Ken Tucker
Entertainment Weekly
Contact Ken
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
| Recent: |
|
| Past: |
|
Past articles by Ken:
The Wire
Game done changed,” says a character early in the third season of The Wire. ”Game the same,” comes the reply. ”Just got more fierce.” They’re talking about running drugs, eluding cops, and staking out gang territory in inner-city Baltimore. But these words also apply to the series itself, an on-going thriller packed with street-smart socioeconomic theories; it’s TV’s richest, most satisfying… → Read More
Smallville/Angel
”No tights, no flights” is the much-repeated quote from the creators of Smallville, a retelling of the youthful Superman story that’s been given the full-court… → Read More
Making the Band; Popstars
Lately, those seeking to swim in the chicken soup of the adolescent soul know that the place to plunge is Popstars, where on any given week you can hear philosophical insights on the order of ”As an individual, I’ve grown inside learning to be on my own.” I ask you: Could Bob Dylan have phrased it better? Popstars, ”reality” TV about the making of a female vocal group, concluded a successful… → Read More
Survivor: The Australian Outback
With the success of the first edition of ”Survivor,” creator – exec producer Mark Burnett proved himself a great showman. In interviews, stoked on self… → Read More
Curb Your Enthusiasm;Reba;Maybe It's Me;Raising Dad
Curb Your Enthusiasm;Reba;Maybe It's Me;Raising Dad → Read More
Broken 'Wing'
It’s a testament to writer-producer Aaron Sorkin’s ability to create characters people love that the 25 million viewers who tuned in to Oct. 3’s special… → Read More
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
On CSI: Crime Scene Investigation — the Coke Classic to ”CSI: Miami”’s instant-hit Diet Coke With Lemon — William Petersen’s Gil Grissom is one cool cat in the broiling Las Vegas sun. But off camera, Petersen is pretty steamed about this season’s ”CSI” spin-off. He recently told the Chicago Sun-Times: ”If our show starts to suffer, I’ll go berserk.” He also doesn’t seem to like his network’s new… → Read More
The Job; Big Apple
Although NYPD Blue‘s Andy Sipowicz and Hill Street Blues‘ suspect-chomping Mick Belker might make it seem otherwise, TV has usually preferred its police officers to… → Read More
Boston Public
Of the three shows now on the air created by David E. Kelley, The Practice has achieved time-period-winning popularity even as its characters become less… → Read More
The Practice
I thought it would be pretty easy to figure out which side I’d be on when it came to the Sunday-night lawyer showdown between ”The Lyon’s Den” — starring Rob Lowe as a crusading courtroom avenger — and ”The Practice”, now with James Spader as…well, as the character that the booted Dylan McDermott would’ve played all these years if he’d just owned up to the fact that Bobby Donnell was a smarmy… → Read More
Speechless
Known for a lushly colored stencil style that often does without dialogue, artist-cartoonist Peter Kuper proves to be, in this retrospective of his work, a… → Read More
Steve Martini's The Judge; Law & Order; Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Steve Martini's The Judge; Law & Order; Law & Order: Special Victims Unit → Read More
Rating the midterm coverage: Trump, Fox News, Borat, and Jimmy Kimmel were the winners
Yes, the Democrats won back the House of Representatives, but the Republicans strengthened their hold over the Senate. No, Willie Nelson and all the progressives in in Texas could not push Beto O’Rourke to victory over Ted Cruz. No, Taylor Swift’s first foray into endorsement politics did not inspire → Read More
Forget the Dems and GOP, Fox News is going to win the midterm elections
Fox News is inspiring its audience to hasten out to their polling places, even as CNN and MSNBC continue to put one smug commentator after another on-camera predicting a Democratic landslide. → Read More
An amazing Julia Roberts makes 'Homecoming' best streaming series of the year
Streaming on Amazon Prime starting Friday, "Homecoming," starring Julia Roberts, is a tense, slightly futuristic drama about the compromises we all make in life, and the extent to which we’re willing to take responsibility for our decisions. → Read More
'House of Cards' might be Spacey-free, but it's still obsessed with him
The lack of nuance in Netflix's political potboiler is a bit of a letdown in the wake of #MeToo and #TimesUp. → Read More
Netflix's 'Chilling Adventures of Sabrina' moves at a glacial pace
"Mad Men" alum Kiernan Shipka's new witch in "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina" is a dramatically different version from Melissa Joan Hart's. → Read More
'Making a Murderer Part 2' review: Netflix series is true crime over a long time
The second season of the hit true-crime drama offers 10 more episodes of investigation, with a new defense lawyer who’s a real star, but it covers much of the same ground. → Read More
Is 'The Conners' without Roseanne still worth watching?
The Roseanne-less reboot attempts to continue using the same formula despite the sizable absence of its iconic star. → Read More
The bad witchcraft of 'Charmed': Too much sloganeering, not enough action
The CW's rebooted series "Charmed" is more concerned about its progressive politics than entertaining fans. → Read More