'The Americans' and 'Silicon Valley' Top the Critics Choice TV Awards

I thoroughly approve of the Critics Choice TV awards results tonight, as both The Americans and Silicon Valley are fantastic shows worthy of the top honor. I'm surprised they didn't go for Transparent in Comedy series, but hey, they still awarded Jeffrey Tambor and Bradley Whitford for the show. I'm not as crazy about those Better Call Saul acting wins though- both guys are great continuing their Breaking Bad roles, but I was really hoping for some final season love for Justified (other than Sam Elliott in guest performer). Overall, it was a pretty decent set. Bound to have next to no bearing on the Emmys of course, but they keep trying.

2015 Critics Choice TV Winners

Guest Performer in a Drama: Sam Elliott, Justified
Guest Performer in a Comedy: Bradley Whitford, Transparent
Supporting Actress in a Movie/Mini: Sarah Paulsen, American Horror Story: Freakshow
Supporting Actor in a Movie/Mini: Bill Murray, Olive Kitteridge
Supporting Actor in a Drama: Jonathan Banks, Better Call Saul
Supporting Actress in a Drama: Lourraine Toussaint, Orange is the New Black
Supporting Actor in a Comedy: T.J. Miller, Silicon Valley
Supporting Actress in a Comedy: Allison Janney, Mom
Lead Actor in a Movie/Mini: David Oyelowo, Nightingale
Lead Actress in a Movie/Mini: Frances McDormand, Olive Kitteridge
Lead Actor in a Drama: Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul
Lead Actress in a Drama: Taraji P. Henson, Empire
Lead Actor in a Comedy: Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent
Lead Actress in a Comedy: Amy Schumer, Inside Amy Schumer
Reality Host: Cat Deeley, So You Think You Can Dance
Reality Series: Shark Tank
Reality-Competition Series: Face Off
Variety Series: The Daily Show
Animated Series: Archer
TV Movie: Bessie
Miniseries: Olive Kitteridge
Drama Series: The Americans
Comedy Series: Silicon Valley

First Look at 'Hannibal' Season 3

The third season of Hannibal premieres next week, and with Gillian Anderson as a regular this year, I can't wait to see Bedelia and Hannibal gallivanting around Europe, as the show promises us. It also looks like we're finally getting past the prequel stage of the Hannibal Lecter story, as we get into the Red Dragon novel finally. June 3rd, people. Mark it down.

New Trailer for 'Orange is the New Black' Season 3

It's almost here, guys! OITNB Season 3 drops on June 12th, and the new trailer promises a return to the lighter, funnier antics of the first season. Of course this happens right when the Emmys forced the show to move over the Drama series, when I don't know how anyone can watch this trailer and not recognize that the show's a comedy. A black comedy sure, but this is in now way a serious or realistic look at a women's prison. People don't really think that it is, do they? Anyway, I can't wait to binge it all over one weekend.

A Final Farewell to David Letterman

Dave signed off with class and no tears last Wednesday (as only he would), and with his final bow came the true end of an era- 33 years on late night television (longer than anyone else's reign) is nothing to shake your head at. And his influence was immeasurable on the comedy landscape, especially on other comedians of a certain generation- Jon Stewart, Jimmy Kimmel, Norm MacDonald and Conan O'Brien all paid heartfelt (even teary-eyed) tributes to the legend, and Stephen Colbert will be taking over The Late Show starting in September. But the truth is, you can't really take up the mantle of someone else in order to leave the kind of legacy left by giants like Johnny Carson in his day, and now David Letterman in his. The truth is Dave created his own style and his own legacy, and the reason he can't really be replaced is because he was inimitable. His kind of cranky, moody, weird and distinctive humor and conversation over the years seemed sprung less by his personal role models than by his own personality quirks. True TV giants are unique in what they bring to the table, and in that sense there really won't be another Letterman on late night again. Hopefully there will be someone some day who doesn't just take the reigns of an existing show and plays celebrity games with it, but reinvents the format within their own, unique comedic flavor. I don't have a lot of hope for that- my fear is that the last, edgy innovator has left the scene and nothing but sycophantic suckups (Fallon, Corden) remain.

Dave's last Top 10 List:

Letterman HIghlights Montage to the Foo Fighters:

Jack Black and Tim Robbins Confront Foreign Affairs in 'The Brink'

This show looks pretty wild, but I hope it balances the satire and nuttiness in a way that works (it's not so easy to do Dr. Strangelove level satire after all). It's got a good cast though, and I've just realized this is Jack Black and Tim Robbins' reunion from 2000's High Fidelity- maybe John Cusack can make an appearance as well. This premieres on HBO June 21st after the new season of True Detective.

RECAP: Mad Men 7x14 "Person to Person"

It took awhile to digest the final episode of Mad Men, and now that I have, I'd have to say that although it was neither my favorite nor the best episode of the series, it turned out to be a fairly low key, mostly fitting finale that left our hero Don Draper to a semi-ambiguous ending that more or less confirms all of our cynicism and ideals about who he really is- and I don't know what more you could ask for than that.

I also turned out to be 100% wrong in all of my predictions from the penultimate episode, which I seem to remember being the case every time I tried to predict something last season, so I guess I was due for one final lesson in the fruitless art of Mad Men predicting. Of course Matt Weiner would do the complete opposite of everything I expected. I thought for sure there'd be a time jump of at least several months (past Betty's death) and in fact it's only been a couple of weeks at most. And I thought that we may not see several key Mad Men characters, as it seemed each had more or less gotten their appropriate sendoff moments in the last few episodes, but lo and behold, everyone showed up in this episode for the final checkout. It doesn't turn out to be so bad on that front though, since they all get some pretty nice conclusions.

We'll go ahead and start with Joan, who we see is vacationing and doing the new and mysterious drug of cocaine with Bruce Greenwood, but she's not ready to leave New York with him and he's not so satisfied after all to be stuck there with her and Kevin. Joan meets up with Ken (hi Ken!) for his final moment, where he tells her that his firm needs someone to produce industrial films and he wants her for the job, and this gives Joan the bright idea of starting her own company and asking Peggy (in another lunchtime reunion) to leave McCann and become her partner. This is nice for fans of Peggy and Joan's friendship (they seem to love each other in this episode, even though they've never really been great friends), but ultimately Peggy turns it down, leaving Joan to start her company solo. And that solo means without Greenwood as well, who balks her new career because it will take time away from him, so good riddance, asshole. Joan never needed you anyway.

Now on to Roger, who comes to see Joan (her third reunion scene) and insists in putting Kevin in his will, so that he can leave his estate to him someday. Joan had always resisted his offers to help before, but she's mellowed now and agrees to it, and the two of them laugh over old times as Roger tells her he's getting married again, this time to Marie. Roger and Marie seem to end the show bickering and together, as they always were, but I'm not exactly sure why Roger deserves to end up with her of all people. Julia Ormond had some good moments on this show, but she's never been anyone I particularly cared to see again, and when you think about it, aside from being older, how is she any different from Roger's second wife Jane, who he always bickered with too?

Moving on again to Peggy, probably the most important person to see one more time (besides Don of course), where she's settled at McCann (and doing the best she can to not be ignored for accounts), where she says so long to Pete and Harry (whose final scene is typical Harry Crane as he steals Pete's cookies and shrugs off their canceled lunch), while Pete graciously tells Peggy that she'll be creative director by 1980 and someday people will brag about having worked with her. It's a nice moment for the two of them before Pete moves to Wichita with Trudy and Tammy, and it's even more meaningful knowing the history they've shared. Peggy then considers Joan's partnership offer, but Stan shoots it down, telling her she knows she belongs in advertizing, which makes Peggy yell at him, but then she receives a distraught call from Don (more on that later), which alarms her and forces her to call Stan for help. He calms her down over the phone as he assures her that Don always disappears and eventually comes back, and while doing so, Stan takes his big moment to confess to Peggy that he's in love with her as she reacts in shock. Her surprise quickly turns into a rambling confession of her own feelings though, as she seems to realize instantly that she loves him back, and before she knows it Stan has raced over to her office and the two of them get swept up in a big, movie style kiss- awww. Finally, a nod to all the Stan/Peggy shippers over the years. I was never sure if these two should get together or not, but I have to admit, seeing Peggy finally find love with a guy who will undoubtedly accept her professional aspirations is heartwarming to say the least.

So with all the New York stuff wrapped up this brings us back to Don, who spends the entire episode in California, where he eventually made his way, and has no contact with the NYC cast, save for three person to person phone calls with the three most important women in his life- Sally, Betty and Peggy. He's spending his time racing cars, wearing jeans (now that's a new and weird look for him) and sleeping with random women again (his favorite activity), but when he talks to Sally at school, she fesses up to him about Betty's condition (less than 6 months to live). Don is shocked at first and says he's coming home right away and the kids are all going to live with him, but Sally shoots him down and tells him to convince Betty to let the boys stay with Henry, for stability's sake. Don isn't going for it, but Sally is sure she knows that it's best for them not to be with him. Ouch. Don then calls Betty of course, who's now at least doing some serious coughing, and Betty also tells him just as firmly as Sally (but not unkindly) that she's going to send the boys to live with her brother and his wife. Don tries to push back on this, but Betty isn't angry about it, and ends up convincing him that taking the kids isn't in their best interest, since when was the last time he saw them after all? Don realizes she's probably right, and the two of them seem to come to terms with their own history as the sadness of Betty's fate seems ever nearer.

So Don then goes to see Stephanie (should have seen that coming) to give back her aunt's ring and find out that she gave her son to his grandparents and isn't doing so hot herself. Stephanie's on her way to an Esalen-like retreat and takes Don with her, where he spends the majority of the final episode with the hippies at the seminars, not finding anything close to enlightenment and losing himself even further. Eventually Stephanie gets upset about her kid and takes off, leaving Don alone again, and with no way out, so he makes his final call to Peggy, telling her that he forgot to say goodbye to her. Peggy's alarmed at his tone, and tries telling him to come home, that the agency would surely take him back, and reminds him that he's always wanted to work on Coke, but Don is shaking and practically curled up in the fetal position as he hangs up and sinks against the wall of one of the cabins. He fears it just may be the end, but then one of the seminar leaders (played by Helen Slater of 80's Supergirl fame) comes upon him and takes him with her to the group meeting. At the meeting, a stranger named Leonard takes the floor and confesses his feeling of being alone, ignored, unneeded and unnecessary, which unexpectedly moves Don to tears as he stands up and embraces the guy in a hug as Leonard breaks down in the center of the circle. So we finally find Don't enlightenment after all, as he joins the hippies for early morning meditation in the final scene, as the instructor tells them to think of themselves as being at peace with a "new you," and as Don closes his eyes in the same position as everyone else, the camera zooms in on his face, we hear a sudden "ding" and he smiles knowingly, while the shot immediately scans to the infamous 1971 "I Want to Buy the World a Coke" commercial to fade out the series for good.

So, the ending. What does it mean? Well, Don's "enlightenment" of course led to what was apparently his finest advertizing hour, as he seizes upon the ideas and the people in the retreat to come up with the Coke commercial and the lasting legacy he'd always wanted to leave. Is it a good one? Well, it's still advertizing, but that's who Don is. He's the ad man- he's always trying to find himself and he always ends up back in the same place. We know that Don went back to NYC, he rejoined McCann-Erickson (the real life agency who produced that ad), and gave them their greatest product. To me, that's a pretty perfect ending and it suits Don't character to a tee- and the idea that people don't change, they never will, they only go in cycles. Which has fit Don Draper for this entire show, all the way to the finish line. I'm impressed. I wasn't so crazy about Don spending this entire episode at the retreat and away from the main cast, but the payoff to it is pretty terrific, and the rest of the characters got their warm, and genuinely happy endings (save for Betty, whose last scene depicts her smoking at the dinner table while Sally diligently does the dishes in the background). It was a good, finely tuned, appropriate finale to the show I've loved for so long, and doesn't tarnish one bit of the massive TV legacy it's left. I'm satisfied, and I'll miss it, but I will always remember every bit of it, and in that way life goes on for Mad Men just as it does for the characters in that world. We'll be seeing you.

REVIEW: "The Flash" Season 1

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Superheroes belong on TV, and nothing has proved my hypothesis more this year than the terrific debut season of the CW's The Flash, a spinoff show to their original hero series Arrow, but one that already surpassed it's parent show on every level in its smooth, slick, fun and non-stop entertaining example of the genre done right.

Traditional network shows are at something of a disadvantage in having to produce more than 22 episodes a year as opposed to the 10-13 episode number for most cable shows these days- it invariably leads to lots of filler hours, and the inevitable "freak of the week" one offs that have always characterized so many of the action-adventure/superhero crime dramas. But when done right, some classic shows were able to strike the perfect balance between serialized, ongoing arcs and entertaining, memorable standalones, so that both elements mixed smoothly, occasionally intertwined, and every single episode still felt like a can't miss, or at least an enjoyable entry. Some of my all time favorites at meshing these elements were Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Veronica Mars and The X-Files. You can go ahead and add The Flash to that list, and for me that's a pretty big deal. I was hooked early on and began looking forward to it every week, not least of all because it absolutely nailed what every successful show like this has always had to do first- we got a spectacular core cast and characters that you immediately fall for and care about.

That's really the most important factor to any series- and many don't often get it right. A cast needs to be able to gel and you have to feel like the characters are real in order to get truly invested. Marvel's Agents of SHIELD has struggled mightily with forcing anyone to give a damn about any of their characters, and even Arrow, from which The Flash was spun, hasn't been able to nail everyone in its core group aside from a couple of supporting standouts. But this show struck casting gold, starting with the title character. Barry Allen, the Flash himself is played by 24-year-old Grant Gustin, who's so naturally charismatic and likable at every turn that he can take anyone along for whatever ride he's going on. I defy you not to care about this kid. His couple of guest stints on Arrow Season 2 started the journey, but here he's asked to carry a series and he makes it look so easy that it instantly becomes hard to imagine Barry played by anyone else. As an 11-year-old kid who watched his mother be killed by a speeding blur of light, and his own father arrested for her murder, Barry grew up vowing to find out who really did it, only to be eventually struck by lightning and turned into The Flash, the iconic superhero who can run faster than the speed of light.

The premise of the show takes Barry as he wakes out of his coma with his new powers, and just runs with it (pun intended) placing him among an insta-crew of techies working out of "Star Labs" who help him to figure out how he can use his speed- a setup that was perfected on Arrow and carried over here, which gives him a supporting trio of sidekicks Cisco (Carlos Valdes), Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker), and the mysterious Dr. Wells (Tom Cavanagh, in a battle with Gustin and Jesse L. Martin for series MVP), and the chemistry between the characters is instantaneous and only grows over the season. Barry's also a forensic scientist for the Central City PD, where he works alongside his adopted dad Joe West (Jesse L. Martin), who he went to live with after his real father was arrested, and who is also immediately brought in on the Star Labs operation as Barry's devoted and supportive paternal figure. As a I said, cast chemistry is tops in a show like this, and the interaction between Barry, Joe and Wells especially (along with the scene-stealing Cisco, who basically functions as this series' Felicity Smoake) is instant perfection that most shows need to work to develop. The father-son relationship between Barry and Joe in particular is so genuine and emotional that it forces you to not to want Barry's real dad to ever be let out of prison (although guest star John Wesley Shipp, 90's TV Flash, plays him as a tribute and has some good scenes with his son from behind the glass window throughout the year as well).

Unlike other soaps on the CW, The Flash embraces the family dynamic of its characters, and works to maintain the affection and warmth between them, as opposed to melodrama and artificial conflict. We like the characters and their relationships so much that it helps to overlook anything that might not be perfect on the show (which I'll get to in a second) mostly because the actors are so good here that they sell everything that's happening. The one trouble spot, unfortunately, is again with the love interest, reminiscent of Arrow's struggles in that department. Barry Allen's iconic comic book love is Iris West (think of her as The Flash's Lois Lane, beloved by comics fans), and here she's Joe's daughter and Barry's best friend from childhood, played by the gorgeous Candice Patton. But once again, the show misfires in the typical superhero secret identity trope, making her the one person on the show to remain in the dark about Barry's identity for almost the entire season, thus placing her as the damsel in distress, who gets in the way instead of helping out, while the rest of the cast serves a function in Barry's quest to stop super powered bad guys in Central City (dubbed "metahumans" affected by the accelerator explosion that gave Barry his own powers). She's also saddled with a useless and boring boyfriend whose sole function is to act as a roadblock standing between the inevitable Barry/Iris union, and this one element is handled in a way seen a thousand times before, rather than the refreshing and honest manner in which the rest of the cast meshed into the perfectly oiled machine that the show quickly became.

But oh well- that story can always be fixed, and the show does take some steps to fixing it and bringing Iris into the rest of the gang where she belongs in the latter half of the season. It's hardly an irreparable blunder- I just wonder why they can't bring the love interest in on it from the beginning and make them an equal partner on these shows, rather than a hindrance to the action that goes on too long (although the one good thing to come out of it is the Superman/Lois Lane-esque flirting between Iris and The Flash in the first part of the season- I have to admit, some of those scenes were awfully fun). Other than the well developed cast and characters here, the tone of the show is pure comic book fun, and embraces the lightness, action, humor and full on costume antics (Barry's giddiness about his red suit is catching) that comics fans have wanted to see done onscreen for years. Marvel's movies do everything with a wink, true, but it's not done in a way that engenders genuine emotion for the characters the way they manage to do on The Flash, and the movies with virtually the same plots over and over again, tend to be forgettable. Here, we're fully invested in Barry and Co. as people, which makes the thrills all the more fun and memorable.

Because super-speed is a power that won't always lead to typical fight scenes (the Flash can't even land a punch), the writers are forced to come up with different ways for Barry to be heroic (saving every single person in a train before it crashes, carrying a bomb thousands of miles out of the city before it explodes) and the special effects deliver in this area (surprisingly, since the CW's budget can't be that huge). The freak of the week episodes lead up to and tie in its overarching villain story, who turns out to be Reverse Flash in a season long plot that incorporates that risky, loophole ridden sci-fi theme of time travel. That's right, The Flash is so fast that he can disrupt the space-time continuum, which when it's finally introduced, becomes a thrilling possibility that opens doors to all kinds of stories (already in my head I'm imagining several arcs involving the ongoing alternate universe lives of our characters, which I can't wait to see unfold in coming seasons), and the truth is I've never been so excited about the creative possibilities of a sci-fi show in years. But the stories wouldn't work as well as they do without the actors there to sell them, and I think I could buy Grant Gustin selling me just about anything- he's honestly the best male lead of a show in the CW's existence, and they probably only stepped away from their typical buff, late 20's, early 30's Calvin Klein-esque male casting model because of his puppy dog ability to charm the pants off anyone- even CW casting execs.

I'm so excited for the show to come back that I'm bemoaning the four month hiatus- this when most shows I watch now go off the air for a year before returning. The Flash was one of the best new shows of the season, so good it brought me back to network TV. Bravo, Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg and the rest- you guys set a new standard for the genre that I'm willing to bet will outshine all of WB's upcoming dreary, cinematic takes on DC superheroes. This is truly where they belong.

Grade: A-

RECAP: SNL 5/16 "Louis C.K"

Late on this recap, I know, but better late than never. The same cannot be said for the episode though, which was a weak finale to a season that had a bright run for several episodes after the 40th anniversary special, before reverting back to mediocrity as it petered out. Too bad.

COLD OPEN: So, with Louis CK hosting tonight, SNL decided to move its musical number to the opening instead of the monologue, and we're subjected to a long medley of Hillary Clinton interrupting people on their vacations as they sing about summer and she tries to garner votes. This is way too long and includes the whole cast, but Kate's Hillary as always, is priceless and we get one more cameo from Darrell Hammond as Bill too, so I guess it's alright.

MONOLOGUE: Louis CK comes out for some controversial stand-up, which includes jokes about "mild racism" and child molesters, which of course will push the censors to the limit and cause major overreaction in the press, but hey- he's Louis CK, that's what he does. At least he's funny, which is more than you can say for most of the monologues.

SHOEMAKER & ELVES: A weird sketch with Vanessa and Kenan as elves with a fetish for S&M, and Louis as the boss who's kinda sort into it- this one goes on way too long as well, and it doesn't really work. Bleh.

SPRINT: Louis is a new employee for Sprint who imitates his boss Leslie's "sassy" stereotype speaking voice behind her back and gets stuck pretending it's his actual voice. Louis himself is pretty funny here just for going for it, but the skit was so riddled with technical slip-ups (Leslie stumbles over the cue cards) that it falters and doesn't find its rhythm. Too bad.

LUMBERJACK: A quick ad spoofing the single tear Indian commercial about a lumberjack who's sad we don't use paper products anymore for toothpicks. It's a mild jab.

UPDATE: A bunch of lame jokes so innocuous I can't remember any of them, then Taran comes out as Tom Brady, which is pretty good but is again ruined by some constant flubbing (what the hell, guys?), and Pete as his resident young person shtick- eh. Finally Riblet shows up to do Che's job better than him, and it all just fades out. Please, please, please tell me that this is the last Update we'll have to suffer through Jost and Che for. I maintain my stance that this is the worst Weekend Update team in the history of the show and they have got to be replaced next year, for the love of all things holy.

GEMMA: Ok, this is a repeat of that sketch the Rock did where he and his British girlfriend crash Kenan and Vanessa on a dinner date, but I honestly had no idea that that sketch was about Cecily's character. Seriously, it was the Rock who made that funny (if it even was at all last time). Tonight it's just dumb.

LINEUP: Lame skit where Pete picks people out of a lineup and the guys are treating it like an audition. Goes on too long, not funny at all. Next.

LUMBERJACK 2: Another ad bemoaning reading books on your tablet. Meh.

FORGOTTEN TV GEMS: One that looks back on an "I Love Lucy"-esque show called "I Married a Lesbian," where 50's husbands Bobby and Louis don't know their wives Aidy and Kate are gay. Weird. Also, not that funny.

So that's it everyone! Another season in the bag. The highlight of the year was that streak of decent episodes in February and March, which had they not existed, along with the memorable anniversary special, would have made for one of the worst seasons of the show. But it was there, so at least there's something to work with here. Kate McKinnon is fantastic and the crown jewel of this cast, while the Update guys must be jettisoned, and immediately so. Tonight's episode was very lame, despite Louis CK's gameness, so I give it a D- but I'm looking forward to hearing about any changes that will be made in the hiatus, before the show comes back in September for it's 41st season (which is still a thing to behold, overall). Have a great summer, everyone!

CBS Launches 'Supergirl'

In this new age of superhero mania, it's hard to believe we have yet to see a female superhero (of which there are many) given her own show or movie, but all that's finally going to change this fall when CBS of all networks premieres Supergirl. Personally, I get a bad feeling from this trailer, and I can kind of understand all the online cracks about this looking a lot like the SNL parody of what a Marvel movie starring Black Widow would look like. Calista Flockhart looks pretty painful here and the whole Devil Wears Prada office setup is cause for concern. The only ray of hope is that this is once again the same team, led by Greg Berlanti, who spearheaded Arrow and The Flash, so maybe they can make magic once again (although the female characters on those shows haven't exactly been handled with flying colors either- Sara Lance as Canary being the one exception). We'll see.

CW Previews 'Legends of Tomorrow'

As an avid watcher of CW's superhero shows Arrow and The Flash, I guess I'm going to have a new show to get hooked on next year. It's actually pretty mandatory if you want to keep up with all the crossover stuff they're doing. It's awesome to see Caity Lotz's Sara miraculously reincarnated as White Canary, along with Brandon Routh's Atom and a couple of Flash villains (although I've never loved Captain Cold as much as the show seems to). But I am a bit concerned with the possibility of creative burnout, since this is once again the same team taking on yet another spinoff in the midst of their successful series. Can they keep the quality going on all three shows at the same time? Legends of Tomorrow will be a mid-season run in early 2016.