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
2
 
 
In tonight’s new episode, Angie (Britt Robertson) tells Junior (Alexander Koch) that the two of them will never, ever, ever get back together, in part because he chained her up in his family's bomb shelter – and her Taylor Swift moment has him threatening to walk away, rather than help with her investigation of the mini-dome. Then again, he can’t walk very far, which is kind of the point.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Sep
2
 
 
Seth Rogen is the Roastmaster for this new Comedy Central Labor Day special, a roast of actor James Franco. Nick Kroll asks Franco about his appearance hosting the Oscars with Anne Hathaway, which would seem to be hitting as far below the belt as possible. But with Sarah Silverman, Andy Samberg, Jonah Hill, and others on hand, it’ll get lower.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Sep
2
 
 
Now here is a writers’ room I want to listen in on: Tonight’s show is devoted to FX’s American Horror Story, the first season of which was riveting and daring, and the second season of which, American Horror Story: Asylum, was… strange. Series creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, who also collaborate on Fox’s Glee, will explain what they’ve been up to. And what’s coming next, with the coming season’s American Horror Story: Coven.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Sep
2
 
 
Youtube is the 21st centrury electronic equivalent of the Kinetoscope, with millions of viewers clicking on talking dogs, or in this case, a cat in a shark outfit riding a Roomba being chased by a duckling...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Sep
1
 
 
Most years, you might hope for your Labor Day weekend to proceed without a hitch – but today, TCM makes it better by adding one. It’s an all-day, all-day Alfred Hitchcock festival, which begins with this rarely televised, sometimes bizarre early effort from 1930, starring Norah Baring. The rest of the day’s lineup is much more familiar, and, frankly, more entertaining: 1948’s Rope at noon ET, 1945’s Spellbound at 1:30 p.m. ET, 1964’s Marnie at 3:30 ET, 1963&rs
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Sep
1
 
 
These specials, increasingly, have been somewhat diluted over the years, because of such uncontrollable factors as rights fees, target audience considerations, program lengths and overall approach. But the TV historian in me still wants to salute and support such efforts, even if they’re less than what they could be. Tonight’s newest two-hour network special from the Paley Center presents a countdown of the 30 funniest moments in TV history, including Golden Age classic I Love Lucy.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Sep
1
 
 
This series, about ambitious players in the British judicial system, is worth watching for a lot of reasons, but I’ll settle on one: Natalie Dormer as Niamh Cranitch, who in tonight’s episode takes her first stand in court. Dormer has had an impressive run of juicy roles of late: Anne Boleyn in Showtime’s The Tudors, Irene Adler in CBS’s Elementary, Margaery Tyrell in HBO’s Game of Thrones – and she’s signed to appear in two of the upcoming Hunger Games
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Sep
1
 
 
I won’t say anything about last week’s episode – or this week’s, since Breaking Bad is one of the few TV shows confident enough, and with enough unstoppable momentum, to televise a fresh episode on Labor Day Weekend. And expect an explosive one: Tonight’s new episode is titled “Rabid Dog,” and you know what happens to rabid dogs. They’re put down.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Sep
1
 
 
The all-day Alfred Hitchcock salute on TCM continues with this 1960 classic, a superb – and immensely influential – horror movie, made by Hitchcock using his tried and trusted TV crew from Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Janet Leigh stars, but (53-year-old Spoiler Alert!) not for long… And after Psycho concludes, there are more Hitchcock treats in store. Specifically, two super-early films, 1926’s silent The Lodger (at midnight ET) and 1929’s Blackmail (2 a.m. ET), and
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Sep
1
 
 
From their retirement home in Woodland Hills, California, two old guys have created and delivered a meaningful modern-media message: creativity is ageless…