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Review
November 17, 2009
Short takes: "The Prisoner"
“The Prisoner:” It would actually take a too long to articulate the many, many ways AMC’s “Prisoner” remake is terrible, so let’s just hit some high points.
Strike 1: The show violates what I like to call the Mark Gross Rule of Remakes: It is a remake of something that was once really good, rather than something terrible. For example, the original “Battlestar Galactica” was a blast if you were watching it at, say, 10 years old and almost unwatchable if you were any older. (This rule discussed a bit here.)
The original “Prisoner” is one of the greatest TV shows of all time. Whip-smart, visually innovative, utterly of its time (yet oddly timeless) and cooler than the other side of the pillow, it’s a cult-classic for a reason.
So remaking it seems a bit like saying, “You know what could use a rethink? The first season of ‘The Sopranos.’”
Strike 2: One of the things that made the original “Prisoner” so clever is that it played off of show creator/writer/producer/auteur Patrick McGoohan’s substantial fame in the UK as a secret agent in the TV show “Danger Man,” a role he became disillusioned with, which led to the much-brainier take on the secret agent concept in “Prisoner.”
The new “Prisoner” comes with no such resonances. Instead, we get Jesuss versus Magneto.
Actually, I would totally watch a show that was Jesus versus Magneto.
SORT-OF SPOILER ALERT HERE IN WHICH I REVEAL THAT SOMETHING HAPPENS IN EPISODE 2 (BUT NOT EXACTLY WHAT THAT SOMETHING IS) THAT INVOLVES THE THIRD STRIKE
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October 28, 2009
'Friday Night Lights' back tonight on DirecTV
“Friday Night Lights” returns tonight with a ticker tape parade. Okay, the flying paper is from former Panthers’ star fullback Tim Riggins’ (Taylor Kitsch) un-cracked college notebooks, but still …
The Austin-filmed critical hit, which has managed to elude ratings and mainstream awards success like a running back zipping down the field, returns tonight, but only if you’re one of those hoity-toity, West Dillon-esque DirecTV subscribers. Us East Dillon-ish scrubs will have to wait until summer 2010, when the series returns to NBC.
Regardless of when you start to watch, you’ll find yourself in a “Twilight Zone-y,” skewed version of the Dillon you know and love. For starters, some of your favorites will be gone. And redistricting (this is Texas, y’all are familiar with that concept, right?) has left Dillon a town divided. Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler), having guided the Panthers to a loss at State, is relegated to the rust-covered bleachers and neglected turf of East Dillon High. He practically has to break into his own locker room and, once he gets inside, he’s greeted by some furry critter (a badger?), which has taken up residence in one of the lockers (maybe they should have named the East Dillon team the Badgers instead of the Lions).
It’s quite a fall from his old school, where smarmy, new coach Wade Aikman (Drew Waters) and his cronies summon Taylor’s wife, principal Tami (Connie Britton), and inform her that she’ll be calling the coin toss to open the Panthers’ football season. They also tell her which side of the coin to call, but then break out into jerky, frat-boy spasms of laughter. Just kidding, Tami! Sheesh. These guys can’t fail fast enough, but it’s not gonna’ happen any time soon.
Off the field, it looks like Riggins’ college dreams — oh, let’s face it … they’re really his brother’s college dreams for him — are on hold again as he bails from San Antonio State in favor of Dillon and a one-night stand with a bar maid (is this “Friday Night Lights” or “Cougar Town?”) He wakes up to find the woman’s daughter, Becky (newcomer Madison Burge, from Hutto) looking for a ride to school. Becky is sassy, smart, pretty and kinda’ trashy. I like her, but that might be because she asks lover boy how it feels to be “the guy who used to be Tim Riggins.” Hee.
Over at East, Coach Taylor is trying to build a team out of a rag-tag group of misfits and screw-ups, including Vince (Michael B. Jordan), a misfit and screw-up who is delivered to Taylor via squad car. There’s gonna’ be some drama there. But first there’s some locker room drama as the East Dillon Lions squabble on and off the field. Taylor challenges his players to commit or leave, and most of them leave. Oops.
Principal Tami’s got the opposite problem: several of her students have been redistricted to East Dillon High, but refuse to go. Her daughter Julie (Aimee Teegarden) becomes upset as her friends are pulled out of classes and removed from the school. So upset that she just gets up and walks out into the hallway to watch them as they’re escorted away. Can you just get up and walk out of a high school class? I guess being the Principal’s daughter has its privileges.
Julie spends her out-of-school time with boyfriend Matt (Zach Gilford), the former Panther’s quarterback who postponed his education at the Art Institute of Chicago to stay in Dillon, take car of his grandmother and deliver pizzas with Julie riding shotgun. Looks like Coach Taylor’s not the only former golden boy who’s been knocked down a few pegs.
Speaking of Coach Taylor, game night finally arrives and we get to see just how stark the East-West contrast really is: full bleachers, cheers, smoke, flags and pageantry at Aikman’s stadium give way to the stark, empty East Dillon stands. This part of the premiere doesn’t exactly ring true. In the show’s world, Taylor is a football god. Wouldn’t more people show up just to see what would happen? Even just to watch him fail? Besides, it’s football and it’s Texas: I’ve seen bigger crowds show up for that finger field goal kicking game you play at your kitchen table with a buddy and a piece of notebook paper folded into a triangle. Tailgaters, too. Oh, well. Over at West, look for Principal Tami to put Aikman in his place, leaving no doubt as to where her allegiance lies.
I won’t tell you how the Lions’ first game ends, but it’s not pretty. It’s a great set up, though, for what should be a fun year. Thanks to DirecTV, “Friday Night Lights” already has a commitment for another season; Coach Taylor’s position is more tenuous. But he’s never been better than when he’s had something to prove.
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October 24, 2009
Review: 'Bon Jovi: When We Were Beautiful'
He’s come a long way from shaggy curls and acid washed jeans, but Jon Bon Jovi is stuck. Stuck between giving the audience what it wants in concert (“You Give Love A Bad Name”) and what is important to him (any introspective ballad on the Lost Highway album). He’s conflicted, he’s tired, but he understands that stadium anthems are his bread and butter, and he’s resigned to performing high-energy numbers that reflexively evoke the hair-metal hand gesture.
This is what comes from being Bon Jovi Incorporated, as you see in “Bon Jovi: When We Were Beautiful,” airing tonight at 8 p.m. on Showtime. The stark contrasts go beyond the black and white cinematography.
Jon Bon Jovi alone in his hotel room — making football deals, sorting through lawyer issues and the “agita” of their July 12, 2008 Central Park free concert, being a well-muscled stress ball — is a solitary figure, together with the band only for performances. He’s the Atlas of the group’s world, carrying it all even in the car ride to the airport. These scenes of stress appear alongside relaxing footage of drummer Tico Torres tooling around in a golf cart and hitting drives off the tee and guitarist Richie Sambora gliding on a boat through a marina, clearly not driving the boat himself.
That analogy illustrates the impression that Bon Jovi Inc. wants you to come away with: they’re all brothers, struggling together and holding on to what they’ve got and to each other in order to achieve success and then survive it. (Glaringly missing in the brotherhood theme is the fate or whereabouts of bassist Alec Jon Such, who mysteriously left the band in 1994). What comes through with more resonance is that Jon is unequivocally driving the boat, and his band mates are happy to go along. Keyboardist David Bryan puts it succinctly: “You can’t fight City Hall.”
Fans won’t be disappointed by the insider glimpse into personal demons the band has battled, from parental abandonment to divorce and alcoholism. Concluding with a rousing version of “Livin’ On A Prayer” that you can’t help but sing along to, we’re reminded that although the members of Bon Jovi the band have grown as people, the need to connect with an audience is what keeps Bon Jovi, the band and the man, going.
“Bon Jovi: When We Were Beautiful,”
8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24
Showtime
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September 30, 2009
Review: 'The Middle'
Who’da thunk that when Fox’s 2007-2008 Kelsey Grammer/Patrica Heaton sitcom “Back to You” was canceled, Heaton would come out on top? After all, Grammer had a great run playing effete Frasier Crane, first in a supporting role on “Cheers” and then, for eleven seasons, on his own show. Heaton spent nine years playing second-fiddle Debra Barone on “Everybody Loves Raymond.”
Yet here’s Grammer basically playing Frasier again in the dreadful ABC sitcom “Hank,” while Heaton shines in the same network’s sweet, funny, delightful offering, “The Middle.” Heaton’s character, wife and mother Frankie Heck, truly is stuck in the middle: middle age, middle income, middle America. The third best salesperson (out of three) at the used car lot where she works, Frankie’s got a problematically frank spouse, Mike (Neil Flynn) and three kids.
If it sounds like “Malcolm in the Middle,” it’s not. I’ve watched incredulously and with some degree of frustration as the two shows keep getting compared (maybe it’s the name) but while “The Middle” is quirky, it embodies none of “Malcolm’s” mean-spirited humor or shrill tone. In fact, it reminded me of nothing so much as (the much better) “The Wonder Years.”
Perhaps this is because the pilot episode focuses so heavily on the children: teenage Axl (conceived during the Heck households “Guns n’ Roses” period); Sue, who fails with gusto at everything she tries; and oddball Brick (okay, he does look a little like “Malcolm’s” Dewey).
Eden Sher is an enthusiastic charmer as hapless Sue, whose involvement in show choir doesn’t end nearly as well as the productions on Fox’s “Glee.” Atticus Shaffer shines, too, as youngest child Brick. He has the disconcerting habit of repeating key words from his sentences, at the end of them, in a creepy, loud whisper, and he counts his backpack as his best friend — hey, it worked for Dora the Explorer.
Watching Heaton maneuver her life and job around and amongst these kids (she takes a car buyer on a test drive to Brick’s school when she’s summoned there by his teacher) is a lot of fun.
If the writing keeps up and the focus remains on the sweet family dynamics instead of contrived, goofy shenanigans — I’m looking at you, fellow car salesman Chris Kattan — “The Middle” could rise to the top.
“The Middle”
7:30 p.m., ABC
Grade: B+
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September 24, 2009
Review: 'Flash Forward'
FBI agent Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes) surveys the aftermath of the mass blackout on the premiere of “FlashForward.” (ABC/Ron Tom)
Let’s get this straight: “Flash Forward” is not “Lost.”
“Lost” opens with a twisting, white, sans-serif logo drifting across the screen for a few seconds before fading into its black background; “Flash Forward” opens with a non-twisting, white, sans-serif logo drifting back into the screen for a few seconds before fading into its black background.
The pilot episode of “Lost” shows the aftermath of a massive plane’s fiery, horrific crash; the first episode of “Flash Forward” shows the aftermath of a fiery, horrific, massive car crash.
“Lost” starred Dominic Monaghan and Sonya Walger. “Flash Forward” stars Sonya Walger and Dominic Monaghan.
There were polar bears wandering around “Lost’s” island and “Flash Forward” has a kangaroo hopping around downtown Los Angeles.
Lincoln’s secretary was named Kennedy; Kennedy’s secretary was named Lincoln.
Oops … wrong conspiracy.
The truth is that “Flash Forward” does owe an awful lot to “Lost” and it should tide over fans of that show until it returns in January. Both series are stylish and dramatic, with compelling characters and fantastic premises. Each hinges upon the idea that consciousness can travel through time. The production quality of both shows is top notch and look ridiculously expensive. And, like “Lost,” it appears that “Flash Forward” contains elements that fans are going to scrutinize — freeze-framing their DVRs and uploading screen shots to online fan forums.
Near the beginning of the first episode, everybody blacks out for exactly 2 minutes and 17 seconds. During that time, most have visions and as they regain consciousness they come to realize — doctors, cops, lovers and children waking in wrecked cars, on the floors of operating rooms or in their beds — that their visions were of the same day and time six months in the future.
Why this happened is, of course, the biggest question and it won’t be answered soon … in the lead character’s vision, he — an FBI agent — was still trying to solve it. But there are other compelling issues here: can the events in the visions be avoided or altered? What about those people who didn’t experience visions — will they still be alive in 6 months? And what type of story will the show have left to tell once the 6 month mark’s been reached?
Perhaps “Flash Forward” will be exactly like “Lost” after all, switching gears and becoming an entirely different show than it appeared to be at the outset. If future episodes are as compelling as the pilot, I’ll be along for the ride.
“Flash Forward” (pilot): A-
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September 23, 2009
Review: 'Modern Family'
Cameron cradles his adopted Vietnamese child on ABC’s “Modern Family.”
‘Modern Family’ is like an ‘Arrested Development’ that people might actually watch.
Like the late, lamented story of the Bluth clan, ‘Family’ (premiering at 8 pm tonight on ABC) follows the interconnected machinations of an extended family in shaky, one-camera fashion with, thankfully, no laugh track.
Jay (Ed O’Neill) is the patriarch, married to — and often mistaken for the father of — a much younger woman, Gloria (Sofia Vergara, verging on channeling Charo). Together they’re raising Manny, an amorous child who, like his mother, is interested in an older partner.
An alternative partnership is found in the house of Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), Jay’s son, a gay man living with Cameron (Eric Stonestreet, channeling Nathan Lane). The pair have just adopted a Vietnamese baby and one of the pilot’s best gags takes place on the flight home from that country.
Jay’s daughter, Claire (“Lost’s” Julie Bowen) is a former wild child married to an immature husband and raising three kids of her own. How they deal with a BB gun accident is nothing short of hilarious (check out the video, below).
Characters occasionally address the camera, which is problematic in the absence of any explanation (such as “The Office’s” faux documentary conceit) but maybe that’s been fixed since I watched the screener weeks ago.
But that’s a quibble. “Modern Family” is simply the best new comedy of the season.
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September 22, 2009
Obama plays softball on 'The Late Show'
So, President Obama was on Letterman last night. Would he be as calm, jovial, friendly and relaxed as he had appeared in his previous “Late Night” outings as a Senator and Presidential candidate? Or would he be more tense (and intense) … weary from the ongoing battle for health care reform? I had more or less predicted the latter.
I was wrong.
From the moment the President was introduced, smiling and waving to the crowd, he seemed confident, happy and, most importantly, relaxed. Following up on an earlier Letterman bit with an audience member who had brought a heart-shaped potato with her to the studio, Obama took control of the stage, telling Dave that was the real reason he’d come to visit. He then engaged in off-the-cuff banter with the potato’s owner — “Mary Apple? Is your real name? Mary Apple?” — and he pocketed the odd tuber at Letterman’s request, although I’ll bet Mary Apple got it back (along with a great story) after the show.
The first interview segment seemed designed to make Obama appear as normal as possible, given the whole “most powerful person in the free world” thing. Letterman asked about Obama’s summer and the President responded by talking about his daughters. “They basically goofed off all summer, which I couldn’t do,” he stated.
“Others have,” Dave pot-shot to laughter and applause.
Obama explained that his kids don’t really notice the Presidential hubbub; they have slumber parties and spend the night at their friends’ houses like other children. “But their parents get frisked,” Obama added.
“That happens at my house, too,” Letterman joked.
“The thing that we are happiest about is that they are wonderfully normal, happy kids so far,” Obama said. “I give Michelle all the credit.”
It turns out that the telegenic Obama was not on Letterman to sell health care reform to America as much as he was there to re-sell himself (which, granted, would go a long way in helping him sell health care reform). This was driven home by an exchange later in the program, when Letterman noted former President Jimmy Carter’s recent statements that vocal opposition to Obama was partially based upon race.
“Well, it’s important to remember,” Obama said, “that I was black before the election,” reminding America that we voted him in. And, throughout the first half of his “Late Show” appearance, he reminded us why: he appeared confident, smart, well-spoken, decisive. Quick.
Still, the second segment’s would have to be all health care, right? When Obama was on Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” in March, nearly the entire appearance was a dry, jargon-filled push for the economic stimulus package — and that was never in as much trouble as health care reform.
Wrong again. Dave held up photos: There’s the President at his desk in the Oval Office, a young child hunkered down and peering mischievously at him from behind the couch.
“I hope that’s Sasha,” Obama quipped, “otherwise there’s been a breach of security that we did not know about.” Quick.
Another photo shows Obama in the White House screening room holding cardboard 3D glasses to his eyes (he couldn’t remember, but the film he’d watched was “Up”). The next picture was of the President and Hillary Clinton seated across from each other at a picnic table outdoors. “This just screams picnic to me,” Dave joked.
“We were having a wonderful time,” Obama replied.
“No potato salad,” Dave noted.
The final photo showed the President running with a football, Presidential dog Bo at his heels. See? Just like you and me.
But President Obama is not just like you and me, and halfway through the show, the pair finally got around to politics … specifically, the economy. Unemployment, housing, household bills, energy, jobs again. Dave asked Obama if the stimulus had worked. Obama explained that without it, things would have been much worse.
He kept things largely simple and matter-of-fact, but terms such as “smart grid” and “broadband” began to creep in, prompting Letterman to cut to a commercial.
41 minutes into the hour, the discussion of the recent shouting at town hall meetings (and Presidential addresses) which led to that Jimmy Carter reference finally leads to a discussion of health care. Time for some tough questions?
“In terms of health care, what am I missing about this?” Letterman asked, possibly the most open-ended, softball query ever. It’s clear that Obama was smart to choose Letterman’s venue to make his case. The President ran through his familiar arguments, largely uninterrupted by his host, whose interjections amounted mostly to comments such as, “I’m not a socialist, but it (universal health care) don’t sound that bad to me.”
“The thing I’d like to see is those ‘death panels’,” Letterman joked. “If we could get those in immediately …”
Health care, economy … what have we missed? The host and his guest finally dipped into foreign policy with a discussion of Iraq and Afghanistan. No tough questions on this topic either, but that’s not why the President was here; that’s what all those Sunday morning news show shots were for.
“I can’t tell you how satisfying it is to watch you work,” Letterman said, concluding the interview. “And remember, when things get tough as things tend to do, going forward … you, sir, are in possession of a heart-shaped potato.”
Former President Bill Clinton visits “The Late Show” tonight at 10:30 on CBS.
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Review: 'The Good Wife'
It’s great to see Julianna Margulies back in the courtroom.
Okay, her last legal effort, 2008’s “Canterbury’s Law,” never took off. But “The Good Wife,” premiering on CBS tonight at 9 p.m., should fare better. Not so much for the conventional writing or the Deus Ex Machina case solving, but for Margulies’ nuanced, committed portrayal of her character, Alicia Florrick.
Florrick, a pampered (and probably unfulfilled) politician’s wife, returns to practicing law when her husband Peter (“Sex in the City’s” Mr. Big — Chris Noth) is jailed on ripped-from-the-headlines sex and corruption charges … hey, it’s Chicago.
After 13 years away from the courtroom, Florrick finds herself a junior associate at a big-deal windy city law firm under the curious — and attracted? — eye of former law school chum Will Gardner (Josh Charles, “In Treatment”). Competing for her job against a competitive Harvard graduate, and ultimately for her children’s welfare and family’s reputation, Florrick’s first case is a cut and dried retrial of a murder case. All she has to do is to follow the firm’s outline — it resulted in a deadlocked jury the first time around. But Florrick locks horns with her superiors over their courtroom strategy.
The outcome of the trial is a little too easy, but that’s okay; the best moments of “The Good Wife” take place outside of the courtroom, as Florrick is forced to deal, daily, with the fallout of her husband’s legal indiscretions and the players who put him away. She’s horrified and embarrassed as her teen children are haunted by YouTube videos of their incarcerated dad and taunted by their schoolmates.
It’s compelling stuff watching Margulies juggle the emotional demands of a character herself juggling fear, humiliation, fierce loyalty, pride, shame, certainty, confusion, doubt and anger. Margulies is up to the task; she’s perfectly capable of carrying this show, and its success will depend upon how much the writers trust her and forgo soapy romance and courtroom theatrics to focus on her character’s struggle for personal and professional fulfillment.
“The Good Wife,” 9 p.m., CBS. Grade: B-
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September 21, 2009
HBO: 'Curb' is back, 'Bored to Death' debuts
Ted Danson, Zach Galifianakis and Jason Schwartzman prowl the streets of New York in “Bored to Death.”
Now that the first season of “Hung” is over, we can start laughing at HBO again. Okay, maybe I’m a little tough on the disingenuously-marketed Thomas Jane “comedy” that’s exceptionally difficult to write about in a family newspaper. Still, the chuckles were few and far between.
Not so with the pay cable net’s new Sunday night combo of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Bored To Death.”
“Curb,” Larry David’s cringe-worthy comedy, is as crass and funny as ever. The 7th season opens on the flip side of the mirror from where last season ended. Then, an abandoned Larry (his wife, Cheryl, had finally left him earlier in the season) was blissfully in love with Loretta Black. Last night, in a new low of self-absorption, he was trying to break up with her — and quickly, before her impending cancer diagnosis came through (even Larry would find it difficult — but not impossible — to break up with someone who’d just been diagnosed with cancer).
If last night’s premiere — featuring a brilliant guest turn by comedienne Catherine O’Hara as Marty Funkhouser’s mentally-disturbed sister, Bam-Bam — is any indication (and having seen a few more episodes, I am happy to report that it is) “Curb” fans are in for a wonderfully petty, uncomfortable and hilarious ride this season. The machinations and falsehoods kick into high gear in a few weeks when the original cast of “Seinfeld” appears to stage a dreaded reunion episode for David’s purely selfish reasons.
“Bored to Death,” (you’ve got to have guts to give your show that name) HBO’s new “noir-otic comedy,” is a lot drier and loads more low-key. It stars Jason Schwartzman (“Rushmore,” “The Darjeeling Limited”) as Jonathan Ames, a writer’s-blocked novelist who’s just been dumped by his girlfriend; she wanted him to give up the three w’s — weed and white wine — and he couldn’t deliver.
A pulp novel fan, Ames (not to be confused with real-life series creator Jonathan Ames … or is he?) gets the notion he’d like to be a detective and slaps an ad — unlicensed private investigator” — up on Craigslist. With buddy Zach Galifianakis and, increasingly, his editor Ted Danson in tow, Ames’ “cases” find him tangling with the likes of druggies, prostitutes, single mothers, skate punks, Greek thugs and Jim Jarmusch.
Galifianakis is great and Schwartzman is Schwartzman, but Danson steals the show as the vice-riddled, hedonistic editor — an aging, drifting, effete stoner with a tinge of Sam Malone’s cockiness (and cluelessness).
“Bored to Death” had an early premiere at Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse because HBO thought Austinites would “get it.” In light of the material, that’s both a compliment and a likelihood.
What do you think of HBO’s Sunday night lineup? Sound off.
“Curb Your Enthusiasm,” 8:00 p.m.
“Bored to Death,” 8:30 p.m.
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September 17, 2009
Review: "Community" (NBC)
(Left to right) Yvette Nicole Brown as Shirley, Danny Pudi as Abed, Gillian Jacobs as Britta, Joe McHale as Jeff, Alison Brie as Annie, Chevy Chase as Pierce, Donald Glover as Troy in “Community.” NBC Photo: Paul Drinkwater
Have you spent any time at a community college? Talk about a melting pot … all ages, races and economic backgrounds welcome. If there’s a better setting for a half-hour sitcom, I can’t imagine what it would be.
The creators of “Community,” the newest addition to NBC’s powerhouse Thursday night comedy line-up, have mined that setting for laughs and wrapped them around charismatic Joel McHale, host of E!’s “The Soup.”
Tonight’s episode does a good job of introducing the characters, including McHale’s scheming Jeff Winger, a former lawyer whose license was revoked when his college degree came into question: “I thought you got a degree from Columbia?” his friend and client — and Greendale Community College head — asks. “Yes. And now I have to get one from America,” Winger replies. “And it can’t be just an e-mail attachment.”
The dialogue is snappy and the characters are diverse, including “The Daily Show’s” John Oliver as the ethically bound leader and a surprisingly tolerable Chevy Chase as moist towelette fortune heir Pierce. Characters that sound problematic in theory, such as Danny Pudi’s Abed, who has trouble differentiating between movies and real life (he can’t help but compare Winger’s faux study group to “The Breakfast Club”) really work well within “Community’s” twisted community. Pretty Gillian Jacobs — Abed can’t get past her resemblance to Elisabeth Shue — is a formidable foil for Winger as the street-smart object of his obsessive, slightly creepy affection.
If the name Winger sounds familiar, it might be because McHale’s misdirected character — it’s hard to call him a slacker when he works so hard on his schemes — is a direct descendant of Bill Murray’s John Winger from “Stripes.” “Community” shares (or, I guess, steals) much of that film’s comic sensibility.
You won’t see him tonight, but watch next week for Ken Jeong (King Argotron from “Role Models”) as scene-stealing Senor Chang, an Asian Spanish teacher with a hilarious chip on his shoulder.
“Community” airs at 8:30 p.m. on NBC. Tonight’s episode: B Next week’s episode: B+
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