In many ways, High Tech, Low Life is a tale of what happens when old-guard, centralized government collides with the individualism of 21st-century technology...

2013

Jul

FIRESTARTER By David Bianculli

With Stephen King’s Under the Dome established as one of TV’s few hits of the summer, Encore tonight presents a Stephen King prime-time double feature, showing film adaptations from early in King’s career. The Dead Zone, from 1983, is televised at 10 p.m. ET – but before that, 1984’s Firestarter, starring Drew Barrymore as a child with a (literally) fiery temper, is shown at 8 p.m. ET. By the way: Also in this nearly 30-year-old movie, which co-stars George C. Scott

2013

Jul

WONDER BOYS By David Bianculli

This 2000 Curtis Hanson film, based on the novel by Michael Chabon, is worth revisiting for so many reasons. Its story of a college professor with writer’s block stars Michael Douglas (one of his career bests), with strong co-starring support Tobey Maguire, Robert Downey Jr., Frances McDormand, Rip Torn and, holding her own, Katie Holmes. Wonder Boys also features a superb musical soundtrack. There are four songs by Bob Dylan (including “Things Have Changed,” written expressly

2013

Jul

CARSON ON TCM By David Bianculli

Mel Brooks is being saluted by TCM on Wednesday. Meanwhile, today, as an appetizer, TCM leads off tonight’s Carson on TCM compendium at 8 p.m. ET with a 1975 Brooks appearance on The Tonight Show, taking place the year after he released both Blazing Saddles (pictured) and Young Frankenstein. Following that: Johnny Carson interviews Dom DeLuise, from 1976 (8:12 p.m. ET), Bette Davis, 1983 (8:24 p.m. ET), Burt Reynolds, 1972 (8:36 p.m. ET), and Fred Astaire, 1979 (8:48 p.m. ET). An evening o

2013

Jul

UNDER THE DOME By David Bianculli

It’s Visitors’ Day at the dome – where, just as in any other prison, loved ones are glimpsed on opposite sides of a clear but divisive partition. And tonight, there are plenty of other divisive issues as well, as the mysterious Barbie (Mike Vogel) and the nervous Dodee (Jolene Purdy) soon discover.

2013

Jul

POV: HIGH TECH, LOW LIFE By David Bianculli

A pair of bloggers receive the P.O.V. profile treatment in High Tech, Low Life, because they spend time on the internet gathering and disseminating news items and other things they find of interest. Why is that considered unusual enough to make a documentary about it? Because these two are doing this in China, which doesn’t exactly have a freedom-of-speech national policy. For a full review, see Eric Gould’s Cold Light Reader. Check local listings.

2013

Jul

I LOVE LUCY: THE COMPLETE SERIES By David Bianculli

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, in the way they filmed I Love Lucy, changed Hollywood. But it’s still the comedy they left behind that impresses the most: And it’s all here, from candy conveyer belts to Vitameatavegamin...

2013

Jul

THE KILLING By David Bianculli

There are only three episodes left to the season – and tonight’s episode, I’m afraid, is the one where I may give up on this series for good, if it pulls another red herring of the week stunt. And based on last week’s plot, it sure seems to be heading that way. We know, by now, that the death row prisoner is innocent – but if the prime suspect, once again, is not guilty as well, what’s the point of even following the investigations of these un-intrepid detecti

2013

Jul

TRUE BLOOD By David Bianculli

I couldn’t find any mention of this on fan site message boards or blogs, and I could be totally wrong about this. But you know how Andy’s faerie daughters have been aging at a super-accelerated rate? (Until, that is, all but one of them died.) Well, the surviving one, seen briefly in a tattered trashy outfit and carried home to Andy’s couch to recuperate, initially looked like a young teen. But when she was shown again, very briefly, halfway through last week’s episode, I

2013

Jul

DEXTER By David Bianculli

Decades after helping design the code by which Dexter lives and dies, and kills, Dr. Vogel (guest star Charlotte Rampling) tonight tries to advise and counsel Dexter’s “sister,” Debra (Jennifer Carpenter). Oh, well – at least it’s all in the family. And it’s all relative.

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