of Homeland, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Office 902 Review - Ready For My Close-up

Good for Roy! I'm not sure why The Office decided that he needed such a happy send off, but "Roy's Wedding" was indeed that.

Not only did he get married to a seemingly great girl, but he's also well off, and more importantly, he's making an effort to do special things for his now wife. He's grown up.

The way the sitcom worked Roy's surprise for his bride into the story - so that Jim and Pam could take issue with the fact that they had absolutely no secrets between them - was perfect. Sure, it didn't create many laughs, but watching Jim squirm about his giant secret was fun enough on its own.

Back at Dunder Mifflin, things started to get a bit crazy. After Nellie's charity bit pushed Dwight into agreeing to live under Taliban law, she had the brilliant idea to steal something, which would require Dwight to cut her hand off.

To read the rest of my review of last night's The Office, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor 206 Review - Time For Boot Camp

The auditions are finally over, and if I haven't commended The X Factor enough on its second season already, I have to admit that this was the perfect length of audition episodes.

We saw a few more quality contestants, we witnessed a couple more train wrecks, and the judges got in a few more digs on Thursday night's audition finale. Now it's off to Boot Camp, but first let's relive the final X Factor auditions of 2012 with The Good, The Bad, and The Judges...

The Good

Owen Stuart: While I would put Owen's silly puppy love idea to try out for The X Factor in order to reunite with his girlfriend into the Bad section of this post, his performance definitely belongs in the Good. Honestly, has he not heard of an airplane? Or maybe a Google Hangout? Luckily for Owen, he was great with "Airplanes." His flow was some of the best I've seen on one of these competitions, and he has a singing voice to boot!

To read the rest of my review of last night's The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor 205 Review - We Have a Winner?

In the final week of auditions, The X Factor showed America a ton of young hopefuls, a contestant passing out and the first singer to impress enough that I am calling him the Season 2 champion. Yes, already. Let's recap who we saw perform on Wednesday night, both The Good and The Bad...

The Good

Dinah Jane Hansen: She lives with 20 people in a four room house, or at least that's what she told the judges. Her performance of "If I were a Boy" started out a bit shaky with the whisper, but once things got going she was pretty darn good.

Arin Ray: You may remember Arin from last season when he made it through the first few rounds, but was then place on the Frankengroup called inTENsity. I hated inTENsity, but vaguely remember Arin being one of the only few bright spots. Even if he was good last year, the kid was MUCH better this time around. He sang an original, and it's difficult to explain why it was so good. Maybe it's confidence, maybe it's just an "x factor," but Arin killed it. He was one of the only people on any of these singing competitions to do that talking bit before the track, and actually have it sound professional. He sounded official, and that is definitely a good thing.

To read the rest of my review of last night's The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Voice 307 Review - More to Come?

With the excitement of more seasons of The Voice on the horizon comes the disappointment of more blind auditions. Yup, they're not over. Only four contestants made it through on Tuesday night, which means each coach needs to more players before we can move onto the Battle Rounds.

Who is getting on a roll? And whose team is hurting late in the audition process? Let's take a look at what happened in the latest edition of the Blind Auditions by taking a look at the teams...

Team Xtina
Tuesday: 1-for-2, Total: 14-for-26 (54%)

Christina is now the most popular coach, as adding just one singer to her team on Tuesday moved her past Adam with a 54% success rate. That one singer was the first one we saw, Sylvia Yacoub. Born in Egypt, she not only had Xtina's dream hair, but she put forth a great performance of "Only Girl in the World."  She had some grit, plenty of attitude, and pushed Cee Lo to quiet the crowd so that he could whisper "I want you to be on my team." She chose Christina.

To read the rest of my review of last night's The Voice, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Voice 306 Review - That's a Good Looking Dude

The teams are almost filled, which means it's almost time for the blind auditions to end on The Voice. As interesting as this format is, and as much as I enjoy a good sob story, I will be glad to move on to the next round of this season. These auditions get tiring.

What never gets tiring is Carson's excitement back stage, Blake's self-deprecating sense of humor and Adam's ability to persuade contestants to his team. As always, there was plenty of all three on Monday's episode, so let's see how it all played out...

Team Blake
Monday: 5-for-6, Total: 12-for-27 (44%)

Although Carson led the viewers to believe that Blake was just being selective up to this point in the competition, we all know that he just hasn't been able to reel in the singers, only succeeding 33% of time before this week. Monday was a completely different story as the country crooner went 5-for-6, picking up a wealth of talent for his squad.

To read the rest of my review of last night's The Voice, head over to TV Fanatic.

2012 Emmys - Live Blogged

8:01 - I know this entire open to the Emmys was bad, but the naked Lena Dunham eating cake on a toilet was completely unnecessary.

8:06 - I'm not a Jimmy Kimmel fan, but that President/Homeland, Sheen/Breaking Bad joke was pretty good.

8:10 - That Comedy clip reel was not great. This one for the entire season of television is.

8:13 - Supporting Actor in a Comedy...The Emmy goes to: ERIC STONESTREET! This is somewhat a surprise, but we knew it was staying in the Modern Family family. I was expecting it to go back to Ty Burrell, but we all know it should be in the hands of Donald Glover.

8:20 - Writing for a Comedy...The Emmy goes to: Louis C.K. for Louie's "Pregnant."

8:23 - There were a lot of things that could have been funny about Breaking Bad being made back in the day. Nothing about that sketch was funny.

To read the rest of my live blog from last night's Emmys, head over to TV Fanatic.

Wilfred 213 Review - What Do You See?

The exceptional quality of Wilfred Season 2 has been well documented by me right here at TV Fanatic over the course of past few months. It has been hilarious, both heart-warming and depressing at times, and about as thought provoking as a comedy can be.

While the finale produced its fair share of laughs - Kristen telling Ryan's friend to "get a feel" for her baby, and Wilfred's admission that Amazon.com's one-click shopping makes things very easy were a couple of my favorites - in true season-ending fashion "Secrets" was more about the bigger picture.

Before getting to Ryan and his pretty picture, let's attempt to dissect Amanda's actions, figuring out if they may tell us something about this world we've been watching for two seasons now.

I had no idea what to expect when Ryan actually admitted to her that he and Wilfred "talk to each other." My stomach went up into my chest a little bit because I was so nervous about what was going to come next. When Amanda said she did it too, I didn't know what to think.

To read the rest of my review of last night's season finale of Wilfred, head over to TV Fanatic.