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Television

Review: Luck

HBO goes to the races
You get the feeling that Milch and Mann just want to show off what they know about horse racing. When one of Marcus's crew keeps screaming out during the big Pick Six race, "What's going on!?," he speaking for the audience.

By: JON GARELICK | January 24, 2012

Breaking Bad keeps topping itself

This meth we're in
In this age of Hollywood business dealings breathlessly tweeted within minutes of their consummation, passersby cell phone set photos that reveal major plot points, leaked scripts and leaked episodes, Vince Gilligan has accomplished something rare indeed.

By: RYAN STEWART | October 05, 2011

Prohibition drinking game!

Play along with the upcoming Ken Burns documentary
Leave it to Ken Burns and PBS to crash our romantic Boardwalk Empire fantasies with a scholarly five-and-a-half-hour, sepia-tinted tome about the rip-roaring Twenties.

By: CHRIS FARAONE | September 28, 2011

Is Boardwalk Empire about to enter its golden age?

Easy livin'
Dispel any remaining doubts. The new season (which begins this Sunday at 9 pm on HBO) unfolds with a new leisurely, cinematic grandeur.

By: JON GARELICK | September 21, 2011

Review: HBO's Game of Thrones

It's a long story
In spite of the obstacles to making Martin's story succeed as a TV show, someone at HBO must be a fan, because Game of Thrones — named after the first book in his series — makes its live-action television debut this Sunday, April 17.

By: MADDY MYERS | April 14, 2011

Review: MTV's ''Skins''

MTV attempts an American do-over
MTV has rated its new Skins TV-MA LDS - which in plain English means teenagers smoking weed, popping pills, fucking each other, and having emotional breakdowns in a scripted show that MTV would like us to think is designed to be viewed by adults.

By: SHARON STEEL | January 26, 2011

Review: Bob's Burgers

Medium rare: Can Bob's Burgers make the cut?
Maybe it's too soon to worry about the fate of Bob's Burgers — Fox's new animated comedy series doesn't even premiere till this Sunday (January 9) at 8:30 pm. But consider Lone Star .

By: RYAN STEWART | January 04, 2011

Gift Guide 2010: DVD Box Sets

Sureties and obscurities
Some people will tell you that the economy is frozen in a recession that may never thaw. That makes Blu-ray/DVD box sets more valuable than gold.

By: ROB TURBOVSKY | December 08, 2010

Review: AMC's The Walking Dead

No guts, no glory
There's quite a lot to like about The Walking Dead . That is, if you can make it past the opening sequence.

By: RYAN STEWART | October 28, 2010

Interview: Will Arnett

The actor looks back at Arrested Development and forward to Running Wilde
When it went off the air, in 2006, Arrested Development had already cemented its status as one of the great TV comedies of all time.

By: RYAN STEWART | September 14, 2010

Fall TV Preview: No apologies

Too much good TV
Even the most curmudgeonly out there have to admit that television is on a roll.

By: RYAN STEWART | September 14, 2010

More spooks

AMC crosses Rubicon
Two years ago, AMC made a deal to develop a series based on Francis Ford Coppola's classic 1974 film The Conversation . That show still hasn't materialized, but with Rubicon , AMC has now brought us a drama with a similar premise.

By: RYAN STEWART | July 27, 2010

Laughs love misery

C.K.'s Louie is gleefully pessimistic
Louis C.K.'s comedy is bleak.

By: RYAN STEWART | July 09, 2010

Back to the future

Comedy Central resurrects Groening's other show
Comedy Central resurrects Groening's other show

By: RYAN STEWART | June 26, 2010

Oprah, red in tooth and claw

All God's creatures get nailed in Life
"Of the millions of known species of life on earth, more than 90 percent have no backbone." Well, that explains a few things.

By: JAMES PARKER | June 16, 2010

Gone but not forgotten

Henry VIII and The Tudors bid adieu
Yes, True Blood has resumed, and Futurama and Weeds wait in the wings. But let's take a moment to hail The Tudors , which bows out this Sunday night at 9 after four seasons on Showtime.

By: JON GARELICK | June 20, 2010

Easy does it

Treme tours New Orleans
Writer/producer Eric Overmyer was quoted in a New York Times Magazine article last month, but it’s worth repeating: “ Treme is not the The Wire .” He went on: “Those who are expecting The Wire or wanting The Wire may be frustrated.”

By: JON GARELICK | April 08, 2010

Nothing beats nothing

Jerry Seinfeld and Ricky Gervais return
Jerry Seinfeld held out on a Seinfeld reunion till last year, when he finally found a way to do a comeback that wasn't really a comeback. He and Seinfeld co-creator Larry David resurrected the greatest sit-com of the '90s as a show-within-a-show on David's Curb Your Enthusiasm . The reunion made Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer hilariously relevant again.

By: JOYCE MILLMAN | March 02, 2010

Lonely island

Michael Emerson sheds some light on Lost
This Tuesday, the sixth and final season of Lost will launch onto home screens (ABC; February 2 at 9 pm). When the show last left us, you'll recall, it appeared to have killed off one of the Island's main string pullers, Jacob (Mark Pellegrino), in 2007 while simultaneously detonating a nuclear bomb underneath the Island in 1977.

By: RYAN STEWART | January 29, 2010

More than Mormons

The big love that dare not speak its name
Despite the comparably juicy family dysfunction it offers, Big Love hasn't achieved the iconic status of its HBO predecessor The Sopranos . Maybe viewers relate better to the mob than to Mormons.

By: JOYCE MILLMAN | January 06, 2010

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[ 02/13 ] Soweto Gospel Choir @ Music Hall

[ 02/13 ] Weaving Conversation With Sky: a Celebration of Women in Poetry @ St Lawrence Arts & Community Center

[ 02/13 ] "Making Faces: Photographic Portraits of Actors & Artists" @ Portland Museum of Art

BLOGS

Chris Brown reactions: NOT OKAY!
About Town | February 13, 2012 at 10:28 AM

Here's my question:
February 06, 2012 at 11:39 AM

On the burning of an American flag at #OccupyMaine this morning
February 06, 2012 at 9:05 AM

Google + Portland charter school = <3
February 03, 2012 at 3:22 PM

#OccupyMaine wins, begins packing up
February 02, 2012 at 4:05 PM