Betty White starred in her first live TV series at age 30. She was 91 when, Wednesday night on TV Land, she and her costars went live for a special Hot in Cleveland…

2013

Jun

BLAZING SADDLES By David Bianculli

If you watched Saturday's AFI salute to Mel Brooks on TNT, you saw Clint Eastwood wincingly (and playfully) introduce a clip of this 1974 Brooks master work, which skewered the Western as it had never been skewered before. (And never has since.) Now here's the full-length article – the original 1974 comedy, co-written by Richard Pryor and starring Cleavon Little as a black sheriff appointed to a bigoted Old West town. Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn and Harvey Korman co-star, and excel.

2013

Jun

HOLIDAY By David Bianculli

Adapted from the Broadway play by Philip Barry, this 1938 George Cukor film is about a rich young woman (played by Doris Nolan) who has brought home her new fiancé, a dashing young man who insists he would rather do nothing for the next few years of his life, exploring and enjoying the world on “holiday,” rather than join the wealthy family’s business. This aggravates everyone except for the family rebel, a black-sheep sister who finds the young man’s attitude refr

2013

Jun

FRANKLIN & BASH By David Bianculli

SEASON PREMIERE: I wouldn’t normally recommend this series for a Best Bet, but there’s a little bit of TV history going on tonight. For its Season 3 premiere, Heather Locklear joins the cast – a move aimed at rejuvenating this show just as when she jump-started the original Melrose Place decades ago (and, more recently, tried to again, with the remake). On Franklin & Bash, she plays an attorney who’s the new boss of Franklin (Breckin Meyer) and Bash (Mark-Paul Gossela

2013

Jun

FUTURAMA By David Bianculli

SERIES RETURN: There hasn’t been a new episode of Futurama since last August, and it’s not clear whether these last-gasp fresh episodes, running until September, are a new final season or the final episodes of Season 7. Either way, it’s another example of how resilient and underappreciated this series has been, since it’s taken 14 years to clock seven seasons of shows – the TV equivalent of dog years. But Matt Groening and company’s other animated gem, this sc

2013

Jun

HOT IN CLEVELAND By David Bianculli

LIVE TELECAST: To resume its Season 4 after a brief break, Hot in Cleveland tonight presents a live telecast – well, live on the East Coast, anyway – with co-stars Betty White, Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves and Wendie Malick all tackling the challenge of live television. So do recurring and special guest stars, including William Shatner. This episode not only is a bit of TV history: It echoes a bit of TV history. For my full-length preview, see Bianculli’s Blog.

2013

Jun

THE TWILIGHT ZONE: THE COMPLETE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION By David Bianculli

The Writers Guild of America just voted The Twilight Zone Number 3 on its list of all-time best-written TV series... For a series that launched in 1959 to rank so highly on the list hints at just how good, and how continually resonant, Rod Serling’s superlative TV anthology series really is...

2013

Jun

'WILFRED': STILL MAN'S BEST FIEND By Eric Gould

After a lackluster Season 3 premiere, FX's Wilfred quickly finds some new, inventive ground in which its canine title character can romp...

2013

Jun

'SESAME STREET' HELPS KIDS COPE WITH PARENTS' INCARCERATION By Monique Nazareth

Sesame Street has focused on tough subject matter, ranging from divorce to natural disasters. Now, it's tackling a subject that affects 2.7 million kids nationwide...

2013

Jun

CITY SLICKERS By David Bianculli

This 1991 film is a sweet, funny comedy, capturing iconic Western villain Jack Palance in a late-career role that redefined him, in a way he celebrated by doing victorious one-armed push-ups at the Oscars. Billy Crystal is the enthusiastic guy who takes his buddies (Daniel Stern and Bruno Kirby) to a Dude Ranch, where Palance’s Curly lords over them, and a cattle drive. Great fun. And, like Lee Marvin in Cat Ballou, Palance knew exactly how far to commit to a self-parody to make it hilario

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