calendarlive.com - Robert Lloyd

The Guide

TV

In TV

Partners

Classifieds

Robert Lloyd

November 19, 2009

'Terror in Mumbai'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: The HBO doc recounts the deadly 2008 attack in India, using security footage, intercepted cellphone conversations and videotape to give viewers a 'you-are-there' feel.

November 16, 2009

'Chef Academy'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: Bravo tries a slightly different recipe on the cooking-competition genre.

November 14, 2009

'The Prisoner'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: The AMC remake of the cult classic '60s British spy-fi series won't hold viewers captive.

November 6, 2009

'Fanboy and Chum Chum'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: In their world, they are superheroes

November 3, 2009

'By the People: The Election of Barack Obama' on HBO

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: The documentary premiering on HBO features an element of reality missing from most TV news.

October 28, 2009

'The Botany of Desire'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: The PBS program looks at how plants have evolved and prospered by making themselves 'eye candy' to humans and other living things. Call it survival of the most alluring.

'Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins From Outer Space' on NBC

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: The film hit invades the small screen with its charm mainly intact, and with a Halloween theme to boot.

October 27, 2009

DVDs: 'On the Road With Charles Kuralt: Set 1'

By ROBERT LLOYD

DVD REVIEW: The CBS reporter's instincts for finding uniqueness in the commonplace made his journeys into America's heartland must-see viewing for two decades.

October 25, 2009

Mein Camp: YouTube videos vent through Hitler movie clip

By ROBERT LLOYD

CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK: Different subtitles for the scene from 2004's 'Der Untergang'('Downfall') make political statements, snipe at something or are just funny. They also continue a tradition of trivializing an evil man.

October 21, 2009

Review: 'Lock 'n Load' on Showtime

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: Gun store customers. Hidden camera. That might sound diverting, but on Showtime's reality series isn't, really.

October 20, 2009

Dollying through that fourth wall on 'It's Garry Shandling's Show'

By ROBERT LLOYD

DVD REVIEW: The funny guy deconstructed the sitcom on his Showtime series, which is newly out on DVD.

October 18, 2009

A new Monty Python documentary looks back

By ROBERT LLOYD

CLASSIC TV: To mark the 40th anniversary of 'Flying Circus,' the five living original members reminisce.

October 14, 2009

Review: 'American Masters: Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound' on PBS

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: The legend is fascinating, the person even more so.

October 9, 2009

'Curb Your Enthusiasm's' 'Seinfeld' reunion makes sense

By ROBERT LLOYD

CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK: Larry David's show-within-a-show is the best way for George, Kramer, Elaine and Jerry to reunite without having to feel so good.

October 5, 2009

'Inventing LA: The Chandlers & Their Times'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: The family that built a media empire -- and Los Angeles -- is the focus of a PBS documentary.

September 30, 2009

'Hank' and 'The Middle'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton, seen together on 'Back to You,' are now in separate sitcoms.

September 25, 2009

'Brothers' on Fox

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: A new domestic sitcom about two mid-30s siblings forced to move back in with their parents generates some laughs amid the bickering.

September 24, 2009

'FlashForward'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: The plot jumps forward in time. Will the 'Lost'-like show be around to let everything play out?

September 23, 2009

'Eastwick'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: Rebecca Romijn and Paul Gross star in ABC's adaptation of 'The Witches of Eastwick.' It's pleasant and easy to watch.

A stay at 'Mercy' hospital wouldn't be bad

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: NBC's ensemble medical drama looks to be a solid, although not remarkable, series.

September 21, 2009

Review: 'Accidentally on Purpose' on CBS

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: Jenna Elfman's career won't likely advance in this slight comedy about a career woman who's unexpectedly pregnant. But the door is open to interesting plot directions.

Keeping it real

By ROBERT LLOYD

CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK: When recipients open their mouths, there's no telling what'll come out. Thanks to Jessica Lange, Ken Howard, Michael Emerson and their like, we felt like watching.

September 20, 2009

Fall TV preview

By ROBERT LLOYD

September 11, 2009

'Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: Cartoon Network's new movie goes back to when Scooby, Shaggy, Velma, Daphne and Fred met.

September 9, 2009

Review: 'Glee' on Fox

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: The high school comedy, one of the fall's best new shows, celebrates music, ambition and the misfit.

September 7, 2009

'At the Movies'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: New hosts A.O. Scott and Michael Phillips bring a balance of fun and smarts, just as Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert provided.

August 27, 2009

'Liberty City Is Like Paris to Me'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW

Cable news networks in rare agreement covering Ted Kennedy's death

By ROBERT LLOYD

CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK

August 20, 2009

Don Hewitt's '60 Minutes' remains timeless and elegant

By ROBERT LLOYD

AN APPRECIATION: The newsmagazine has stuck to its sober approach even during this shrill era.

August 19, 2009

'Top Chef: Las Vegas' and 'What Would Brian Boitano Make?'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: 'Top Chef' comes up a winner in Vegas, while Olympian Brian Boitano is a champion in the kitchen.

August 17, 2009

'Glenn Martin, DDS' on Nick at Nite

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: Despite a talented voice-over cast, comedy is like pulling teeth for this new puppet-animation series.

August 14, 2009

A stately progress on 'Mad Men'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: As AMC's Emmy-winning drama begins its third season, not much seems to be happening. But pay attention -- there is a point to the leisurely storytelling.

August 10, 2009

'Lords of the Revolution' and 'Woodstock: Now & Then'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEWS: The VH1 documentaries revisit an era of cultural change.

'The Nine Lives of Marion Barry'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: Dana Flor and Toby Oppenheimer's documentary on HBO glimpses a politician who remains popular despite a troubled private life.

August 8, 2009

'Shark Tank'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: On the recycled TV game show, entrepreneurs get a chance to pitch their ideas, and possible investors choose to torpedo or buy into their dreams. The drama is in the deal negotiation.

August 6, 2009

'Bollywood Hero'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: At the center of his own miniseries on IFC, former 'SNL' cast member Chris Kattan fails to rise above flat.

July 31, 2009

'Defying Gravity' on ABC

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: Astronauts are sent on a six-year mission to visit all the planets in the solar system.

July 28, 2009

'More to Love'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW

July 21, 2009

'Ruby & the Rockits'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: David Cassidy, Patrick Cassidy and Alexa Vega star in a new pop-related ABC Family sitcom that feels surprisingly ordinary.

July 20, 2009

Review: 'Torchwood' Season 3 on BBC America

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: The third season is a single-story, five-night tale about a child-care challenge -- on the day the world's children all begin to chant, 'We are coming.'

July 18, 2009

'Most Popular'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: Seven women stand before 100 women to be judged. Host Graham Norton provides levity.

July 15, 2009

'Michael & Michael Have Issues'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter are real people with fake lives on Comedy Central's genial new comedy.

July 8, 2009

Jackson memorial: both affirmation and denial

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: With no practical reason for so much coverage, we see the power of pop culture that a broadcaster ignores at its own peril. Death, for a moment, wipes a slate clean.

July 7, 2009

'10 Things I Hate About You'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: '10 Things I Hate About You' ditches its Shakespearean source for pages from other high school comedies.

June 27, 2009

Michael Jackson: A life on television

By ROBERT LLOYD

CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK: Michael Jackson was a TV star too -- the cartoon, the specials, the music videos, all enhanced his legend.

June 26, 2009

'Virtuality'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: The 'failed" TV pilot airing Friday on Fox is a space ride worth taking.

June 24, 2009

Review: 'The Music Instinct: Science and Song' on PBS

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: Mysteries explained just become more wonderfully mysterious in this in-depth documentary.

Review: 'The Philanthropist' on NBC

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: A rich guy becomes a rogue do-gooder in this earnest but tonally inconsistent eight-part drama on NBC.

June 19, 2009

'Killer Hair' on Lifetime

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: A fashion writer turns sleuth after a stylist is found dead in a light mystery that's given weight by star Maggie Lawson.

June 17, 2009

Cartoon Network's new reality shows, kid style

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: Live-action entries 'The Othersiders,' 'Brain Rush,' 'Destroy Build Destroy' and 'Survive This' are variations on grown-up shows.

June 13, 2009

'True Blood'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: Season 2 looks like an improvement over the first one.

June 10, 2009

'Top Chef Masters'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: The knives are out -- but at least they're in nobody's back.

Colbert in fine form rallying troops in Iraq

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: In 'The Colbert Report's' opener from Baghdad, the comedian mostly stays away from politics while managing to rope McCain and Obama into his routine.

June 8, 2009

The Tonys had all the right moves, from the speeches to the musical numbers

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW

June 5, 2009

In IFC, 'F' also stands for fun

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: The film channel takes on three TV series and a zanier bent with 'Ideal,' 'The Wrong Door' and 'Food Party.'

June 4, 2009

Review: 'Royal Pains'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: Mark Feuerstein is given a straitjacketed role as a skilled city doctor relocated to the snooty Hamptons, but the supporting cast is colorful and the setting is a summer vacation.

May 29, 2009

'HGTV $250,000 Challenge'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: Makeover meets the meltdown as recession-plagued contestants compete for a big win.

May 27, 2009

'Wipeout' and 'Jesse James Is a Dead Man'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEWS: ABC's 'Wipeout' and Spike's 'Jesse James Is a Dead Man' test the limits of human -- and viewer -- endurance.

'The Goode Family'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: Mike Judge's new show works best when the cultural potshots give way to human needs.

May 26, 2009

Review: 'New World Order' on Independent Film Channel

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: A documentary listens to believers in government plots and ill-intentioned cabals.

May 20, 2009

'Gossip Girl' season finale

By ROBERT LLOYD

CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK: The CW series ends its second season with its trademark mix of titillating scandal and moralizing.

'Blueprint America: Road to the Future' on PBS

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: Streamlining the country's transportation infrastructure presents a daunting challenge, but one that must be met, says this one-hour documentary.

May 14, 2009

'Fringe' throws a universe of possibilities at its fans

By ROBERT LLOYD

CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK: J.J. Abrams' 'X-Files'-type show feeds off eerie incidents and parallel worlds.

May 9, 2009

'Wallander' on PBS

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: The idyllic Swedish town of Ystad is the setting for this dark trilogy of 'Masterpiece: Mystery!' TV movies starring Kenneth Branagh as the eponymous flawed detective.

May 7, 2009

'The Fashion Show' on Bravo

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW

May 5, 2009

'The Apprentice UK'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: The U.S. reality show starring Donald Trump gets a tougher boss and a stiffer upper lip with Sir Alan Sugar.

May 2, 2009

'Jonas'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: The pop-star brothers get their first sitcom on the Disney Channel.

May 1, 2009

'Steve-O: Demise and Rise'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: Taking a sober look at the former star of 'Jackass.'

April 29, 2009

'Rockville CA'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: The Web-only show keeps things brief -- and inauthentic.

April 25, 2009

'Future Earth: Journey to the End of the World' examines the changing Arctic

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: The first of four MSNBC specials about the planet documents an expedition to study the effects of global warming on the Arctic ice pack.

April 17, 2009

'Sit Down, Shut Up'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: Loser teachers populate Fox's new animated sitcom, which is closer to 'Family Guy' than to 'The Simpsons.'

April 15, 2009

'Pitchmen'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: Inventors bring their gadgets for Billy Mays and Anthony Sullivan to certify for TV sellability in new Discovery series.

April 13, 2009

'American Experience: We Shall Remain'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: Five signal moments in Native American history are explored in the new PBS series.

April 11, 2009

'Thrilla in Manila' on HBO

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: The documentary details the brutality and the back story of the Ali-Frazier legendary bouts.

April 10, 2009

'Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: The sword-and-sorcery genre gets a going-over in this Comedy Central/BBC co-production.

April 9, 2009

'Parks and Recreation'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: The Amy Poehler vehicle 'Parks and Recreation' is a charming sapling that just may take root.

April 8, 2009

Review: 'The Unusuals' on ABC

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: The NYC police precinct in this new series is populated with just what the title promises. Could be good, but the pilot tries too hard.

April 6, 2009

'Surviving Suburbia'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: Call it a cynic's guide to surviving the 'burbs, but it's really an old-fashioned sitcom with Bob Saget at the helm playing a grumpy dad.

April 1, 2009

'Pedro' on MTV and Logo

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: Memorable 'Real World' cast member Pedro Zamora, an AIDS educator, is the subject of the film scripted by Dustin Lance Black.

March 31, 2009

'Cupid' premieres on ABC

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: Sarah Paulson and Bobby Cannavale star in Rob Thomas' comedy, in which a fellow who claims to be the god of love jousts with a psychiatrist.

March 25, 2009

'King Lear' on PBS' 'Great Performances'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: Ian McKellen is regal and real in a compelling production that makes Shakespeare accessible.

March 20, 2009

Movable feast of laughs

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: There's fun in an unlikely place as Starz does the sitcom with 'Party Down.'

March 19, 2009

'Taking the Stage'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: It's compelling viewing on MTV as students dance, sing and dazzle their way through an arts-centric school.

March 15, 2009

'Adult Swim's' Tim and Eric on the road: a photo diary

By ROBERT LLOYD

Twenty-five cities, thousands of fans.

March 11, 2009

'The Chopping Block'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: NBC reality show, hosted by Marco Pierre White, is the latest in a sometimes-moving feast of cooking-centric contests.

March 9, 2009

'RuPaul's Drag Race' on Logo

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: The competition is on to crown 'America's next drag superstar,' and who better to preside over the proceedings than onetime club icon RuPaul.

March 7, 2009

'Ashes to Ashes' on BBC America

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: The time-bending begins anew in a continuation of the British original 'Life on Mars' story. What matters most: Philip Glenister's righteous thug is back.

February 28, 2009

'Running in Heels'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: Three interns go behind the veil at Marie Claire.

February 23, 2009

Conan O'Brien's 'The Tonight Show'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION: Critic's Notebook: The 'Late Night' host moves to an earlier time slot, but it's anyone's guess whether the show's anything-goes vibe will go with it too.

February 18, 2009

'The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: The Oscar-nominated documentary is short but powerful.

February 14, 2009

'Nature: Why We Love Cats and Dogs'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: The 'Nature' episode 'Why We Love Cats and Dogs' will pounce, paw and purr its way into viewers' hearts.

February 13, 2009

'Eastbound and Down'

By ROBERT LLOYD

TELEVISION REVIEW: It hits several foul balls, but it's staying alive at the plate.