1. Meet the mother from How I Met Your Mother

    After eight long seasons, it’s official: Fans of CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother have finally met the mother — even if series protagonist Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) hasn’t met her yet.

    She’ll be played by Cristin Milioti, a 27-year-old Tony-nominated actress. Here she is being interviewed about her role in the 2012 Broadway musical, Once:

    See more Cristin Miloti here.

     

  2. Mad Men recap: Fifty Shades of Draper

    In the wake of the merger, the office is in chaos, but Don abstains to engage his neighbor/mistress Sylvia in a game of Fifty Shades of Draper. Don’s relationships are predicated on control, and he’s generally very good at getting people to go along with what he wants. It’s why Don was so unnerved by Megan’s freewheeling, seductive performance of “Zou Bisou Bisou” in the season five premiere, and why he was incredulous when Peggy actually quit to work for Cutler, Gleason, and Chaough. In those cases, he found ways to draw both women back into his fold, but his power is clearly waning; Megan cries alone at the news of Robert Kennedy’s death, and Peggy bitterly insists that Don “move forward.”

     

  3. Game of Thrones recap: The high price of honor

    But watching “Kissed By Fire,” I couldn’t shake the feeling that Robb’s decision was hard to justify from both a strategic perspective and a moral perspective. Rickard Karstark’s actions were indefensible, but Robb’s utter lack of pragmatism recalls Ned Stark’s ham-handed attempts to outmaneuver Cersei in King’s Landing — and we all remember how well that turned out for both Ned and the rest of Westeros. If Robb is going to be a more successful leader than his father, he needs to find the balance between retaining his honor and willfully ceding half his strength to keep it. Like it or not, his father’s death should have taught Robb to tread a little more carefully when it comes to the highborn of Westeros —and the rash decision to execute a lone man that he could just as easily have left rotting in a cell has put Robb’s family, his army, and his cause at an exponentially higher risk.

     

  4. Need something to watch on Netflix this weekend? We asked our entertainment editor, Scott Meslow, for a recommendation.

    Finished with Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and House of Cards, and looking for the next great drama to devour? You’re in luck — Sundance Channel’s Top of The Lake ended just a few days ago, but the entire series is already available on Netflix, and well worth your time. Mad Men’s Elisabeth Moss stars as detective Robin Griffin, a woman investigating the disappearance of a 12-year-old pregnant girl in a small New Zealand town. Think a smarter, more pointed version of The Killing, and you wouldn’t be far off — and with just seven 50-minute episodes, it’s the perfect weekend binge-watch. — Scott

     

  5. 6 TV characters who returned from the dead

    Despite being killed off in The Avengers, fan favorite Agent Phillip Coulson will be on board for an ABC spinoff series called Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Here, some other TV characters who returned from the dead:

    Kenny from South Park
    TV’s undisputed record holder for cheating death goes to the poor kid in the orange parka. Kenny McCormick experienced some kind of grisly death in almost every episode of the first five seasons of South Park, and Stan and Kyle’s recurring reaction — “Oh my God! They killed Kenny! You bastards!” — became the show’s first certified catchphrase. 

    Sara Tancredi from Prison Break
    The gripping and edgy FOX drama lost one of its biggest characters in the third season. “The Company” kidnaps doctor Sara Tancredi and beheads her. The following season, it was revealed that the severed head was a fake, and that Michael, the doctor’s love interest, never actually looked at the head to confirm that it was her.

    Murdoc from MacGyver
    Actor Michael Des Barres portrayed the arch-nemesis of TV’s most resourceful hero, and was adept at finding new ways to cheat death. Murdoc ”died” several times over the course of the show, each time screaming out MacGyver’s name before meeting his (temporary) demise. 

    3 more resurrected characters…


    Photo from: Facebook.com/southpark

     

  6. Meet Aereo: The online streaming start-up that will change the way you watch TV

    • What is it? 
      Aereo is “live TV, wherever you are, whenever you want.” It lets you watch broadcast channels live on a browser on an iPhone or iPad or on TV-connected devices like Apple TV and Roku. You can also record shows à la DVR and save them to watch later.

    • And this is legal?
      Yes, at least according to a federal appeals court ruling earlier this month. But networks aren’t happy. On Tuesday, News Corp. threatened to pull Fox off the airwaves and move it to cable if Aereo prevails in court, claiming that the start-up is threatening the network’s ability to sell advertising.

    • Where is it available?
      For now, just metropolitan New York. But Aereo says they plan on expanding to big cities nationwide.

    • Is it free?

    Photo: Facebook.com/Aereo

     

  7. “Pardon my French, but you’re an AARDVARK!”

    21 creative TV edits of naughty movie lines

     

  8. If only we could have him review everything, forever. The scope and depth of Roger Ebert’s influence in the field of film criticism cannot be overstated … 

    Over his lifetime, Ebert wrote more than 10,000 reviews, delivering raves and pans alike in his warm, inimitable writing style. Whether you agreed or disagreed with his take on a particular movie, his reviews were always fair, and were often such a joy to read that he would half-convince you you’d been wrong all along.

    He was eager to speak with the many young critics he inspired, and was quick to use his talents and fame to help others. When I was just beginning my career as a film and television critic, Ebert found and tweeted out several of my articles — a professional compliment that has never since been equaled, and that I suspect never will.”

    —Our entertainment editor, Scott Meslow, wrote an incredibly touching piece remembering Roger Ebert, who died today at the age of 70. We highly recommend you read the whole damn thing.

     

  9. On this day in 1970, President Nixon signed a bill limiting cigarette advertisements on TV and radio. Nixon, who was an avid pipe smoker, indulging in as many as eight bowls a day, supported the legislation at the urging of public health advocates. There had been warnings about the dangers of smoking as far back as 1939, and by the end of the 1950s, all states had laws banning the sale of cigarettes to minors. In 1964, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) agreed that advertisers had a responsibility to warn the public of the health hazards of cigarette smoking.

    Here’s what else happened on this day in history

     

  10.  

  11. Even as Girls disappoints by implicitly endorsing the utterly toxic relationships of Hannah/Adam and Marnie/Charlie, it does something even more disappointing by putting so much emphasis on romantic relationships at all. Remember when Girls was about more than boys? What this episode lacks — and, on reflection, this season has lacked — is an emphasis on the relationships between the central four women. The episode doesn’t come close to passing the Bechdel Test, because the women don’t talk to each other at all, and it’s frustrating to watch Girls push the characters’ romantic entanglements to the forefront while it pushes the rest of their lives aside.

    Hannah’s crippling O.C.D. made it impossible for her to finish the book that would represent the culmination of her personal and professional dreams — but that’s okay, because Adam is there to scoop her into his arms! Marnie and Charlie have reached their “endpoint,” even though neither of them mentions her budding singing career — but that’s okay, because Charlie’s making enough money for both of them! And Shoshanna… what does Shoshanna do again? College student? Maybe we should actually find out what she’s studying sometime.”

    Scott Meslow really, really hated last night’s Girls finale

     

  12. Check out the new promotional poster for the sixth season of Mad Men. The sketched-in “bubble and streak” poster was drawn by 75-year-old Brian Sanders — a man who actually worked in magazine illustration during the era Mad Men depicts. The poster shows a dark-suited Don walking away from Madison Avenue, holding hands with a woman, as he passes a light-suited double of himself walking in the opposite direction. Three police officers stand in the background. 

    Of course, we don’t actually know what’s going to happen — and series creator Matt Weiner is notoriously silent about plot details. But we can infer a few things from this intriguing, surreal poster. The two Dons probably symbolize our protagonist’s internal battle; the one walking away from Madison Avenue holds the hand of a woman, and the one walking toward Madison Avenue holds a briefcase, which suggests a conflict between Don’s personal life and his work. And as for the police: Is it possible that Don’s shady past has finally caught up with him? 

    The evolution of Mad Men as seen through its posters

     

  13.  Paul Shaffer as George Costanza? According to Shaffer’s memoir, We’ll Be Here for the Rest of Our Lives, Jerry Seinfeld personally left a message stating that the role of George Costanza on his upcoming pilot was Shaffer’s if he wanted it. But Shaffer was preoccupied with his other work and said he never got around to returning Seinfeld’s call.

    11 famous actors and the big TV roles they turned down