Maureen Ryan

'An American Crime" (8 p.m. Saturday, Showtime) is a difficult film to watch. It depicts an abuse case that came to light in Indiana in 1965, and it's probably impossible...

There's no doubt that "Reaper" (8 p.m. Tuesday, WGN-Ch. 9) has improved greatly since the fall. The trouble is, the show had a long way to go. After a deft...

Here's the simplest way to think of "The Hills" (9 p.m. Monday, MTV): It's the postmillennial "Friends." Don't get all huffy, "Friends" fans. The appeal of both shows -- the...

Fox has announced that its action-adventure series "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" will return next fall. The show had some potential when it debuted but never quite delivered on it...

The recent piece by Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times, which ran in Tempo on Monday, concerning the depressing prevalence of surgically altered faces on TV got me thinking....

All hail the statue of the four-toed foot! Allow me to explain. After a break necessitated by the writers strike, "Lost" returns 9 p.m. Thursday on WLS-Ch. 7 ("Ugly Betty"...

They are not big on the sentimental goodbyes on "Law & Order" (9 p.m. Wednesday, WMAQ-Ch. 5).You've probably read by now that a major character is leaving the long-running cops-and-lawyers...

In a December benefit appearance in Los Angeles, comedian/actor Eddie Izzard was able to connect giraffes to Wikipedia and the Writers Guild of America strike. I don't know how he...

'House" doesn't return until April 28, but there's plenty to talk about before then. For one thing, there's a vocal subset of "House" fans who are not pleased with the...

If you want to be a TV writer, make sure the scripts you send to network executives are formatted correctly. And for goodness' sake, use a spell-checker before you put...