Here's what a TV show has to do these days to draw attention to itself: Insult people. Either because of or despite this strategy, Fox's new drama "Empire" is a hit. After two episodes, the show has achieved something rare for new network TV shows, particularly on Fox: It grew its ratings from Week One to Week Two. From a ratings standpoint, the show is a victory for Fox, which has sorely needed one.

"Girls" started its fourth season last Sunday on HBO, which loves this show so much that it has already said yes to a fifth season. "Girls" has struck a chord in the places where it matters -- among young women, certainly; on social media, where it is much-discussed (by young women); and in all other media such as Web sites, magazines and newspapers that want to reach young women.

Woody Allen is a curious choice for Amazon Prime. Amazon made the announcement on Tuesday: Allen is creating a series -- his first ever -- for Amazon Studios. It has no title, no cast, no premiere date. Nor were the number of episodes announced, although the announcement from Amazon said the show has been given a "full-season order," which these days could mean almost anything. The episodes will each be a half-hour, Amazon said. Allen will write and direct them.

The first great TV show of the year commences on Feb. 8. Somehow, executive producers Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould have met the seemingly insurmountable challenge of producing a high-quality, razor-sharp spinoff from one of the most beloved and critically acclaimed TV series ever made -- "Breaking Bad." "Better Call Saul" manages to accomplish two things that would seem to be diametrically opposed -- to produce a show that retains many of the most attractive features of the show it springs from, while making a new show that somehow stands on its own at the same time. It's quite a …

For me, Hollywood's propensity for self-congratulation becomes more grating as I grow older. I like to go to movies and I watch a ton of television -- some for enjoyment and some not -- but the endless honorifics that Hollywood bestows on itself at this time of year is unseemly.

Weather was the most-reported topic on the network newscasts in 2014, while the year's crucial (or so we thought) midterm elections didn't even make the list of the Top 20 stories covered by the networks last year.

Late-night comedians turned serious Wednesday night in the wake of the day's deadly terror attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris. Here is how the subject was addressed on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" on Comedy Central, "Conan" on TBS and "Jimmy Kimmel Live" on ABC.

A protest launched by gay activists against a special airing this weekend on TLC seems way out of proportion to what the show really is. "My Husband's Not Gay" profiles three male-female married couples and a single male friend living a lifestyle in which the men openly acknowledge their attraction to other men, but never act on these impulses. Although none of the opinions expressed in the show harm or disparage gay people in any way, a protest against the show has been launched in the form of an online petition, endorsed by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

The New Year is shaping up as a year of farewells. Whether you choose to become emotional about these good-byes is up to you. Will you miss "Two and a Half Men" when it's gone? What about "The Mentalist"? "Mad Men" is saying good-bye too. You can be forgiven for thinking it already had, but no -- seven episodes remain. Here are five of the most noteworthy series that will have their final runs this year.

You can hardly blame Fox for continuing with "American Idol," which starts its 14th incarnation on Wednesday night. The show is the mother of all talent-reality shows, and Fox must figure that if NBC can do so well with "The Voice" -- one of the "Idol" offspring --- the original may as well continue too. Of course, it's not the "American Idol" of legend. The current panel of judges -- all music superstars -- creates an entirely different chemistry than the triumvirate that once made "Idol" the biggest phenomenon on television.