The Best of Television

24 Season 6 Hr 18: Pure Punch

Paul Levinson — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 15:13:55 -0400

With the Arab-Russian-nuke crisis all but wrapped up, this episode of 24 started what in effect is a mini season-within-in-a-season - 7 hours for Jack to get Audrey out of China. And the first hour had enough action to count for a 1/7 season and more - Wayne Palmer's succeeded by VP Daniels after all, Jack and Doyle have at least two confrontations ... And watch out for Lisa Miller (Kari Matchett)...

The Sopranos: Second of Nine: Media on Media

Paul Levinson — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 15:00:59 -0400

Daniel Baldwin and Geraldo Rivera put in cameos as themselves, and Sydney Pollack plays murderous doctor behind in bars, in this fabulous episode that brings Christopher's movie project to fruition in a way that causes some deep and dangerous misgivings in Tony...

Lost... Balance Restored!

Paul Levinson — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 05:10:42 -0400

Juliet's story ... but that tells us lots of things ... including what happened to Claire when the Others kidnapped her ... how the Others apparently first became aware of the Losties and the plane ... the show's back in business ... the ratio of answered and unanswered questions has been restored...

24 Season 6 Hr 17: Reinventing the Season!

Paul Levinson — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 05:00:37 -0400

Tonight's episode wrapped up most of the main season - Wayne Palmer was bluffing his nuke retaliation, but the bluff gets the Arab country to help find the nukes in the US ... LA is safe ... and Jack gets plunged into a new/old story - Audrey and the Chinese! But this is Episode 17, not 24, and there are still crucial parts of this season unresolved, as well, including ... where's Jack's father ... we're in for an exciting, new mini-season, with lots of twists, as 24 continues to reinvent the television narrative...

The Sopranos: First of Nine

Paul Levinson — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 04:45:27 -0400

The Sopranos changed television forever by always pulling the unexpected - in character, plot, and even locale. And so it did tonight, in an amazingly slow-moving oil-painting of a show, in which we learn that Tony has changed ... maybe not so much at all....

Lost ... Kate, black smoke, Juliet

Paul Levinson — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 04:25:04 -0400

Last week's episode of Lost had its customary waste-of-time comic relief, but otherwise we found out a little bit more about those strange puffs of black smoke that killed the poor pilot at the beginning of the series, and we also had another inexplicable coincidence in a backstory - these coincidences may hold the key to what's really going on in Lost.

24 Season 6 Hr 16: Palmer-Daniels, Jekyll and Hyde

Paul Levinson — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 19:36:31 -0400

24 has been criticized for running the same plot threads season to season. Last week, it looked as if we were in for another round of hawks challenging a President's competence under the 25th Amendment. We were - but not with the twists and turns of tonight, which gave that scenario a jolting new life, and provided a lesson about adrenaline - be careful what you wish for...

Lost: Cantebury, Decameron Tale

Paul Levinson — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 12:51:19 -0400

The story of two new characters, Nikki and Paolo, was told tonight - but the real joy of the episode was Boone and Shannon arguing again at the airport. Locke finding his feet for the first time on the island, Jack saying we all have to work together ... the whole two+ years recapped in a series of vignettes, with Nikki and Paolo worked in. Very much in the show's best Canterbury Tale, Decameron tradition.

24 Season 6 Hr 15: Jack Meets Rainman

Paul Levinson — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 03:52:26 -0400

A different, off-beat but appealing episode of 24 tonight ... Jack displays a rare sensitivity in getting a Rainman-type character to set up Gredenko ... no one at CTU is the mole ... and Wayne Palmer is perilously taken out of his coma only to be contradicted by the basso-profundo VP ... and where is Jack's father?

Rome Returns (and Concludes): Ep.10: Better than Shakespeare

Paul Levinson — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 04:07:20 -0400

James Purefoy's Marc Antony was the best as I ever seen - his acting as well as dialogue. Vorenus and Pullo were as good as the best Shakespearen characters, and Kevin McKidd and Ray Stevenson were as good as the best Shakespearean actors. The only disappointment is that the series is over. But anything is possible, and whatever happens in the future, this history will be watched.