Author’s Note: There were issues with my cable last night, hence why this is posting a bit late – I had to download the episode this morning. Barring further cable-related issues, future episode reviews will post Monday morning, per usual.  The Walking Dead returned last night after a midseason hiatus, and it came back with an above average episode, “The Suicide King,” directed by television director extraordinaire Leslie Linka Glatter, of Mad Men and Twin Peaks. This episode was important in the course of the show as some of the gang finally started to question the Ricktatorship and new leaders, other than Daryl, are beginning to emerge. There were some issues, but this return episode was successful on the whole as it planted seeds for many interesting happenings to come. Both Rick and the Governor lost their shit in front of their respective followers! The Dixon brothers are out on their own! Allen and Ben pose a threat to the group… kinda! And Beth is crushing hard on crazy Rick!

Kate Erbland and I don’t quite agree on this week’s episode of HBO’s Girls. It’s a shame, too, as we’ve been in such beautiful synch recently. The ep opens with a brief appearance by Ray (Alex Karpovsky) before Hannah (Lena Dunham) disappears down guest star Patrick Wilson‘s rabbit hole for a few days of the high life. That’s it… no Marnie, no Jessa, no Shoshanna and still(!) no goddamn Adam. What’s the deal? Keep reading as Kate and I struggle to answer that question below:

Can sitcoms have moxie? If they can, then Community, which is always teetering on the edge of cancelation, definitely has it. On the road to its fourth season premiere, everyone involved with the show has been forced to deal with a maelstrom of crap: low viewer turn outs; a public spat between creator Dan Harmon and sexagenarian prat-faller Chevy Chase; the subsequent ousting of Harmon by NBC; and the delay of this season’s debut, which demonstrated NBC’s general ambivalence about the show’s future. Other sitcoms have been squashed by a lot less but Community is “the little cult hit that could.” The majority of the cast, crew, and fans soldier on and will continue to do so for at least a little while longer. As the fourth season begins, the show’s irreverent, self-referential humor appears unaltered by all of the behind-the-scenes upheaval. Yeah, that’s right, Harmon’s NBC sanctioned replacements, David Guarascio and Moses Port, didn’t Britta the premiere. In this impressive first episode, which is hopefully a sign of what’s to come and not some bait-and-switch anomaly, the gang return to Greendale after summer break and prepare for their senior year. Jeff (Joel McHale) informs the study group that he took online classes behind their backs (he’s still fighting the love he has for his wacky crew). As it turns out, Jeff is only one history credit away from graduation, news that amplifies Abed’s (Danny Pudi) anxieties about everyone eventually splitting up.

The similar structure of their titles isn’t the only thing Game of Thrones and the new Netflix series House of Cards have in common. The first is set in a brutal Medieval-style fantasy world, and the second is set in present-day Washington, DC, but the scheming and lustful grabs at power are pulsing wildly at the heart of each. Of course they have their differences as well. Since Cards focuses on House Majority Whip Francis Underwood (Kevin Spacey), it’s maybe more exact to call it a version of Game of Thrones told almost explicitly through Tywin Lannister’s point of view. The congressman is aggressive and shrewd in his search to become President, but as the complete 13-episode season of the show (or 13-hour movie-you-have-to-keep-pressing-play-to-see) proves, there are other combatants willing to protect their interests just as fiercely and just as intelligently.

This latest installment of Justified was a thrill for many reasons, the first being… frenenemies Raylan and Boyd are, again, holed up in the same room, fighting for the same cause (kinda), and engaging in some of their delightful trademark frenemy banter. Seeing Raylan and Boyd together for the first time this season makes you realize the absolute perfection of Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins onscreen together. Each line is delivered perfectly and the relationship between their two characters is just so nuanced. Adding to the greatness, there is also war bonding across party lines between Tim and Colton, an appearance form Arlo, Raylan waxing nostalgic about his mother, Ellen May coming into a greater purpose, and Gerald McRaney’s (and another of Olyphant’s fellow Deadwood alum’s) self-severed foot… Though if I’m nitpicking, we could still do without the whole Detroit invasion. And Mike O’Malley still on Glee, right? This minor transgression is, however, overshadowed by the fact that this episode brings us into even more of a hick milieu that even Harlan County proper: the realm of the hill people. And yes, a Deliverance reference is made (thanks, Boyd!). Them crazy hill people are always encouraged… and no one had to “squeal like a pig” or nuthin’.

A dinner party does not an adult make, but trying telling that to Hannah (Lena Dunham) during the latest episode of HBO’s Girls. Intent on celebrating her coke-binging, article-writing success, Hannah throws a dinner party for her nearest and dearest (currently made up of a true motley crew of pals, considering that Hannah has also recently chucked out Elijah and appears to be in need of a bustling apartment to make up for such a sizable and well-coiffed loss) that only leads to disaster while, elsewhere in the city, Jessa (Jemima Kirke) is in the middle of her own terrible dinner, this one at a steakhouse with Thomas-John’s (Chris O’Dowd) parents. These people just shouldn’t eat together, because this week’s episode, “It’s a Shame About Ray,” proves that gathering people over food only leads to the outing of some pent-up angst. Oh, it was so unappetizing. After the break, Rob Hunter and I again delve into the machinations of the Girls girls, miss our favorite wacky paramour, and ponder the unexpected love story blossoming before our eyes. Delicious.

(Finale spoilers ahead…) What a touching final season 30 Rock had. Geeky, unlucky in love, “night cheese” adoring Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) married Criss Chros (James Marsden), then adopted two children; Kenneth (Jack McBrayer), the effervescent TV obsessed NBC page turned janitor, became president of the network; and finally, the flighty crew of ne’er-do-wells that Liz has been trying to rein in for the past seven years (Tracy, Jenna, Frank, and the rest) turned the tables on their boss and selflessly helped her out for once. Season seven was sentimental but it also managed to stay true to form, remaining weird and surreal right up until the last, perfectly odd seconds of its finale. But I’m getting ahead of myself. When the series finale — a two-parter — begins, Liz is looking far more domestic and calm than we’ve ever seen her. Production on her show, TGS, has been shut down, she’s a stay-at-home mom now, and she doesn’t know what to do with herself — she doesn’t have to deal with any more nonsense, she doesn’t have any more fires to put out.

Whenever I read the portions of “Storm of Swords” where Jon is tromping around Beyond The Wall, it always feels ridiculous because George R.R. Martin‘s descriptions make it seem like every living thing should be frozen up there. I mean, seriously. Is there really a place where it’s unbearably icy yet human beings manage to move around and build a life? Apparently there is, and apparently it’s Iceland. Go figure. Unfortunately, there’s only about 5 hours of sunlight, so it makes shooting there a little difficult, but according to this Game of Thrones behind the scenes video (via Wired), Iceland is the perfect, “other-worldly” place to stand in for the cruel cold that lies north of The Wall:

So, I guess Justified thought we were in need of some testosterone this week? Sure, why not. The title of this week’s installment is “This Bird is Flown,” and the meaning there is fairly obvious – in addition to the rooster component, Lindsey “flew” off with Raylan’s secret money that he procured from doing his off-the-books marshallin’. Though other than lamenting that he thought Lindsey “liked” him, Raylan takes the situation like the man that he is, procuring a new giant gun (ah, the phallic symbolism!) and brawling in the dirt with Randall, mano-a-mano. Sure, this episode mainly existed to tie up the Raylan/Lindsey/Randall storyline and didn’t cover too much ground in terms of the season as a whole, but it was a helluva fun watch and gave us a much needed break from hearing the names “Waldo Truth” or “Drew Thompson.” Or the term “marshallin’ stiffy.” Though Art and Tim were again sorely missed… it looks like they can’t coexist in the same episode as Rachel? Nevertheless, we also were treated to an interesting thread with Boyd and Ava deciding to off Ellen May, which paid off nicely with ending in an unexpected way. So while somewhat unspectacular, this episode was well-paced and oozing with masculinity… and obviously, Raylan, no woman doesn’t like you best.

Apologies to our loyal readers, as your faithful Girls recappers/chatterers have just returned from playing in the snow and lung-crushing altitude of the Sundance Film Festival, an outing that kept myself and Rob Hunter from watching, reviewing, and bitching about the HBO series’ second episode of its second season in a timely manner. So consider this a two-for-one, as this week, we discuss both “I Get Ideas” and “Bad Friend,” the second and third episodes from the show’s second season. And, man, are these some enlightening episodes (if you consider drugs to be enlightening, which these girls definitely do). After the break, Elijah confesses, Hannah experiments, and we start pitching ideas for our own Girls spin-off.

Today, we bring you joyous news. HBO has released the first set of images from the upcoming third season of Game of Thrones. In this giant gallery, you will find the familiar faces of Tyrion Lannister (seen above), the children of House Stark and that shitball Joffrey. There are also fresh new faces — Thoros, Blackfish Tully, the Reeds and the badass King Beyond the Wall himself, Mance Rayder. It’s all part of the opening salvo from HBO’s publicity team and photographers Helen Sloan and Keith Bernstein. As if we needed any incentive to be excited about March 31, 2013. Check out all the new photos after the jump. Click “Next Page” to move through them on individual pages, as they are quite large and awesome. Each photo can also be clicked and enlarged.

Comedy Central’s unabashedly lowbrow sitcom Workaholics recently began airing the second half of its third season, which on its own would be reason enough to celebrate but the network has also ordered two more seasons of the series. If that news isn’t Tight Butthole then I don’t know what is. The show is a raunchy, wildly absurd Office Space for the 21st century about three happily directionless man-children, Adam (Adam DeVine), Blake (Blake Anderson), and Anders (Anders Holm). The guys are roomies, they work for a telemarketing company, and they’re pathologically incapable of doing the right thing–in two and a half seasons they’ve tried to barter for clean urine with a playground kid, wrecked a garage door with a soap-box-derby car, and schemed their way into getting a handicapped parking pass. Workaholics is sophomoric in the best possible way and if you have yet to sample what these lovable slackers are serving up, here are a couple of reasons why you should give this show a try.

While this week’s episode, “Truth and Consequences” was certainly watchable, it was somewhat of a disappointment. Billy died from a snakebite, falling victim to his own blind religious fervor, which seems really premature. Joseph Mazzello really shined as Billy, especially this week, and it is upsetting that his time on the show was so short. Also, Raylan is duped by Lindsay and Randall, who were apparently in cahoots the entire time. Uh, really? Not only is it illogical, it’s not exactly fitting with Raylan’s history as the man least likely to be taken in by the blonde floozie. Raylan is one of the most astute characters on television – nothing gets past him. Also, the Drew Thompson/Waldo Truth mystery is getting boring real fast, y’all… and muddled to boot. The pseudonyms, the drug cartel, whatever… it’s either hard to follow or hard to care about (think, probably it’s the latter). These glaring issues are only compounded by the overall issue of this episode trying to cover too much ground in around 40 minutes. We really don’t need to hear about Rachel’s backstory – just cut that scene with her and Raylan out at the bar, it seemed really tacked on. I guess that was only there to set up her helping Raylan to track down Lindsey/Randall? Also, we got a taste of an interesting storyline – Johnny backstabbing Boyd via Wynn Duffy – but it was covered in one measly scene. That is good stuff and more would have been

During a conversation about television icons, a buddy of mine said that Matthew Perry is on track to achieve legendary status (and she wasn’t talking about his legendary knack for starring on shows that get canceled). Lucille Ball, Andy Griffith, Carol Burnett, Matthew Perry–one of these things is not like the others. What this friend of mine failed to understand is that there is a difference between an icon and someone who is simply a prolific and perhaps beloved television actor, a difference that may be harder to identify when it comes to this medium than it is with film. Perry certainly possess many of the qualities that go in to making an icon–he’s charismatic, his particular set of comedic gifts are perfectly suited for the sitcom format, he’s been on TV for as long as I can remember. But he (on his own and not as a member of the Friends cast) hasn’t had the same kind of impact on the medium or the culture that someone like Jerry Seinfeld has–Seinfeld’s influence is still felt today in shows like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and he is so cherished by the public that we don’t hold The Marriage Ref against him. So, if not Perry, who is poised to join the pantheon of TV gods?

On last week’s impressive Season 4 premiere, Raylan faced off against imprisoned Arlo and his teenage flunkies on the outside as they tried to take a bag and ID from a 1983 plane crash/drug bust hidden in Arlo’s wall, Arlo shanked another prisoner, Ellen May shot a furry john, and Boyd suspects he has a new adversary in fundamentalist preacher Billy. Winona remains out of the picture, while Ava is still the First Lady of Boyd’s criminal empire. Raylan remains the best. This week’s episode “Where’s Waldo?” brings us many wonderful things. Raylan, Tim, and Art go on a stakeout together – a marshallin’ dream team. There is also perhaps the highest volume of rednecks in a single episode of Justified. We have the Waldo Truth family, a redneck backyard ultimate fighting ring, and a fundamentalist church congregation. And not only are they rednecks by socioeconomic background and/or geographical location, but they serve up some redneck realness. A redneck child throws Raylan double middle fingers! Ellen May gets “saved!” Yes, as established in last week’s recap, Justified is back to doing what Justified does best – luxuriating in the seedy criminal world/religious zealotry of Harlan County. Oh yeah, and crooked businessman Win Duffy (Jere Burns) is back and continues to stir the pot on yet another season – hurray!

It’s only appropriate on the morning after Lena Dunham‘s Girls picked up two Golden Globes and the HBO series debuted its second season opener that Rob Hunter and I unveil our new Girls column. And, here it is! Just kidding (only sort of). In this new feature, Rob and I will break down the latest episodes of the scripted hit and then talk about them via email for as long as we can stand talking to each other about a scripted television show via email. We know you can’t wait to get inside our heads when it comes to half-hour series about unhappy twentysomething scraping by in the far reaches of Brooklyn, and we can’t wait to hear your thoughts on this new feature. Much like a still-blossoming Brooklyn twentysomething, this column is still in development, and we appreciate any feedback, hate mail, and demands you feel like sending our way. Or cake. We like cake, too. Without further ado, after the break, Rob and I share our thoughts on the first season, recap some of our favorite bits from last night’s episode, and get deep about Adam finally getting honest.

We had a tepid fall season, as far as new shows go. But finally, the midseason is upon us — that wonderful time of the year when the disappointments of the Fall (The Mob Doctor, Animal Practice) are forgotten so we can get all worked up about TV again. Continuing a trend toward more cinematic television, most of what will be premiering in the next couple of months is pretty ambitious. There are epic historical dramas and intricate thrillers but only a handful of sitcom debuts. Listed here in order of premiere date are five of the most encouraging new series.

When we last left Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) and company, his father Arlo (Raymond J. Barry) confessed to killing Devil, thereby letting Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins) free to be the diminutive crime lord he was born to be; Limehouse (Mykelti Williamson) lopped off Quarles’ (Neil McDonough) arm with a cleaver; and a pregnant Winona (Natalie Zea) wouldn’t take Raylan back. In only the first episode of Season 4, entitled “Hole in the Wall,” the wrongs of Season 3 are already righted. While thoroughly enjoyable, last season was plagued by having too many villains, and none of them possessed the incredible, Emmy-winning fortitude of Margo Martindale‘s Harlan County crime boss Mags Bennett. Two seasons later, we will never forget you and your Apple Pie. This season, Boyd is still the big bad it seems, and he’s going to be rivaled by a young preacher from a new fundamentalist church, Billy (former child star from Jurassic Park, Joseph Mazzello). Plus, Boyd is joined by his former buddy from Kuwait, Colton Rhodes (Ron Eldard), who is quite the loose cannon. Did you catch all that? Let’s dive in.

Fox may have put too much stock in the appeal of awkward quirk when the network added The Mindy Project and Ben and Kate to a Tuesday night line-up that revolves around Zooey Deschanel’s perky comedic stylings on New Girl. At the moment, both of these cute new sitcoms have uncertain futures. The more troubled of the pair is Ben and Kate–the comedy’s middling ratings are understandable but unfortunate because it has so much potential and could benefit from a second season. The show finds Nat Faxon and Dakota Johnson playing adult siblings living under the same roof. Ben (Faxon) is the irresponsible, goofball older brother while Kate (Johnson) is the mature one — she’s a single mother and has a steady but unfulfilling job as a bar manager. Predictably, Ben encourages Kate to loosen up and Kate encourages Ben to grow up. It’s the standard, sort of clichéd odd couple set up but is often very funny. There’s more here than the cliché, but it’s also missing a key ingredient.

While the new fall line-up wasn’t too impressive (there are only two freshman series on this list, neither of which premiered in the fall) and former powerhouses have stumbled (Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire), this is still an amazing time for TV. The most outstanding programs don’t just have excellent writing and actors, they’re reinventing genres and challenging viewers with daring storytelling. TV is gutsier now (sometimes literally gutsier with blood and innards all over the place) and its fantastic. When compiling this list, I chose the shows that sparked visceral reactions. These are the comedies, dramas, and (often overlooked) animated gems that made me laugh out loud, cringe, cry like an idiot, or yell “oh snap” at every wild turn.