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

 
 
2013
Nov
14
 
 
This 1945 movie has a truly oddball premise: the great showman Flo Ziegfeld (played by William Powell) looks down from heaven, thinking about the good old days, when he imagines what it would be like to mount one more amazing theatrical review. And we see what he’s thinking, as one star after another steps up to show off: Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, Fanny Brice, Gene Kelly, Esther Williams, Lena Horne, and so on. And watch for Lucille Ball, six years before I Love Lucy, all glammed up as t
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Nov
14
 
 
The political campaign heats up even more tonight, as Kristina (Monica Potter), flush from success at a recent town meeting, gets smeared by her suddenly defensive opponent, and decides whether to fight fire with fire. Or, at least, mud with mud.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Nov
14
 
 
At this point, JFK assassination programming is pouring out faster than those chocolates on that old I Love Lucy conveyor belt – but this documentary brings it all home anew, in ways that are both affecting and highly effective...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Nov
14
 
 
John Hurt, Matt Smith and David tenant all star as Doctor in the upcoming Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special, The Day of the Doctor, premiering November 23 on BBC America...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Nov
13
 
 
George Clooney knows a little something about the power of television news, having directed, co-written and co-starred in the 2005 Edward R. Murrow salute Good Night and Good Luck. Now he lends his voice as the narrator of a documentary on Walter Cronkite's live broadcast on November 22, 1963...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Nov
13
 
 
I know many nature documentaries always have relied, in part, on staging events for their cameras – but Parrot Confidential is the first time I’ve ever seen recreations that involved humans as well, with parrot-owner interviewees telling stories of their past interacts with their birds, which simultaneously are “acted out.” That’s ridiculous – but other parts of this hour, the real ones, are unexpectedly, effectively touching, as when we watch one rescued bird
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Nov
13
 
 
Using previously unavailable technology, Nova sorts through the available evidence, forensic, ballistic and otherwise, to examine the still-controversial events surrounding the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. This new special is called Cold Case JFK, and is keyed to the 50th anniversary of that tragic event. It’s worth watching – but so was Who Shot President Kennedy?, a special with the same exact description that was presented as a Nova special back in November 198
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Nov
13
 
 
This one-hour special focuses almost exclusively on how CBS News – with a nod to the UPI wire service – covered the tragic events in Dallas 50 years ago this month. Plenty of documentaries already exist in which CBS anchor Walter Cronkite provided his own account, including the multi-part Cronkite Remembers, but this one fleshes out the day with a clear, compelling timeline, back in the day when even competitive network news organizations labored to confirm news before reporting it.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Nov
13
 
 
In tonight’s haunting episode (or is it haunted?), Zoe, Queenie and Nan try to contact the evil spirit that seems to be occupying the school. Even from the safety of this side of the TV screen, that doesn’t seem like such a smart idea.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Nov
13
 
 
Burt Lancaster continues to be saluted this month by TCM, and tonight’s lineup is, quite literally, one great movie after another. The evening begins at 8 p.m. ET with 1957’s Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and is followed at 10:15 p.m. ET by the same year’s Sweet Smell of Success (pictured, with Tony Curtis), one of the best, most caustic movies about the media ever made. And after that, sit back, or set your recorders, for 1960’s Elmer Gantry at midnight ET, and 1964&rsquo