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

 
 
2013
Jan
18
 
 
One of my favorite “spider-web movies”: This 2000 Coen Brothers film always gives me new things to notice, and laugh about, and treasure. Sometimes I’ll pay particular attention to the music, or the story as it parallels The Odyssey, or the wild images. And sometimes I’ll just hone in on a performance. This time, I think I’ll simply delight in the core trio of chain-gang goofballs, played so cartoonishly, and so brilliantly, by George Clooney, John Turturro and Tim
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jan
18
 
 
It’s a prime-time Laurel and Hardy marathon tonight on TCM, and in this batch of film shorts, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy can be heard as well as seen. The action starts with 1931’s Chickens Come Home (pictured), and is followed by several other films from the same period.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jan
18
 
 
SERIES FINALE: Maybe, when tonight’s two-hour finale is over, everything in the Fringe universe – sorry, the Fringe universes – will make perfect sense. Maybe not. But it’s been quite an amazing trip. And my guess is that before it’s all over, at least one of the characters who died this season will be resurrected in an altered, happier-ending timeline. If not in this TV universe, then somewhere.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jan
18
 
 
SERIES RETURN: Bill Maher has been missed during his hiatus, with so much going on in the headlines and politically, but tonight he returns – and is scheduled to chat with such guests as former Sen. Bob Kerrey and former SCTV and Saturday Night Live repertory player Martin Short.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jan
18
 
 
Most sitcoms these days don’t make me crack so much as the hint of a smile. But whenever Karl Pilkington takes to the road for a TV travel series, I laugh out loud almost instantly…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jan
18
 
 
The cops of 1889 East London are charged with keeping a modicum of order in the immediate aftermath of Jack the Ripper's reign of terror on BBC America's Ripper Street...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jan
17
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: Part 2 of 2. The second half of premiere week arrives tonight, with the focus on the worst, more than the best, auditioning talents. This season, that may end up applying to the new judges as well – but in these early rounds, which are taped and heavily edited, don’t expect to see anything that the Idol producers don’t want to be shown.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jan
17
 
 
When the cats are away, the mice will play… on live television. In this case, the cats are Jack (Alec Baldwin) and Liz (Tina Fey), who take a trip to Florida to settle the estate of Jack’s mom. And the mice are Jenna and Tracy (Jane Krakowski, Tracy Morgan), who get to run their show without any pesky producer or network executive around to tell them no.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jan
17
 
 
Without a doubt, this is Oprah Winfrey’s most newsworthy, attention-getting interview since she launched her own cable network. Tonight, boiled down from a lengthy interview she taped earlier this week, Winfrey interviews Lance Armstrong. What he’ll say here – how much he’ll admit, and take responsibility for, regarding his doping while bicycle racing as a professional – isn’t yet known. Nor is viewer reaction, which may or may not elicit the sort of sympathet
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jan
17
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: Tonight’s episode begins with a knowing wink: Secret agent Archer, whose voice is provided by H. Jon Benjamin, is seen living a different life as Bob, the owner of Bob’s Burgers. Bob’s Burgers, of course, is another prime-time animated sitcom – and another one in which the title character is voiced by Benjamin. So it all makes sense – until it gets very bloody, at least for a cartoon. Welcome back, Archer. For a full review, see Eric Gould’s T