Television

The Major Character George R.R. Martin Wishes Were In Game of Thrones

George R.R. Martin laid out five characters he misses from the books when he sees the show. While a few have had their plots given to others, one big one stands out. Huge spoilers ahead! Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Martin says that he misses a warrior in Daenerys’ entourage, Strong Belwas, and Jeyne Poole, whose…

ABC’s The Whispers Entirely Misses The Point Of Ray Bradbury’s Story

ABC’s latest science fiction drama, The Whispers, is loosely based on a short story by Ray Bradbury. But as our guest recapper — author Ellen Kushner (Swordspoint) — explains, this formulaic horror/procedural show misses what’s great about Bradbury’s original tale. Spoilers ahead… I cannot believe I let Charlie Jane talk me into doing a Recap…

Ms. Marvel Will Make Her Animation Debut in the Avengers Cartoon

Kamala Khan is unstoppable! The popular new Marvel heroine will be one of several heroes joining Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in the third season of Disney XD’s Avengers Assemble cartoon, titled Ultron Revolution, including her namesake Captain Marvel, Black Panther, and more. The reason the new Ms. Marvel gets top-billing over my beloved Carol Danvers in…

One Thing the Game of Thrones TV Show Does So Much Better Than the Books

As an adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire, the Game of Thrones TV series will always be compared to its source material. Given how beloved the books are, the show can usually only match them, more often falling short. But there’s one way that the show is kicking…

Nemesis Games is James S.A. Corey’s Empire Strikes Back

There comes a point in any long running book series when things start to get stale. But that’s not the case with the latest entry in James S.A. Corey’s Expanse series, Nemesis Games. In it, the gloves come off and the balance of power in the solar system is turned upside down. This is Corey’s…

The Charles Dickens Cinematic Universe Begins in New BBC TV Series

It is a good day to be English literature nerds! Because the BBC is currently filming Dickensian, a 20-episode TV series where all of Charles Dickens’ characters essentially live together in Victorian London, including Oliver Twist, Fagin, Ebeneezer Scrooge, Miss Havisham from Great Expectations, and more. Guys. Guys. It’s the Charles Dickens Cinematic Universe. THE…

On Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell War Is Hell, And So Are People

Last week’s episode of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell was all about showing the dark side of fantasy. This week however, the darkness on display is very much in the realm of reality, as Strange finds himself on the front lines of war, and poor Lady Pole descends further into madness. Warning: Although the series…

Steven Moffat Feels Guilty For Changing Doctor Who‘s Time War

When Doctor Who came back in 2005, the show featured a tormented Doctor who was the last of his kind and the sole survivor of an unimaginable war that had ended with the Doctor committing double genocide. Should this have remained the show’s status quo? Talking to Doctor Who Magazine, showrunner Steven Moffat says he…

This Week’s TV: Will The Wachowskis’ TV Show Be As Crazy As Their Films?

The Wachowski siblings and J. Michael Straczynski’s globespanning new show Sense8 hits Netflix this week, and it has some intriguing characters. Plus, check out the pilot episode of the new scifi procedural Stitchers, and clips from the final episodes of this season of Adventure Time. Tonight Adventure Time (6 PM, Cartoon Network) There’s new Adventure…

Which Villain Steals The Show From The Hero To A Crazy Degree?

Villains steal the show — it’s pretty much their main job. But some villains are just too over the top and insane, and the heroes aren’t up to the task of standing up to them. Which villain steals the show to such a ridiculous extent, you barely even remember the hero at all? Over the…

On Game Of Thrones, Recruiting Followers Is Hard…Unless You’re A Wight

Last night’s Game of Thrones was a welcome return to form. It was also a weirdly structured episode: Half a series of vignettes about faith and learning to read people, and half a rip-roaring apocalyptic action movie. But it was all tied together by the contrast between single-minded zombies and undependable humans. Spoilers ahead… In…

A Brief History Of Court TV, Where Many A True-Crime Obsession Was Born

If you have cable, you probably have TruTV, which specializes in comedy gags (Impractical Jokers) and clip shows (Top 20 Most Shocking). But truTV is a relatively new channel, having risen from the ashes of a network dedicated to picking over every detail of the highest-profile trials of the 1990s: Court TV. Where did Court…

For Its Finale, Outlander Ruined Jamie. Body and Soul.

As a finale, “To Ransom a Man’s Soul” is lacking in the usual giant action setpieces. But it more than makes up for that in the amount of emotional disasters heaped on everyone. Spoilers… The vast majority of “To Ransom a Man’s Soul” is about what happened when Jamie was left alone with Jack Randall…

Orphan Black Introduces Alison’s Mom—And She’s As Terrible As We Hoped

Alison Hendrix drunkenly mentioned her mother way back in Season One of Orphan Black, and now we finally get to make the soap-making mama, and she’s a delightfully horrible human being. After all of the action and insanity of last week’s episode, it’s nice to cool down for a bit with a relatively low-key, Alison-centered…

Tonight, Halt and Catch Fire‘s New Season Takes On Computer Gaming

The second season of AMC’s Halt and Catch Fire returns to AMC tonight with a whole new focus: internet gaming. I caught the first season of Halt and Catch Fire when it popped up on Netflix streaming earlier this spring, and was hooked. It follows a trio of broken characters: Joe MacMillan (Lee Pace), Gordon…

How Stargate and Star Trek Paved the Way for the Marvel Movie Universe

Since 2009, Disney has dominated summer blockbusters with their Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, their project isn’t the first to play with stories across television and film: television shows such as Star Trek and Stargate helped to pave the way for complicated worlds with multiple ongoing narratives. Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek is arguably one of the…

Ash’s Chainsaw Is Already Bloody In Teaser For Ash Vs Evil Dead

This is just a tiny little snippet, but it’s good to see that Bruce Campbell’s chainsaw is primed and ready for deadite-slicing action when Ash vs Evil Dead. In a recent interview, Evil Dead creator Sam Raimi told us that Campbell has been holding onto his chainsaw rig for the last 30 years so that…

The Town’s Mystery Deepens (And Gets Even Weirder) On Wayward Pines 

We’re up to Wayward Pines’ third episode, and despite its title, “Our Town, Our Law,” it features multiple instances where Sheriff Pope tells one of the Burkes that “this is MY town!” But whoever’s town it is, it’s just keeps getting weirder. Spoilers follow! The ep picks up immediately where last week left off. We…

4 Lessons We Learned From This Year’s Superhero TV Series

Best year of superhero TV ever? Best year of superhero TV ever. While not every show was perfect, there was a plethora of excellent comic TV series this past season, and they’ve provided four clear lessons for the future. So, next season’s show? Listen up. Warning: May include spoilers for the most recent seasons of…

USA has put the pilot of its hacker TV show, Mr. Robot, onYoutube. You’ll have to wait until June 24th for the series to properly premiere on TV.