Whether you’ve seen “Arrested Development” before or not, YOU CANNOT JUST RANDOMLY START WATCHING. First: Read all the obsessive fan guides. (Kudos to NPR, which has liv...

I am a Netflix dropout. I dropped out because I would order a movie, and it would sit, unwatched, for millennia. Now Netflix is dangling a frozen banana in front of me: 15 new...

Pilot season — the arduous, antiquated process by which the broadcast networks order new programming — is a complicated and costly endeavor. Even if a show becomes a serie...

In a TV world where everyone wants to push the envelope, HBO is amping it down. “Family Tree” (Sun., 10:30 p.m.) is a gentle and effortlessly charming mockumentary from Ch...

Ryan Lochte, the haters mock you and your new reality show, “What Would Ryan Lochte Do?” (10 p.m. Sundays on E!). Google the show’s title and the word “stupid,” and ...

I’m not the target audience for PBS’ “Rough Cut: Woodworking with Tommy Mac” (locally at noon Fridays on WHUT). In seventh grade, I broke the saw blade so often in woo...

While NBC executives were staying up late last month pondering the fates of Jay Leno, Jimmy Fallon and “The Tonight Show,” a relative newcomer was unknowingly changing the...

Mindy, you get better every week! “The Mindy Project” is the Fox sitcom in which actor/writer/producer Mindy Kaling plays a Big Apple doc obsessed with rom-coms and unluck...

Every scene in the sixth-season premiere of “Mad Men” (AMC, Sundays, 10 p.m.) seemed to be symbolic of something. But … what? As an English major, I would like to propos...

Fans of the vulgarian “Entourage” and admirers of the aristocratic “Downton Abbey” would seem to have little in common. Yet both types of viewers may wonder: Should I ...

Usher is a new judge on “The Voice” (NBC, Mon. and Tue. at 8 p.m.). In an interview with Jimmy Fallon, the singer said viewers might be surprised by his sense of humor, an...

In the spirit of this holy season, with the holidays of Passover and Easter fast approaching, I didst layeth myself down in front of the magic box known as The Television and ...

Last week, I polled a dozen people under or slightly over age 30: “Ever heard of Rhoda?” Only two said yes. Rhoda Morgenstern was the character played by Valerie Harper on...

Morrissey, described as a “militant vegan” singer, canceled his “Jimmy Kimmel Live” appearance because the guest list included the bearded, unkempt stars of A&E’...

My editor read about “Double Divas” (Lifetime, Tuesdays, 10 p.m.) and asked me: How is this a show?” Dear editor: It is a show because it has all the ingredients of a fi...