When I recently made a list of “spider-web” movies, of films that ensnare me each time they’re televised, how did I forget this one? When you’re talking about entertainingly repeatable films, this 1993 Bill Murray comedy may be the ultimate article. It’s all about repetition – up to a point. What a delightful movie, and, by Murray, what a confident, clever performance. Hard to believe, but next year, this movie will be 20 years old. Groundhogs usually don&rsqu

2012

Aug

BUNHEADS By David Bianculli

SEASON FINALE: Dramas about performers and performances, whether they be about singers in Smash or ballet dancers here, usually make room for a major performance in their season finales. For this show’s first season-ender, it’s all building up to a performance of The Nutcracker. There’s a joke in there somewhere, but this is a family show, and a good one – so I’ll abstain.

2012

Aug

ALPHAS By David Bianculli

I’ve been impressed by this show this season, even more than last year. It’s gotten a little darker, a little less predictable, and a lot less formulaic. Besides, the talented David Strathairn, as the mentor to a group of paranormally gifted misfits, takes his role and this show very seriously – so why should we do any less? This week’s guests include Lauren Holly, in a show that starts with a body in a drawer at the morgue. In case you’re worried: Lauren Holly does

2012

Aug

THE INBETWEENERS By David Bianculli

SERIES PREMIERE: British series turned into shows for the U.S. market usually end up as dim shadows of their former selves, but this Americanized remake of the British comedy of the same name seems to translate well – with elements of everything from Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared to Fast Times at Ridgemont High. The “in-betweeners” in this comedy, set at a modern-day high school, are called that because they’re not the cool kids, and not the freaks and geeks – the

2012

Aug

WEB THERAPY By David Bianculli

In an episode of Episodes this season, Matt LeBlanc, playing an exaggerated version of himself, was shown reaching out via phone to his former Friends cast members, pleading with them to make a guest shot on Pucks!, his show-within-the-show on Episodes. Nobody said yes, and no one even took part in the “saying no” part, not even by literally phoning it in. But on tonight’s Web Therapy, Lisa Kudrow has better luck. One of her guest stars this week is David Schwimmer – and

2012

Aug

NORTH BY NORTHWEST By David Bianculli

One of the many Alfred Hitchcock classics, this one, from 1959, is full of stunts that only a great director could pull off with panache, and Hitchcock did. From its geographic plot line (literally crossing the country in the direction of the title) to its ability to milk horror from wide open spaces in broad daylight (the corn field and the crop dusting plane!), and ending with a literal cliffhanger – with the cliff being Mount Rushmore – what a movie. Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint an

2012

Aug

TRUE BLOOD By David Bianculli

This is the penultimate show of the season, so things are building to a climax. (Of course, on True Blood, there’s a climax every episode – and you can read that however you like.) Bill (Stephen Moyer) gets more under the spell of Lilith the more he tastes her blood – and his latest visions are so red-blooded that he walks away thinking he’s the Chosen One.

2012

Aug

BREAKING BAD By David Bianculli

At the end of last week’s show, Jesse (Aaron Paul) screamed in horror as one of the cohorts on their latest illegal heist shot a witness in cold blood – a child on a dirt bike, who accidentally witnessed their theft of a meth-making chemical from a temporarily stopped train. There’s been death before on Breaking Bad, but this one crosses a line. But only, it seems, for Jesse. And that, too, may have eventual long-term consequences.

2012

Aug

COPPER By David Bianculli

SERIES PREMIERE: The latest TV series by Tom Fontana and Barry Levinson, who first teamed for NBC’s Homicide: Life on the Street, is another cop show of sorts – but this time, it’s about a New York detective in the Civil War era, starring Tom Weston-Jones from MI-5. One thing you have to say about it from the start: It’s not a TV concept you’ve seen that often. For a full review, see Bianculli’s Blog.

2012

Aug

THE NEWSROOM By David Bianculli

Part 2 of 2. Last week’s episode, the start of a two-parter, had to do with a major power outage plunging the network’s New York newsroom into relative darkness. That story line continues this week, but makes room for another one – in which, in this show’s recent-past timeline, the cable news network gets to host one of the debates for the aspiring Republican presidential candidates. Standing in for the candidates at a test run-through? Some of the show’s producers

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