Ryan McGee
‘The Flash’ Review: “Things You Can’t Outrun”
Practice makes perfect. That holds true for superheroes as well as television shows about superheroes. So it makes sense that 'The Flash' is essentially repeating the same steps week after week in order to get the basics down pat before getting into more adventurous stuff down the road. “Things You Can’t Outrun” is by no means a bad episode, but it doesn’t provide a lot in terms of new elements.
Monday Morning Critic: The Good, Bad and Ugly of the Fall TV Season
Welcome back to another installment of the Monday Morning Critic. In this space each week, I’ll be looking at the week that was in addition to the week ahead in television. The format will shift each week, as the world of TV will dictate the form and content of each piece.
In this week’s installment, I look at the premiere of The USA Network’s upcoming comedy ‘Benched,’ plus take stock of the Fall season of TV thus far.
‘The Flash’ Review: “Fastest Man Alive”
Second episodes of television shows are hard. They might be the hardest one a show ever has to pull off, since it has to establish the template by which the show moves from pilot to actual series. Gone is the burden of having to set up a world, but present is the burden of having to build it out on a weekly basis. A show has to plan for the future but stay entertaining in the present. “Fastest Man Alive” represents 'The Flash' experiencing a few growing pains as it makes its shift into weekly entertainment, but it’s by no means a bad episode. The good far outweighs the bad, and much of the bad can be easily fixed over time.
Monday Morning Critic: The Premieres of ‘The Affair’ and ‘Jane the Virgin’
Welcome back to another installment of the Monday Morning Critic. In this space each week, I’ll be looking at the week that was in addition to the week ahead in television. The format will shift each week, as the world of TV will dictate the form and content of each piece.
In this week’s installment, I look at the premieres of ‘The Affair’ and ‘Jane The Virgin,’ plus reveal which couple violates my strict “anti-shipping” policy.
‘The Flash’ Review: Pilot
“Cool!” “Cool!”
That simple two-word exchange between Barry Allen and Oliver Queen sums up the joys of the pilot episode of 'The Flash.' The second straight DC Comics adaptation by The CW, the new series gets so many things right that it puts other small-screen comic yarns to shame. What truly makes this pilot episode stand out from the myriad of comic book-inspired television shows lies in its light touch. That’s not to say that 'The Flash' is a frivolous show by any metric. But the show realizes there’s more than one way to tell a superhero story, and that dour realism only takes you so far in the world of the fantastical.
Monday Morning Critic: How ‘Outlander’ is Turning the Tables on Sexuality on Television
The most vital piece of television criticism this past week came from The Huffington Post’s Maureen Ryan. In writing about the recent string of ‘Outlander’ episodes, she noted something revolutionary in its storytelling, primarily centered around its catering to the female gaze. It’s an important piece not only for what it uncovers, but also in how both Ryan’s article (and ‘Outlander’ itself) are another piece of the ever-evolving viewpoints that TV can sustain and foster.
Monday Morning Critic: On Shonda Rhimes and the New Shows Debuting This Week
Welcome back to another installment of the Monday Morning Critic. In this space each week, I’ll be looking at the week that was in addition to the week ahead in television. The format will shift each week, as the world of TV will dictate the form and content of each piece.
In this week’s installment: what makes the ratings for ‘How to Get Away With Murder’ so important, and a Q&A about this week’s premieres.
Monday Morning Critic: The Return of ‘Sleepy Hollow’ and This Week’s Debuting Pilots
Welcome back to another installment of the Monday Morning Critic. In this space each week, I’ll be looking at the week that was in addition to the week ahead in television. The format will shift each week, as the world of TV will dictate the form and content of each piece.
Monday Morning Critic: ‘You’re the Worst’ Creator Stephen Falk on the Shows That Inspired Him
In this week’s edition, I start my coverage of the Fall pilot season, and speak with the creator of the best comedy currently on television, 'You're the Worst'.
Monday Morning Critic: A Look Back at the Week That Was
I always thought that was a fascinating way to discuss the broad topic of baseball: Rather than write about one thing, Gammons wrote about all things, and the format allowed him to shift things around on a weekly basis as the season itself changed. It seems like a fine approach to appropriate here with this, the inaugural edition of the Monday Morning Critic. I’ve long wanted to adopt Gammons’ approach and turn it towards television. One could argue the lifecycle of certain discussion points is more and more finite as the sheer amount of good TV increases and insta-analysis of Twitter renders episodes moot a mere hour after initial airing. But I’m hoping that’s not the case, and that we can all meet here each Monday to look back at the week that was.