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

 
 
2012
Nov
11
 
 
Last week’s show included two scenes that, much more than usual, strained credulity. Brody’s daughter, haunted by her boyfriend’s hit-and-run on a pedestrian, found the victim in a local hospital (how?) and talked to the woman’s daughter, just to learn that death was imminent. And in another scene, the terrorist’s tailor shop was being searched by the CIA when heavily armed and armored terrorists burst in, in broad daylight, and shot up the place. But both scenes, h
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Nov
10
 
 
On this day in 1969, PBS presented its first episode of Sesame Street...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Nov
10
 
 
This isn’t a very good movie – but on this occasion, that’s the reason to tune in. This movie, made in 2006 by Wolfgang Petersen, should be better than it is. Starring Kurt Russell, it’s a remake of the 1972 disaster film The Poseidon Adventure (pictured) – and Petersen, who directed the brilliant Das Boot, knows his way around water-based dramas. So it has its moments, which are interesting. And this remake is followed, at 10 p.m. ET, by the original movie: the one
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Nov
10
 
 
This 1992 Quentin Tarantino breakout film – now 20 years old – has been televised a lot the past few weeks, but certainly stands up to repeated viewings. It’s fun to watch Steve Buscemi, two decades before Boardwalk Empire, and to see that even then, Harvey Keitel was the epitome of one-screen cool.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Nov
10
 
 
Once again, TCM comes to Saturday night TV’s rescue, with a prime-time showing of another cinema classic. This 1933 movie version of a hit Broadway play, one of the screwiest of all screwball comedies, features an all-star cast led by Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow, and two different Barrymores: Lionel and John.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Nov
10
 
 
The proposed remake of this film, starring Johnny Depp, reportedly has hit a speed bump or two. But while we’re waiting to see if he indeed manages to revive yet another vintage show-biz property, tonight we can enjoy the original article: the first of the Thin Man movies, which spawned many a sequel. William Powell and Myrna Loy star as the ultra-smooth Nick and Nora Charles.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Nov
10
 
 
Promoting her new movie, Les Miserables, Anne Hathaway returns to host SNL for the second time. The first time, she showed off her strong singing voice and her brave commitment to her material – two elements that may have helped lead to her appearance in the movie musical. Tonight’s SNL musical guest is worth watching, too: Rihanna.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Nov
9
 
 
This day in 1985 marked the eleventh season premiere of NBC's Saturday Night Live, with host Madonna and musical guest Simple Minds. But the episode's true significance was that it marked the return of the show's creator and founding producer, Lorne Michaels...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Nov
9
 
 
Last week, because the New York-based Bill Moyers team was hit hard, and left literally powerless, by what was left of Hurricane Sandy, Moyers & Company had no choice but to scrap its scheduled pre-election show and present a repeat of the series’ pilot. This week, post-election, Moyers debriefs three journalists about their analysis of the 2012 election results, and what they suggest about things to come: James Fallows, Bob Herbert and Reihan Salam. To find where and when the show run
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Nov
9
 
 
Clint Eastwood played The Man with No Name in this 1964 spaghetti Western, which led Sergio Leone to direct some sequels and led Eastwood to forsake TV’s Rawhide for good to pursue movie stardom. Good bet, Clint. And tonight, TCM follows up this Eastwood Western by showing more. At 9:45 p.m. ET, 1965’s For a Few Dollars More is televised, followed at midnight ET by 1966’s The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.