Emily Riemer

CHICAGO – Steve Carell once said in an interview, if you don’t know a Michael Scott, you are Michael Scott. I am both terrified and delighted to report that I do not know a single person like Whitney, the title character of NBC’s new attempt at a Thursday-night hit, “Whitney.”

CHICAGO – In the four years since the pilot of “Mad Men,” there has been an obligatory and opportunistic surge of ‘60s-themed media, capitalizing on the rising nostalgia for the era of civil rights marches and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

CHICAGO – USA’s new summer drama “Necessary Roughness” gives new meaning to the phrase “the psychiatrist is crazier than the patient.”

CHICAGO – Since practically the beginning of TV, sitcoms about the trials of being in a couple are a dime a dozen. Today it takes innovative, highly intelligent writing to make the mundane, everyday challenges of being in a relationship seem exciting and—most importantly—watchable, week after week.

CHICAGO – The midseason premiere of season three of “Parks & Recreation” starts by catching us up on what we’ve missed. It details the arrivals of auditors, the “black hats,” played by the non-descript Adam Scott and a goofily-exuberant Rob Lowe, and features a tongue-and-cheek detailing of the budget crisis facing the parks department.

CHICAGO – “National Lampoon’s Animal House” does not seem to want to leave us. It rears its bathroom-humor head on a regular basis in TV and movies. But rarely is a tribute to the iconic frat house comedy so blatant as TBS’ new comedy “Glory Daze,” debuting tonight, November 16th, 2010.

CHICAGO – Laugh tracks are a dying breed. Think of classic, full-throttle laugh tracks from “The Jeffersons,” “The Beverly Hillbillies” and “Full House.”

CHICAGO – NBC’s “Chase” is not a “good” show in the strictest sense of the word. It’s hokey, rife with stereotypes, and sets up unrealistic situations for its characters in order to facilitate dramatic, suspenseful chase scenes. To protect my honor and integrity as a TV critic, this must be gotten out of the way first: objectively, I can see that “Chase” is not a good show.

CHICAGO – The TV premiere season can be a hard slog. Not every pilot can click and herald the early success of a “Grey’s Anatomy” or a “Lost.”

CHICAGO – In an unhinged series where anything can happen, what do you make of an episode where not much happens at all?