Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Why Watch That

It’s hot outside, so now is a great time to cool down in front of the TV with a nice refreshing drink. In this episode, the Critic and the Referee talk about television’s summer season. Join them as they discuss what’s going on in TV Land!

Gang Related (Action/Crime/Drama)
Created by Chris Morgan
FOX Network Debut 5/22/14

Plot: This series follows the personal and professional lives of the members of the elite Los Angeles Police Department’s multi-agency Gang Task Force as they take on the city’s most dangerous gangs. Detective Ryan Lopez (Ramon Rodriguez) is a rising star in Los Angeles’ elite Gang Task Force. What the world doesn’t know is that long before Ryan became a cop, he pledged allegiance to a different band of brothers – a powerful Latino gang called Los Angelicos. When Ryan’s best friend and police partner is senselessly killed by a notorious gang member, Ryan teams up with longtime Task Force member Cassius Green (RZA), who has been at the forefront of the city’s war on organized crime. In this war between law enforcement and gangs, the series explores how only people who really know the streets can win the battle on the streets.

Night Shift (Medical/Drama Series ) NBC Debut 5/27/14
created by Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah

Plot: This series follows the lives of the staff who work the late night shift in the ER at San Antonio Medical Center.
Cast: Eoin Macken, Jeananne Goossen, J.R. Lemon

Cross Bones (Adventure/Drama Television Series)
created by Neil Cross, James V. Hart and Amanda Welles
NBC Debut 5/30/14

Plot: This series is a fictionalization of the life of the pirate Edward “Blackbeard” Teach in and around the island of New Providence in The Bahamas. During the War of the Spanish Succession, the island of New Providence in the Bahamas is home to pirates, thieves, and cutthroats all ruled by the feared pirate captain Edward “Blackbeard” Teach (John Malkovich), who is believed to be dead by the British Empire. However, he is merely in hiding. Calling himself “Commodore”, he now uses this island as his base of operations.

Halt & Catch Fire (American Drama Series)
created by Christopher Cantwell and Christopher C. Rogers
AMC Debut on 6/1/14

Plot: This series is set in the Silicon Prairie of Texas in 1983 and depicts a fictionalized insider’s view of the personal computer revolution.

Orange is the New Black (American Comedy Drama)
created by Jenji Kohan
Premiered on Netflix: 6/11/13

Plot: This series revolves around Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling), a bisexual woman living in New York City who is sentenced to 15 months in a women’s federal prison (operated by the Federal Department of Corrections, a fictionalized version of the Federal Bureau of Prisons), for transporting a suitcase full of drug money to her former girlfriend, Alex Vause (Laura Prepon), who is an international drug smuggler/mule.

Power (American drama)
created by Courtney Kemp Agboh and produced by the rapper Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson.
Starz Debut 6/7/14

Plot: This series follows James St. Patrick (Omari Hardwick), nicknamed “Ghost”, owner of a popular New York City nightclub. In addition, he is a major player in one of the city’s biggest illegal drug networks. He struggles to balance these two lives, and the balance topples when he realizes he wants to leave the drug ring in order to support his legitimate business.

Murder in the First (American Crime/Mystery/Drama)
created by Steven Bochco and Eric Lodal
TNT Debut 6/9/14

Plot: Starring Taye Diggs and Kathleen Robertson and set in San Francisco, this show follows a single murder case beginning with the murder itself and ending with the arrest of the murderer.
Critic & Referee – “Pass on this show”