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
Sep
10
 
 
There’s a special, delightful chemistry on view tonight, as two former Friends continue to play well together in Lisa Kudrow’s Showtime comedy series. She plays a goofy online therapist named Fiona – and last week, she met a new client, an online gambling addict played by Matt Matt Le Blanc. He, of course, played Joey to her Phoebe on NBC’s Friends, which began nearly 20 years ago. And here they are again, just as much fun to watch. In tonight’s show, his character
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Sep
10
 
 
There are a slew of new vampire shows upcoming (CW's The Originals, for one) to match the success of series like True Blood. So, no surprise that TNT is coming out with a period gangster drama a la Boardwalk Empire, called Mob City, later this year...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Sep
9
 
 
Yesterday, the top two women’s seeds, Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka, went at it in a dramatic three-set U.S. Open Women’s Tennis final that lived up to all expecations, and even to their previous matchup. Today, it’s the men’s turn, with the same numerical matchup. No. 1 Novak Djokovic, once again, faces No. 2 Rafael Nadal. It’s their sixth time in a Grand Slam final, and their third time in four years squaring off in the finals at Flushing Meadow.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Sep
9
 
 
We’re nearing the end of this summer’s run of this CBS summer hit – and tonight, Big Jim (Dean Morris) reveals his less personable side as never before. Watch for it. Between this series and Breaking Bad, Dean Norris is having the TV summer of a lifetime.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Sep
9
 
 
This sweet film by High Hanson and Anson Hartford profiles an octet of octogenarians, and even older folks, from around the world, happily and proudly competing in the Over 80 World Table Championships, held in Inner Mongolia. Some of it is about the joy of competition. Some of it isn’t. But even watching an elderly competitor make a dash for it through a pulsating fountain, in this context, is cause for celebration. Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Sep
9
 
 
This excellent new documentary import continues tonight with its second installment, a show with a lengthy title but a narrow focus: 1918-28 – The Triumph of American Film and the First of Its Rebels. It covers the ascendance of Hollywood, its first early stars – including the silent-comedy geniuses Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton – and the introduction of sound. And arrive early and stay late, because the night’s TCM lineup also includes Buster Keaton’s hilarious
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Sep
9
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: Two decades ago, Arsenio Hall emerged on the late-night scene as a brash young comic with a decidedly different viewpoint (he wasn’t white) and a defiant attitude (in a famous pre-premiere cover story, he vowed to “kick Jay Leno’s ass.” He didn’t, and Leno proved astoundingly durable – but Hall, who has been gone from TV since 1994, has decided this is the time to come back. His new show is syndicated, and usually scheduled at the 11 p.m. ET h
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Sep
9
 
 
More and more people are joining a consensus that loyal Breaking Bad fans have known all along: we just might just be watching the best TV drama ever...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Sep
8
 
 
Derek Jacobi and Anne Reid star in this new British import, playing former childhood friends who, through social media, find each other after 60 years. According to our Eric Gould, who raves about the program in his Cold Light Reader column, it’s one of the best family dramas in years. Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Sep
8
 
 
I’ve spent hours trying to imagine this brilliant TV show’s endgame – and yet, each week, it’s served up a twist that stuns me with its originality, and with its unpredicted boldness. The videotaped “confession”? Skyler’s advice to Walt about Jesse? Jesse’s interrupted arson attempt? Stunning, stunning, stunning. If you limit yourself to one TV hour per week, this should be the show to fill that quota.