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
17
 
 
A&E is promoting this series as reaching the point where there are only “two episodes until check-out.” And last week, with Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore) in police custody, charged with several murders, and with the spirit of Norman’s dead mother Norma (Vera Farmiga) occupying his split-personality consciousness, things look bleak. Last week we saw her dressed as Norman, in the witness interrogation room, but we know, before long, we’ll also see him dressed as Norma
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
17
 
 
Man, I loved last week’s Season 3 premiere of Better Call Saul. And I love tonight’s episode even more, because the trail Mike is following leads him, ultimately, to a fast-food chicken joint – which, in turn, leads him to one of the most memorable supporting characters from Breaking Bad, this show’s parent series. That would be Giancarlo Esposito as Gus Fring, and, as always, he’s so polite, he’s scary. To hear or read my review on NPR’s Fresh Air with
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
17
 
 
In many respects, last week’s penultimate episode of Girls “Goodbye Tour” was the standard issue Hollywood ending to a successful series, but you knew that writer and director Lena Dunham couldn’t leave it at that...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
16
 
 
The new Starz series The White Princess takes the real-life union between England’s King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York and makes it more, you know, interesting...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
16
 
 
Taped in February, this star-studded salute to the music of the Bee Gees is attended by the last surviving group member, Barry Gibb, and its executive producer is long-time Grammy Awards showman Ken Ehrlich. That means this lineup will feature not just ratings-bait nostalgia, but inspired pairings of artists and material. Celine Dion sings “Immortality,” not a Bee Gees song at all, but a song the Gibb brothers wrote for her in 1997. Old, pre-disco Bee Gees compositions also are repre
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
16
 
 
SPECIAL: This Food Network special is supposed to look back at “more than 12 years” of Iron Chef culinary battles, as well as set the stage for the show’s newest incarnation of kitchen duels. Alton Brown, who is taking over as the new Chairman of the games, hosts – and Iron Chef Gauntlet, which premieres immediately afterward at 9 p.m. ET, enlists among its professional adversaries two of the best Iron Chefs in the show’s long and entertaining history: Masaharu Mori
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
16
 
 
This weekly recap political documentary series is no bomb – but tonight, it gets to discuss one. It’s another dynamic, explosive week of Washington headlines for The Circus to summarize, and explore behind the scenes – but what week, since this excellent Showtime series began last year, hasn’t been?
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
16
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: Carrie Coon, soon to be seen as one of the protagonists in the new incarnation of FX’s Fargo, returns here for Season 3 of The Leftovers, playing Nora, the girlfriend of Kevin (Justin Theroux) – who may just turn out to be the savior in this strange religious parable. The Sudden Departure, a mysterious event in which 140 million people in the world instantly and inexplicably disappeared, is now almost seven years hence, as this new season jumps forward four years in
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
16
 
 
MINISERIES PREMIERE: This new six-part miniseries is a Showtime co-production with a British production company, and tells a story of activism and radicalism in 1971 London. Frieda Pinto stars as Jas, an Indian immigrant pulled into the riptide of terrorism – with the energy and conviction of such iconic Seventies militant activists as, say, Patty Hearst or Angela Davis. This miniseries comes from John Ridley, who’s also the creator of ABC’s American Crime. For a full review, s
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
16
 
 
Speaking of John Ridley and American Crime: promos for tonight’s episode promise something truly unsettling and memorable for a prime-time TV series. And since American Crime, this season as always, has been compelling on a weekly basis already (Felicity Huffman, this year, has been especially captivating), the promo’s promise is intriguing bait indeed.