Arts & Entertainment TV Features

The boy and the balloon

A heart-stopping media spectacle ends as 6-year-old Falcon Heene is found safe. But what were we watching, and why?

By Heather Havrilesky Oct 15, 2009

High-fiving 40-year-olds? Get out of "Cougar Town"!

Why has Courteney Cox's painfully manic midlife-crisis sitcom been embraced by fans and critics?

By Heather Havrilesky October 14, 2009
Has "Mad Men" gone mad?

Or maybe Matt Weiner knows that life in America really is that strange and brutal

By Heather Havrilesky September 28, 2009
The Emmys are a rerun!

"Mad Men" and "30 Rock" win! Ricky Gervais kills! This is last year's ceremony, plus one earnest, singing host

By Heather Havrilesky September 21, 2009
Finale recap: "True Blood"

HBO's popular vampire dramedy ends in a glorious explosion of gore and goofiness

By Heather Havrilesky September 14, 2009

Best new TV: "Community"

A mean-spirited comedy about a "loser" college features dropouts, middle-aged divorcees and Chevy Chase. Hurray!

By Heather Havrilesky September 1, 2009
Are they "Hung"?

Male escorts on the truth -- and fiction -- behind the HBO show

By Tracy Clark-Flory August 8, 2009
Should Orly Taitz replace Paula Abdul?

The "American Idol" judge has given her final critique. And we have a few suggested replacements

By Salon staff August 5, 2009
Hey, hey, Paula! Consider this a divorce

"American Idol" should lose Abdul once and for all

By Heather Havrilesky July 21, 2009
Emmy loves "Mad Men," snubs "The Shield"!

FX's twisted cop drama may be one of the top 10 TV shows of all time. So why didn't it get any nominations?

By Heather Havrilesky July 16, 2009
The triumph of the uncelebrity

Jon and Kate! Octo-Mom! Speidi! Stars are out, ordinary people are in -- until we render them as soulless as celebs

By Heather Havrilesky June 4, 2009
How I learned to love (and hate) "American Idol"

For seven years I ignored the world's biggest pop culture spectacle. But thanks to my daughter -- and the stunningly original Adam Lambert -- I finally caved.

By Gary Kamiya April 19, 2009
Crime, punishment ... and MTV

As blockbuster rapper T.I. heads for prison, his reality series prompts the nagging question: Can you really scare kids straight?

By Baz Dreisinger March 31, 2009
Goodbye, "Galactica"

Will the cylons triumph? Will Baltar and Roslin survive? All these answers and more as the celebrated science-fiction epic comes to an end.

By Laura Miller March 21, 2009
Everything you were afraid to ask about "Battlestar Galactica"

A complete (updated!) primer on the smartest sci-fi TV show ... maybe ever.

By Thomas Rogers January 16, 2009
The year the small screen fell flat

Lackluster pilots, slumping sophomore shows and the devolution of the serial drama. The golden age of TV suddenly looked tarnished in 2008.

By Heather Havrilesky December 28, 2008
The end of the satirical industrial complex?

For the past eight years, Jon Stewart, Tina Fey and other comedians have had us laughing through our tears. If Obama wins, will the laughter die?

By Thomas Schaller November 4, 2008
Loaded

CW's "Privileged," "90210" and "Gossip Girl" aren't merely escapist fantasies, they're twisted fables that teach teens the countless advantages of being filthy rich.

By Heather Havrilesky September 15, 2008
And the Buffy goes to ...

Our fifth annual award to the most underappreciated show in all of TV land.

By Heather Havrilesky September 6, 2008
Reality shows we'd like to see

Attention, reality-TV programmers: "I'm From Sky Mall" and "Hangover CSI" -- you're gonna love them!

By Sarah Hepola September 5, 2008
A comedy tonight? Good luck!

Learn more about the fall TV season's new comedies, using this handy clip 'n' save chart!

By Heather Havrilesky September 5, 2008
Television's foreign affair

Shows based on international hits are flooding the fall lineup. Has the U.S. TV industry run out of fresh ideas?

By Thomas Rogers September 4, 2008
TV rehab

There are shows we love even when they don't love themselves. For them, Salon staffers stage an intervention.

By Salon staff September 3, 2008
Above the law

On TV this fall, motorcycle outlaws, vampires and superpowered misfits roar past good and evil, reflecting the wishful thinking of a nation in decline.

By Heather Havrilesky September 2, 2008
Of magic, madness and motorcycles

Learn more about the fall TV season's new dramas, using this handy clip 'n' save chart!

By Heather Havrilesky September 2, 2008