SERIES RETURN: Bill Maher is back from his summer hiatus, and it’s too bad he picked such a slow news week on which to make his return, and to welcome such guests as Chelsea Handler. Aside from, say, Mitt Romney announcing the vice presidential spot on his Republican ticket, not much has happened…

2012

Aug

BULLET IN THE FACE By David Bianculli

MINISERIES FINALE: This Alan Spencer cop and action-movie spoof presented its first three episodes last night, and presents the final three tonight. This is the night when guest villains Eddie Izzard and Eric Roberts get most of their good scenes, and when Max Williams as Gunter Vogler, a bad guy given a good guy’s face, gets to share screen time with them. But keep your eye on Kate Kelton as the femme fatale brunette – and the femme fatale redhead as well. She has, and generates, th

2012

Aug

ELVIS ON TOUR By David Bianculli

Elvis Presley was 42 years old when he died at Graceland on this date in 1977 – and the date, not the age, is what’s being noted this evening by TCM, which is devoting the day to Elvis movies. The retrospective begins at 6 a.m. ET with 1963’s It Happened at the World’s Fair, which also features future Batman Batgirl Yvonne Craig. But the prime-time action begins with this 1973 documentary account of Presley’s 1972 U.S. tour. Then come two of the rock idol’s mo

2012

Aug

BURN NOTICE By David Bianculli

It takes a thief: In this new episode, the CIA assigns a mission to its latest asset, Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar). She’s told to use her safecracking skills to extract something from a heavily guarded safe – and soon experiences the “heavily guarded” part.

2012

Aug

SHARK WEEK'S 25 BEST BITES By David Bianculli

It’s a countdown list of highlights, reducing Shark Week into fittingly digestive tiny chunks: bite-sized helpings of great sights, great bites, and great whites. Open wide…

2012

Aug

BULLET IN THE FACE By David Bianculli

MINISERIES PREMIERE: Alan Spencer of Sledge Hammer! fame returns, after a long period of satirical TV dormancy, with another short burst of genre humor poking fun at cop-show conventions and, this time, Tarantino-style action excesses. This one is six half-hour episodes, doled out over two nights, with each night a brisk triple feature. The recognizable stars are the featured villains, opposing crime lords played by Eddie Izzard and Eric Roberts. But the major roles go to Max Williams as the two

2012

Aug

LOUIE By David Bianculli

“Any new stress?” the doctor acts Louie (Louis C.K.) in this week’s episode, trying to get to the root cause of his patient’s sudden ailments. “Well, no,” Louie tells him. “The kids and the work, it’s hard sometimes – but boilerplate misery….” Question of the day: Does this show make me laugh so hard simply because I enjoy it, or because I so strongly relate to it?

2012

Aug

BULLET IN THE FACE, TRAILER By Eric Gould

IFC's new miniseries, Bullet in the Face revolves around Gunter Vogler, a criminal sociopath who assumes the identity of a cop he shot to take down the city’s crime lords. Suffice to say that nuts-and-bolts summary doesn't come close to describing this mash-up...We're thinking Police Squad meets Reservoir Dogs...

2012

Aug

STARZ'S 'BOSS' IS BACK By Ed Bark

The Kelsey Grammer-paced saga of a corrupt Chicago mayor with a terminal hallucinatory brain disease returns with its at times loopy gravitas also intact...

2012

Aug

THE SCARLET LETTER By David Bianculli

Lillian Gish is the star of the day at TCM, and it’s worth it to sample as many of her films as possible, because some are rarely televised, and others, like this 1926 silent version of the classic story, starring Gish as Hester Prynne (seen here with co-star Lars Hanson), have yet to be released on DVD. For the full treatment, begin at 6 a.m. ET with 1919’s Broken Blossoms, one of her many successful D.W. Griffith melodramas, followed at 7:45 a.m. ET by another, 1921’s Orphans

Posts 101-110 of 216

10 11 12 13 14

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