TVovereasy|A recap guide to all your favorite shows

When Deadwood premiered in 2004, it represented the triumphant return of the western to television.  Timothy Olyphant turned in a stunning performance as sheriff Seth Bullock for the show’s three seasons.  Then, in 2006, Deadwood ended, and fans were once again left without an outlet for their outlaw urges.  However, good things come to those who wait, and this March, Olyphant returned in FX’s gritty neo-western Justified.

Based off of a character created by Elmore Leonard, the show’s core concept transplants a 19^th-century-style sheriff, Raylan Givens, into the modern-day U.S. Marshals Service—metaphorically, that is.  Olyphant plays Givens with a mix of menace and earnestness. This is a man prepared to do whatever he needs to in order to keep his town safe—a difficult task given the crime families situated in the town.  Even worse, Raylan’s father has his own sense of justice, and isn’t above going outside the law to get it. Read the rest of this entry »

Summer shows usually get a bad rap, since most people me that’s when the networks pull out the stuff that wasn’t good enough for the regular season.  And to some extent, that’s true.  But there are still some intriguing options out there—both on basic and regular cable.

1. Rubicon (AMC, premieres Aug. 1):  AMC has had a high success rate with original programming, previously premiering Mad Men and Breaking Bad.  This new conspiracy thriller stars James Badge Dale as an intelligence analyst who begins to question his employers’ motives after a friend’s death.  Other big names include showrunner Henry Bromell (producer of Homicide) and pilot director Allen Coulter (Sopranos/Sons of Anarchy). Read the rest of this entry »

After six long years of ups and downs, the cult inspiring ABC series LOST finally came to a close. Since finding out Jack and all of the character’s we’ve grown to love were actually dead, there has been much heated debate over the outcome of the show—was it a copout ending or a genius wrap up? Because the writers never really gave a clear description of what actually happened, viewers were forced to deduce their own conclusions. This opened the doors for endless speculation.

On one side, haters of the season finale think it posed more questions than it answered—a common theme throughout the whole show. Some dedicated viewers even compiled a humorous video of all the unanswered LOST questions. To make matters worse, the producers had stated in an interview during previous seasons that the island was not a purgatory. Either they lied, or many viewers got the wrong idea. What was the point of an island with mystery hatches and magical healing qualities where women can’t get pregnant if everyone was simply dead? Was the alternate life where everyone was happy supposed to be heaven? For such innovative thinkers capable of tying multiple seasons together, you’d think they could come up with a better ending than, ‘you’re dead’.

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You know you love it. As the hit series Gossip Girl wrapped up its 3^rd season on the CW, fans were shocked by the gruesome turn of events.  Let’s recap the biggest ‘OMG’ gasp moments leading up to the shocking finale.

1. Dan, Vanessa, and Olivia have a threesome. This kinky drunk fiasco was wrong on so many levels. One, we’ve been waiting for Dan and Vanessa to hookup forever. This was not exactly the love affair we imagined. Two—Hilary Duff. Enough Said. Three—the fact that it actually happened! The awkward love triangle had a threesome on Gossip Girl and sparked enough emotion to make Dan and Vanessa start dating and Duff’s character Olivia leave the show for good.
2. Serena’s dad poisons her mom. We’ve always known something was ‘off’ about Serena’s missing father figure, but we didn’t think he’d be this much of a lowlife scumbag—or that Serena would be so whiney and weak about it. When you find out her Dad was prescribing Lily fake pills that made her fake cancer worse, you feel a renewed respect for poor Rufus and start to really want to punch Serena and Jenny in the face.
3. Chuck and Jenny hook up. No, just no. Chuck is supposed to be with Blair (who is on her way to confess her love) and Jenny just needs to grow up or leave. Or cut her hair. Instead, the unlikely (and disgusting) pair wind up hooking up (Jenny’s first) right before Blair arrives. Gross. It’s probably a good thing Little J won’t be returning next season. Read the rest of this entry »

In the seventh season of Heidi Klum’s hit reality series ‘Project Runway’ on Lifetime, designers face off for a chance to win the opportunity of a lifetime. If you followed season seven from the beginning, it was clear that Emilio Sosa, Mila Hermanovski, and Seth Aaron Henderson were the strongest designers. Jay Nicolas Sario showed promise as he flew under the radar until Part I of the season finale when he was unfortunately eliminated one round before fashion week. As far as the top three designers styles go, they couldn’t be more different. Seth Aaron—the winner—uses lots of black and leather to create edgy styles with a punk feel. Mila was criticized throughout the show for her constant use of color blocking, but it managed to get her to the finale. Her clothes are always fierce and fabulous with a dark and ominous side. Emilio’s designs were usually softer and more wearable. His color pallet for the finale was questionable though (puke green—how gorgeous), it was agreed his looks throughout the season were stronger than his final collection. I will say, the green and gold dress at the end of his show was absolutely stunning—by far my favorite garment of the runway. In the end the judges chose the designer who truly deserved to win. Seth Aaron’s designs were impeccably made, wildly innovative, and after a few adjustments, modestly wearable. My biggest regret is that Jay didn’t get a chance to show at fashion week—his designs would have been much better to watch than Emilio’s.

ABC’s hit reality series pair’s famous celebrities with experienced dancers for a seriously entertaining show. The tenth season of Dancing with the Stars featured a varied assortment of celebs including Kate Gosselin, Pamela Anderson, Pussy Cat Dolls’ lead singer Nicole Scherzinger, football superstar Chad Ochocinco, Olympic skater Evan Lysacek, and ESPN sports announcer Erin Andrews. It was clear from the beginning that Nicole and her partner Derek and Evan and his partner Anna would be the two top teams.  The third couple standing happened to be Erin and her partner Maksim—a team who made vast improvements since the beginning and the only finalist who’s career didn’t involve some form of dance. In the end, Nicole Sherzinger’s impeccable elegance on the dance floor won out over Evan Lysacek’s smooth moves.

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If you’ve been following ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy from the start, you probably agree that the show has been going downhill since season three when they killed off George. Well, the Season 6 finale finally changed things. A rampant gun man, a pregnancy, a miscarriage, shootings and deaths, and Mandy Moore? There hasn’t been a nail biter this intense since Meredith was stuck with her hand in a man’s chest cavity preventing a bomb from detonating in season 2 Episode 16 ‘It’s the End of the World’.

You think it’s going to be a typical drama filled finale when Meredith finds out she’s pregnant. Turns out, drama is an understatement. The first gasp moment comes when Gary Clark, the gun man who’s out to get Derek for revenge after his wife’s death, shoots Reed square in the forehead. Then he shoots Alex—double gasp—who manages to drag himself into the elevator.  Clark then runs into Christina, who’s just broken up with Owen, and asks her where Dr. Shepherd is. Thankfully, she answers him nicely and escapes being shot dead (breathe). April—so annoying but still likable—stumbles upon Reeds bloody body and has a minor freak out before rushing to tell Dr. Shepherd there’s a shooter in the hospital. The hospital is officially on lockdown—but no one takes it seriously. Fifteen minutes later, Alex has been found by Lexi and Mark who just escaped being shot themselves, Clark has entered the room Bailey is in with a patient, Mandi Moore, who plays dead while Bailey hides under the bed and Charles hides in the bathroom. He shoots Charles and spares Bailey, who says she’s a nurse. Whew.

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