Seth Rogen is the Roastmaster for this new Comedy Central Labor Day special, a roast of actor James Franco. Nick Kroll asks Franco about his appearance hosting the Oscars with Anne Hathaway, which would seem to be hitting as far below the belt as possible. But with Sarah Silverman, Andy Samberg, Jonah Hill, and others on hand, it’ll get lower.

2013

Sep

THE WRITERS' ROOM By David Bianculli

Now here is a writers’ room I want to listen in on: Tonight’s show is devoted to FX’s American Horror Story, the first season of which was riveting and daring, and the second season of which, American Horror Story: Asylum, was… strange. Series creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, who also collaborate on Fox’s Glee, will explain what they’ve been up to. And what’s coming next, with the coming season’s American Horror Story: Coven.

2013

Sep

MURDER By David Bianculli

Most years, you might hope for your Labor Day weekend to proceed without a hitch – but today, TCM makes it better by adding one. It’s an all-day, all-day Alfred Hitchcock festival, which begins with this rarely televised, sometimes bizarre early effort from 1930, starring Norah Baring. The rest of the day’s lineup is much more familiar, and, frankly, more entertaining: 1948’s Rope at noon ET, 1945’s Spellbound at 1:30 p.m. ET, 1964’s Marnie at 3:30 ET, 1963&rs

2013

Sep

TV’S FUNNIEST OF THE FUNNIEST: A PALEY CENTER FOR MEDIA SPECIAL By David Bianculli

These specials, increasingly, have been somewhat diluted over the years, because of such uncontrollable factors as rights fees, target audience considerations, program lengths and overall approach. But the TV historian in me still wants to salute and support such efforts, even if they’re less than what they could be. Tonight’s newest two-hour network special from the Paley Center presents a countdown of the 30 funniest moments in TV history, including Golden Age classic I Love Lucy.

2013

Sep

MASTERPIECE MYSTERY!: "SILK" By David Bianculli

This series, about ambitious players in the British judicial system, is worth watching for a lot of reasons, but I’ll settle on one: Natalie Dormer as Niamh Cranitch, who in tonight’s episode takes her first stand in court. Dormer has had an impressive run of juicy roles of late: Anne Boleyn in Showtime’s The Tudors, Irene Adler in CBS’s Elementary, Margaery Tyrell in HBO’s Game of Thrones – and she’s signed to appear in two of the upcoming Hunger Games

2013

Sep

BREAKING BAD By David Bianculli

I won’t say anything about last week’s episode – or this week’s, since Breaking Bad is one of the few TV shows confident enough, and with enough unstoppable momentum, to televise a fresh episode on Labor Day Weekend. And expect an explosive one: Tonight’s new episode is titled “Rabid Dog,” and you know what happens to rabid dogs. They’re put down.

2013

Sep

PSYCHO By David Bianculli

The all-day Alfred Hitchcock salute on TCM continues with this 1960 classic, a superb – and immensely influential – horror movie, made by Hitchcock using his tried and trusted TV crew from Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Janet Leigh stars, but (53-year-old Spoiler Alert!) not for long… And after Psycho concludes, there are more Hitchcock treats in store. Specifically, two super-early films, 1926’s silent The Lodger (at midnight ET) and 1929’s Blackmail (2 a.m. ET), and

2013

Sep

'ALIVE AND KICKING': OLD DOGS, NEW TRICKS By Gabriela Tamariz

From their retirement home in Woodland Hills, California, two old guys have created and delivered a meaningful modern-media message: creativity is ageless…

2013

Aug

LONESOME DOVE By David Bianculli

There’s a whole posse of great characters in this superb 1989 CBS miniseries adaptation of Larry McMurtry’s equally superb Western novel. But for now, stay with the head of the herd: Robert Duvall gives a career-best performance as Augustus McRae, and Tommy Lee Jones does likewise as fellow retired Texas Ranger Woodrow Call. Given those two actors, claiming a career best is really, really up there. And Danny Glover, Diane Lane, Anjelica Huston – hell, everyone and everything in

2013

Aug

WARGAMES By David Bianculli

Want to know what state-of-the-art computers, both the home and military versions, looked like 30 years ago? This 1983 drama shows you precisely that, as Matthew Broderick – also 30 years younger – plays a high-school computer nerd who accidentally hacks into a super-restricted American military computer. A simple question, from the computer, leads to a very complex situation. The special effects, almost a third of a century later, are almost laughable. The message, however, is anyth

Posts 761-770 of 2272

76 77 78 79 80

New From TVWW

PBS' 'Frontline’ Examines Pension Promises and — Spoiler Alert — Finds the Math Doesn’t Add Up

The Decadence of ‘Versailles’ Comes to Ovation

Prescribing Mamie Gummer in 'Emily Owens, M.D.'

Looking for a Free Ride? HBO Can Deliver

'Pass the Biscuits' Part of the Hatfield-McCoy Pop-Culture Legacy

Dispatches From TVWW

'Extinction: The Facts' is a Sobering Call to Action

How 'Mayans' Has Been Influenced by the Show's Creator Elgin James

For Whom the Bell Tolls: Ken Burns and Lynn Novick Take on Ernest Hemingway, the Man and the Myth

In the Final Season, Sutton Foster's Liza is Now the Genuine Version of Her 'Younger' Self

Season 2 of 'City on a Hill' Returns with Kevin Bacon, Aldis Hodge, and Boston Corruption