I’m a week behind on Mad Men – so I have to catch up before tonight’s show. But based on the promos, which famously reveal almost nothing anyway, poor Don (Jon Hamm) isn’t having too good a time of it, when the time is the summer of 1968. And neither, apparently, is poor Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser).

2013

May

LIBERACE TALKS ABOUT HIS 'PRIVATE WORLD' By Ed Bark

Show business had many flamboyant entertainers, but they couldn’t hold a candle, or a candelabra, to Liberace...

2013

May

RESERVOIR DOGS By David Bianculli

Reservoir Dogs is an adult now – 21 years old. And though that somehow makes me feel a lot more ancient, watching Quentin Tarantino’s breakout movie, even now, makes it still seem fresh. Harvey Keitel and Tim Roth, in particular, are great, and Michael Madsen’s Mr. Blonde is truly unforgettable. He may even be unwatchable, except through the cracks between your fingers.

2013

May

MAGIC MIKE By David Bianculli

Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey play male strippers in this 2012 comedy-drama – which I highlight here because it’s directed by Steven Soderbergh, who tomorrow presents his latest film, HBO’s Behind the Candelabra biopic about Liberace. So consider this an appetizer to Sunday’s main meal, with both Memorial Day weekend courses serving lots of beefcake.

2013

May

FRIENDLY PERSUASION By David Bianculli

Gary Cooper, four years after starring in the seminal High Noon, starred as a Quaker farmer in this 1956 drama by William Wyler. It’s set in 1860s Indiana, so maybe it’s a Western – but mostly, it’s a thoughtful, gorgeously photographed character study of a tight-knit family and some tough times. Dorothy McGuire, Anthony Perkins and Marjorie Main co-star.

2013

May

THE ULTIMATE BBQ COOKOUT COUNTDOWN By David Bianculli

Chew on this: This new prime-time ABC offering features the stars of ABC’s The Chew traveling the country seeking some of the best cookout BBQ. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to the search, other than to introduce The Chew crew to those who have never seen the show (which is mostly everybody) – but if you tune in, you will get to see, for example, Mario Batali showing up to check out the fare at a Talladega tailgate party.

2013

May

ORPHAN BLACK By David Bianculli

Tonight is the penultimate episode for this initial season of Orphan Black – and by now, it’s tricky to decide which characters should be rooted for, and which ones should be rooted against. Tonight, for example, one character cages another and threatens her at gunpoint – and both roles are played by Tatiana Maslani.

2013

May

MEAN GIRLS By David Bianculli

On Showtime, this 2004 comedy film will be presented without edits, and without looped-over “cleaner” dialogue, so Tina Fey’s story about nasty high school cliques will be presented with all its sharp edges intact. That’s a good thing – and so is Lindsay Lohan’s central performance, her last film role before starting to go off the rails a bit, or a lot, in her private life.

2013

May

INSIDE DAISY CLOVER By David Bianculli

Natalie Wood already had clocked several seminal film roles, including the female leads in Rebel without a Cause and West Side Story, before playing a future movie star in this 1966 drama, opposite Robert Redford. But Redford’s real star-making role, in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, was, for him, just around the corner.

2013

May

NBA PLAYOFFS: MIAMI HEAT VS. INDIANA PACERS By David Bianculli

Wednesday’s Game 1 of the NBA’s Eastern Conference final was, in a word, ridiculous. (Well, for clarity, make it two words: Ridiculously dramatic.) The Indiana Pacers came back at the last minute to force an overtime period – then, after the last minute, in literally the last two seconds of overtime, the Miami Heat’s LeBron James bolted down the lane to shoot a soft layup and steal the win, 103-102. Tonight is Game 2 – and while the Heat will be pumped, it&rsq

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