I REALLY liked Amazon’s Mr & Mrs Smith series, with Donald Glover and Maya Erskine as fake-married assassins developing real feelings for each other: https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-reviews/mr-and-mrs-smith-review-donald-glover-maya-erskine-prime-video-angelina-jolie-brad-pitt-1234953866/

Curb Your Enthusiasm returns Sunday for its 12th and final season, maintaining the uneven quality of the show's more recent run. My review: https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-reviews/curb-your-enthusiasm-season-12-review-larry-david-hbo-mixed-bag-trans-episode-1234953863/

Last night's Emmys did a good job of celebrating 75 years of TV, and a bad job of celebrating anything from a single year of TV, other than a handful of shows. I wrote about an Emmy problem with no apparent solution: https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-recaps/2023-emmys-recap-the-bear-succession-beef-better-call-saul-anthony-anderson-1234947194/

In this week’s free What’s Alan Watching? newsletter, The Curse and For All Mankind stumble in their finales, Echo pleasantly surprises, Monsieur Spade, cancellation news, and more: https://alansepinwall.substack.com/p/finales-behaving-badly

When I would ask people about The Curse, they'd often say that they found it frustrating or confounding, but that they hoped it was leading somewhere that would make it all feel worth it. The finale was... very much not that. My review: https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-recaps/the-curse-finale-recap-nathan-fielder-emma-stone-benny-safdie-1234941021/

All the messaging around Hawkeye spinoff Echo — including the fact that Disney only gave critics the first 3 eps, with a review embargo lifting right as all 5 eps are available to the public — suggests another MCU mess. But it's actually... pretty good? https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-reviews/echo-review-marvel-spotlight-mcu-alaqua-cox-native-american-daredevil-1234941012/

After several episodes of deliberately uncomfortable wheel-spinning, The Curse delivered a dynamite (and still very awkward) penultimate episode. My review: https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-recaps/the-curse-episode-9-recap-nathan-fielder-holds-own-with-emma-stone-1234939319/

In this week's free What's Alan Watching? newsletter, how The Sopranos changed TV, a strong True Detective return, Funny Woman, a terrific Fargo, and more. Read! Subscribe! Share! Change John Sasquatch's name! https://alansepinwall.substack.com/p/a-guy-walks-into-a-psychiatrists

With the 25th anniversary of The Sopranos fast approaching, I spoke with David Chase and a quartet of 21st century showrunners about what life in television was like both before and after Tony walked into Dr. Melfi's office: https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/the-sopranos-25th-anniversary-david-chase-james-gandolfini-changed-tv-1234933093

New showrunner Issa López and new star Jodie Foster breathe new life into the old True Detective brand, with a fourth season that’s easily the most satisfying since the first. My review: https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-reviews/true-detective-season-4-review-jodie-foster-issa-lopez-murder-mystery-1234928008/