Wonder Showzen: Season One (review)

Bloated with its own sense of gonzoness, this MTV2 series exhibits flashes of brilliance but is mostly tiresome and obvious and nowhere near as radical as it thinks it is.

Significant Others: The Complete Series (review)

So few married people genuinely seem to enjoy marriage… and these four couples are not among them. This faux reality series combines the worst of reality TV with the worst of fictional shows: while pretending to offer a “real” look at the interpersonal trials and tribulations of “actual” couples, including “therapy sessions” in which they … more…

The Best of the Electric Company (review)

Oh my god, I can’t believe how much of this stuff I remember from my very youngest childhood: the silhouettes pronouncing syllables that come together to form whole words! the tiny scuba guy swimming in alphabet soup looking for letters! the adventures of Letterman and his archenemy, who takes a T from “train” to make … more…

Project Runway: The Complete First Season (review)

The coarseness of spirit that every reality show evinces is a depressing reminder of the boorishness of contemporary American society: reality “entertainment” may be the 21st-century version of the game show, but the reveling that accompanies the dispatch of the losers is appalling, the suspense mined from the “who’s gonna get voted off?” dismal. And … more…