Tony Sokol
‘World’s Most Wanted’ Spotlights International Corruption in a Fact-Driven Narrative
Features • Published on August 2020
In some ways, American true crime documentaries are going the way of the zombie. In the horror classic “Dawn of the Dead,” George A. Romero warned when there’s no more room…
‘Rebuilding Paradise’ Surveys the Camp Fire Devastation and Warns of the Dangers of Climate Change
Features • Published on July 2020
“We just left pleasure,” President Donald Trump declares before being reminded the name of the devastated town he just toured is Paradise, “and what we saw is not acceptable.” However inappropriate…
‘Gaslighter’ Review: With a New Sound and Vision, the Chicks Don’t Need Dixie
Album Reviews • Published on July 2020
It has been 14 years since Natalie Maines, Emily Strayer, and Martie Maguire closed the history of the Dixie Chicks with their album “Taking the Long Way.” Since then, they’ve toppled the Civil…
AMC’s ‘Quiz’ Makes a Game out of a National Scandal
Features • Published on May 2020
Britain’s nightlife is a little different from America’s. They throw darts and have pub quizzes. Our bars have pool tables and usually some bookmaking action. Everyone loves to gamble. AMC’s three-part…
‘On the Record’ Offers a Unique Perspective on #MeToo Documentaries by Focusing on the Victim
Features • Published on May 2020
Director-producer team Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick‘s “On the Record” is the beginning of a discussion, and while #MeToo talks are already ongoing, this is…
‘The Walking Dead’ Ends Season 10, for Now, With a Whisper
Features • Published on April 2020
It feels like “The Walking Dead” has become “The Talking Dead” in the unexpected season 10 finale, “The Tower.” Maybe this is to accommodate…
‘The Walking Dead’: Carol Leads the Team Into a ‘Squeeze’ as Season 10 Returns
Features • Published on February 2020
AMC’s “The Walking Dead” began in the aftermath of a contagion which turned the world upside down. The newest villains in the series turn…
‘The Walking Dead’ Promises Unity and Battle for Season 10
Features • Published on October 2019
Season 10 of “The Walking Dead” begins with “Lines We Cross,” and the series pole-vaults over the first delineation in the very opening scene.
Tony Awards 2019: ‘Hadestown,’ ‘The Ferryman,’ ‘The Boys in the Band’ Win, and Bryan Cranston Takes a Stand Against Prejudice
Features • Published on June 2019
Broadway’s 2018–19 season was one of its most profitable in spite of the high ticket prices and rush hour commute James Corden complained about in the opening number to the 73rd Tony…
‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’ Part 2 Merges Comical Macabre With Devilish Camp
Features • Published on April 2019
Praise Satan! Sabrina Spellman is fully dark in “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” Part 2. She gave up her soul to claim her birthright. Born to rule, she’s too cool for school and…
‘The Walking Dead’ Braves the Cold as Season 9 Comes to a Close
Features • Published on March 2019
Dead men walking became scary again as “The Walking Dead” began its season 9 post-break run. The zombie apocalypse series hasn’t been very worried about the reanimated corpses…
‘True Detective’ Returns to Its Roots in Season 3
Features • Published on January 2019
Season three of “True Detective” brings Nic Pizzolato‘s suicide-by-cop obsession back to HBO. There is actually only one suicide by cop in the…
‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ Finds a New Home and New Initiative for Season 6
Features • Published on January 2019
“Brooklyn Nine-Nine” is the best New York boro-based ensemble cop comedy since “Barney Miller.” Season six kicks off at NBC after Fox subjected the series to strict stop…
‘The Conners’ Deals With the Loss of Roseanne
Features • Published on October 2018
High on the ratings success of riding the “deplorable” class that put Donald Trump in the White House, Roseanne Barr committed what Sylvio Dante from “The Sopranos” would…
‘The Walking Dead’ Season 9 Opens With an Unexpected Death and ‘A New Beginning’
Features • Published on October 2018
Every silver lining has a cloud and, in the post-zombie apocalypse world, the newest sprouts are watered by acid rain. “A New Beginning” promises a future of possibility for the characters who survived…
‘Will & Grace’ Finds a New Friend as David Schwimmer Darkens Season 10
Features • Published on October 2018
Grace Adler (Debra Messing) is getting political as “Will & Grace” opens season 10. No, she isn’t helping fulfill the grand promise to…
‘American Vandal’ Season 2 Pulls an Inside Flush out of a Crap Shoot
Features • Published on September 2018
Netflix’s favorite AV club, “American Vandal,” is back at the green board. The intrepid high school investigative team went national after they probed their first case, a tragic…
‘The Last Defense’ Finds Reasonable Doubt in a Dubious Double Murder Conviction
Features • Published on June 2018
“The Last Defense,” ABC’s entry into the wrongful conviction documentary genre, opens with the highly charged case of Darlie Routier, who was suspected of killing her two sons,…
‘Roseanne’ Ends Season 10 Knee Deep in Tides of Change
Features • Published on May 2018
ABC’s “Roseanne” came back to great ratings and response, bolstered by both the long-anticipated reunion of one of America’s favorite TV families, but also because of a perceived…
Men Are More Monstrous than Man-Eaters as AMC’s ‘The Terror’ Comes to a Chilling End
Features • Published on May 2018
AMC’s “The Terror” ends on a cold note of honor. The horrors of survival are buried in an ice-hole. The secrets frozen in time, protected from the elements…