Television

CHICAGO – We live in a world that’s so dependent on the new that it’s difficult for as headline-grabbing a program as HBO’s “Girls” to follow up a first season that landed it multiple nominations and year-end citations. What does Lena Dunham do next?

CHICAGO – The season premiere of HBO’s “Enlightened,” directed by the great Nicole Holofcener (“Please Give,” “Lovely & Amazing”) is a stunner. With a great script by co-star Mike White and one of the best single performances by Laura Dern to date, it perfectly captures the current state of so many people

CHICAGO – FX’s “Justified” is one of the best shows on TV and its cult of popularity continues to grow with each passing season. When the fourth season premiered earlier this week, it had half a million more viewers than for the third season premiere. People keep falling in love with Raylan Givens and Boyd Crowder, two of the most fascinating characters on TV. Watch the recently released third season Blu-ray set to find out why.

CHICAGO – You should buy the third season of “Archer,” just released on Blu-ray and DVD, if just for the season premiere, “The Man from Jupiter,” featuring an absolutely amazing guest performance from Burt Reynolds. Actually, that is the fourth episode of this season as the three-part “Heart of Archness” aired three months earlier and kicks off this DVD. Whatever you call it, it’s hysterical. In a crowded field that includes former titans like “Family Guy,” “South Park,” and “The Simpsons,” “Archer” is the funniest animated show on TV.

CHICAGO – When ABC canceled “Cougar Town” after three seasons of mediocre ratings offset by some critics who were surprisingly loyal to the show, TBS swooped in and grabbed it up for a potential two seasons, the first of which premieres tonight, January 8, 2013.

CHICAGO – The third season of FX’s “Justified,” arguably the best drama on one of the most creatively vital networks on television (it’s this or “SoA”), had big shoes to fill. Mags (Emmy winner Margo Martindale) was such an amazing character that her shadow persisted over the entire next season.

CHICAGO – ABC’s “The Bachelor” is a fascinating reality show in the way that the producers barely change up the formula from year to year and yet audiences continue to tune in with shocking regularity. Some call it a guilty pleasure. Some call it escapism. So reviewing it is tough.

CHICAGO – The brain trust of programmers at NBC continues to make baffling decisions, producing yet another soap-covered drama that feels like it could have been created by a computer trying to replicate the success of other networks.

CHICAGO – Zombies. Dragons. Gangsters. Meth dealers. David Lynch. It was a weird year for television. Was it a good year? Sorta. It was nowhere near the landmark year of 2011 but there was still a lot to like and it was easy to get to 30 shows worth mentioning.

CHICAGO – TV on DVD has been shaped by Twentieth Century Fox and their releases for “The Simpsons,” one of the best shows in the history of television. It makes a certain degree of sense that one of the longest-running and most beloved programs in history would get the most detailed and elaborate DVD releases but the producers of “The Simpsons” always go above and beyond, as they have again with “The Simpsons: The Complete Fifteenth Season.”