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
Nov
2
 
 
The title of tonight’s episode is “The Proton Regeneration” – which is great news, because that promises another appearance by Bob Newhart as Sheldon’s childhood hero, TV science host Professor Proton. Newhart won an Emmy – his first! – for portraying the character, in what has become a sporadic but welcome recurring guest role. And it’s recurring even though the character has died, because the good professor now exists as a figment of Sheldon&rsqu
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Nov
2
 
 
Michael Cerveris made his first appearance last week as a new villain in this Gotham universe: Professor Pyg, who butchers victims while hiding beneath a severed pig’s head. The killer continues his Pyg-headed rampage tonight… and Cerveris, even with his face obscured by his porcine mask, manages to ham it up.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Nov
2
 
 
SERIES RETURN: CBS presented the premiere episode of this sitcom spinoff of The Big Bang Theory in September, then held off presenting a second episode until tonight – nearly two months later. But it’s a good fit – not only with Big Bang as its lead-in, but with a sitcom mentality, and quirky sentimentality, that fits well as an “origin story” of the very familiar, and odd, adult Sheldon.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Nov
2
 
 
The good place, which actually is a bad place, is becoming a dangerous place, as Janet, the heavenly humanoid that helps create and maintain the place’s illusions, continues to self-destruct. Which, in turn, leads to some destruction all around her. And this week, Janet is on an emotional rebound after a “breakup,” which leads to lots of things breaking up – or threatening to. And that includes, apparently, the entire good place/bad place.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Nov
1
 
 
It almost feels too easy to say that George is not departing gently...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Nov
1
 
 
Fifteen years ago, Henry Winkler decided that dramatizing some of the rough stories from his own childhood could make other childhoods better...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Nov
1
 
 
Last night, the Houston Astros could have won the 2017 World Series by taking last night’s game, and, behind some great pitching, was headed that way, with a 1-0 lead through five innings. But then came the sixth, and a comeback by the Los Angeles Dodgers that resulted in an exciting 3-1 Dodgers victory, and a tie in this year’s series at three games apiece. That leads us to tonight’s winner-take-all Game 7, when all players are potentially in play, everything is on the line, a
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Nov
1
 
 
Nova uses the recent deadly hurricanes as an excuse to put the history of killer storms in perspective. I can appreciate that, having lived in south Florida through the major, devastating hurricanes of the 1960s – and once having the eye pass directly over our home. But Nova takes an even longer look back, and focuses, in part, on the deadliest hurricane on record, a storm that killed more than 20,000 people in the Caribbean, in 1780. You should see the video footage! But, of course, you c
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Nov
1
 
 
It’s November now – a new month, and, for TCM, a new Star of the Month. This month it’s one of Hollywood’s all-time brightest and most likable stars: James Stewart. This month-long tribute begins at 8 p.m. ET with this star-filled documentary tribute, a biography that’s full of clips from movies that, by coincidence, TCM viewers will be able to watch in full in November. That begins tonight, by the way, and includes one of Stewart’s finest roles and performanc
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Nov
1
 
 
Part 2 of 2. When the first part of this Frontline two-parter, from producer Michael Kirk and company, premiered last week, indictments had yet to be handed down probing the possible links between the Donald Trump presidential campaign and White House administration, and Vladimir Putin and the Russians. Now a few of them have – making this second part even more riveting, and, if possible, timely. For a full review, see Alex Strachan's TV That Matters. Check local listings.