What would a Saturday morning cartoon show look like if done by Matt Groening and Futurama co-author David X. Cohen? It might look something like this: Tonight’s episode presents a long look at Futurama and Friends Saturday Morning Fun Pit, presenting the Futurama characters in a sort of Smurf-ish fantasy world called Purpleberry Pond. And don’t touch that dial, because this Saturday-morning TV spoof includes its own tie-in commercials for super-sugary cereals.

2013

Jul

THE BRIDGE By David Bianculli

Diane Kruber and Demian Bichir, as, respectively, U.S. Det. Sonya Cross and Mexican lawman Marco Ruiz, begin working together seriously, even conducting a joint interrogation of the journalist, played by Matthew Lillard from the Scream and Scooby-Doo movies, who has some connection with the bisecting-bodies killer. The tension is upped even higher, as is the level of the performances.

2013

Jul

THE COLBERT REPORT By David Bianculli

Tonight’s guest is a big one: Jerry Seinfeld, who’s here to promote the new season of what may be my favorite web series yet, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (seen in photo). Colbert, I'm guessing, will be serving coffee...

2013

Jul

NETFLIX HAS COME UP WITH GREAT NEW SHOWS; NOW, ABOUT THE WAY IT UNVEILS THEM… By David Bianculli

Netflix has done a great job presenting original programming this year, but there’s one problem it hasn’t solved: how to keep word spreading after a new show premieres…

2013

Jul

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL ALL-STAR GAME By David Bianculli

The starting pitchers for this year’s All-Star Game had a sort of inside track. American League manager Jim Leyland chose his own starter from the Detroit Tigers, Max Scherzer (pictured), to take the mound to begin the game, while National League manager Bruce Bochy selected Matt Harvey of the New York Mets, whose hometown turf is Citi Field, the site of this year’s contest. But those aren’t the only reasons those starters were selected: Scherzer is 13-1, and Harvey, with eight

2013

Jul

WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? By David Bianculli

SERIES REVIVAL: This series began as a summer diversion for ABC in 1998, so it’s fitting that CW, in reviving the show, starts it during the summer months. The ABC version, hosted by Drew Carey, was popular enough to move to the regular series and run for six years. Carey is a daytime game-show host now, so Aisha Tyler is the new host, but the improv gang having all the fun remains the same: Ryan Styles, Wayne Brady and Colin Mochrie.

2013

Jul

HOLLYWOOD GAME NIGHT By David Bianculli

This simple show explains the popular appeal of prime-time game shows in the 1950s: They’re astoundingly cheap to produce, show celebrities in a new and less controlled light, and are light, silly fun to watch. (Last week, watching Martin Short as a gloating winner was almost as much fun as watching Matthew Perry as a morose loser.) Now for the bad news: Such guessing games as Name That Snack Food, or whatever it was called, are nothing more than unimaginative product placement. But what e

2013

Jul

BEWARE OF MR. BAKER By David Bianculli

Another of Showtime’s documentaries, this one, made in 2012 but premiering tonight, is a profile of one of the wildest, most talented and most unpredictable drummers of the past 50 years. No, it’s not a film about Keith Moon. But it’s one about Ginger Baker, the drummer who could fill an entire side of a live Cream album with an extended solo – and whose personality, drives and interests off the stage and outside the studio were just as driven.

2013

Jul

DRUNK HISTORY By David Bianculli

This show is tonight’s prohibitive favorite – because this installment of Drunk History, about Chicago, includes a segment on Prohibition. Also included: August Spies and the Haymarket Riot (reenactment pictured). Chances are, if you watch, you’ll learn something. Chances are, also, you’ll feel a little guilty, while you’re laughing.

2013

Jul

RISKY BUSINESS By David Bianculli

I watched this 1983 movie again, for the first time in years, after putting it in Best Bets a few months ago. And my, 30 years on, was it delightful to watch. I especially enjoyed how the comedy, starring Tom Cruise as a suburban Chicago teenager who takes advantage of his parents’ temporary absence, and is himself taken advantage of in the bargain. Rebecca De Mornay co-stars as the young hooker with a heart of something less soft than gold, and among a strong group of future stars, Joe Pa

Posts 1041-1050 of 2272

104 105 106 107 108

New From TVWW

PBS' 'Frontline’ Examines Pension Promises and — Spoiler Alert — Finds the Math Doesn’t Add Up

The Decadence of ‘Versailles’ Comes to Ovation

Prescribing Mamie Gummer in 'Emily Owens, M.D.'

Looking for a Free Ride? HBO Can Deliver

'Pass the Biscuits' Part of the Hatfield-McCoy Pop-Culture Legacy

Dispatches From TVWW

'Extinction: The Facts' is a Sobering Call to Action

How 'Mayans' Has Been Influenced by the Show's Creator Elgin James

For Whom the Bell Tolls: Ken Burns and Lynn Novick Take on Ernest Hemingway, the Man and the Myth

In the Final Season, Sutton Foster's Liza is Now the Genuine Version of Her 'Younger' Self

Season 2 of 'City on a Hill' Returns with Kevin Bacon, Aldis Hodge, and Boston Corruption