DAVID BIANCULLI

Founder / Editor

ERIC GOULD

Associate Editor

LINDA DONOVAN

Assistant Editor

Contributors

ALEX STRACHAN

MIKE HUGHES

KIM AKASS

MONIQUE NAZARETH

ROGER CATLIN

GARY EDGERTON

TOM BRINKMOELLER

GERALD JORDAN

NOEL HOLSTON

 
 
2017
Apr
22
 
 
Henrietta Lacks, a young black woman who died of cervical cancer in 1951, had been unheard of and unheralded for decades until a writer named Rebecca Skloot became “obsessed” with her game-changing cells...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
22
 
 
George C. Wolfe directs this new HBO drama, based on the 2010 book by Rebecca Skloot. The author is portrayed in this telemovie by Rose Byrne, who investigates the story of Henrietta Lacks, a woman whose harvested cells were used in all manner of groundbreaking medical research. Oprah Winfrey stars as Deborah Lacks, one of Henrietta’s daughters, and Renee Elise Goldsberry plays Henrietta in flashbacks. For a full review, see Ed Bark's Uncle Barky's Bytes.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
22
 
 
The way this AMC Western is structured, we follow the character of Eli through two different time frames. Eli as the family patriarch, played by Pierce Brosnan, is shown in 1915, dealing with inventions and interlopers in the “modern” era. And Eli as a young boy, captured then raised by Comanches, is shown tonight in 1849, facing a very daunting survival test.  
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
22
 
 
Leave it to Doctor Who to make a happy-looking ejomi seem even spookier: By putting happy faces and thumbs up on  a malevolent robot, who will retaliate if you don’t reflect the same pleasant mood. Smile when you say that, pardner…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
22
 
 
Rob Reiner directed this brilliant rock mockumentary 33 years ago, and also appeared in it as Marti DiBergi. There are lots of other familiar faces, too, including, a bit further down the cast list, Dana Carvey, Fran Drescher, Billy Crystal, Ed Begley Jr., Parick Macnee, Fred Willad and Paul Shaffer. But it’s the rock group itself – played by Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, and Michael McKean – that deserves most of the credit for the timeless delight of this satire of both r
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
22
 
 
SNEAK PREVIEW: Caroline Dhavernas stars in this new Lifetime series, which premieres officially tomorrow but is slipped onto the schedule tonight as a special sneak preview. She plays a woman who’s sort of a superhero with an alter ego, only her goal is not to save lives, but to take them. By day, she saves live as an ER doctor. By night, she and a sidekick go out on missions to help terminally ill people commit assisted suicide.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
22
 
 
Katherine Kelly continues to star as Miss Quill, head of the Coal Hill School – which, it’s worth noting, was part of the plot of the very first episode of Doctor Who. And that was back in 1963.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
22
 
 
I’d call this the best talk show in America – except it’s not in America. It’s imported from England – and imports more genuine moments of both humor and conversation than any of our current home-grown talk shows. Try it; you’ll love it.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
21
 
 
This one is different. There are similarities, to be sure. A writer picketing outside a studio during the 2007 writers’ strike sported a placard...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
21
 
 
A lot of troubled TV cops start to soften a little around the third season. Not Harry Bosch...