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
2
 
 
Tonight’s prime-time movie selections feature films that, in turn, feature Loretta Young. But in this 1931 early talkie, it’s Jean Harlow, in the title role, who runs away with this Frank Capra story about a reporter (Robert Williams) caught between, and by, two very different women.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jan
2
 
 
This ABC series returns with new episodes next week – but in hopes of building its audience for that return, tonight it presents a one-hour clip special, telescoping the plots and characters into easily digestible bite-sized chunks. Think of it as the TV version of CliffsNotes. But sample it, if you haven’t checked out Nashville already, because both the music and performances are well above average. Connie Britton, Hayden Panettiere star, playing rival country singers.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jan
2
 
 
This creepy series returns, picking up where it left off – and where it left off included a  crucifixion, a death, an apparent alien visitation, and other pivotal plot points, including the return of Jessica Lange’s Sister Jude to the Briarcliff asylum – but as a patient. And this week, another inmate, Sarah Paulson’s Lana (pictured), is confronted too, though I won’t say why, or by whom. You might kill me. Just like he might kill her…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jan
2
 
 
This day in 1995 marked the debut of the CBS comedy, Cybill...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jan
1
 
 
HBO Video has replaced its lavish gift box with this slimmer set...but all five seasons are here, of a series that captivates, challenges and entertains from beginning to end – especially the end. What a series finale...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jan
1
 
 
As one of its last acts of 2012, PBS presented a Live from Lincoln Center tribute to Marvin Hamlisch — a concert that timidly took the coward’s way out, and doesn’t bode well for 2013…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jan
1
 
 
What a delightful film – and what a pleasant way to begin the New Year, by laughing out loud. This 1963 movie, in which Peter Sellers introduces the bumbling character of Inspector Clouseau, is a very, very funny film. David Niven, Robert Wagner and Capucine co-star, but this movie belongs completely to one actor. It’s a Sellers market.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jan
1
 
 
This 2011 movie focuses on the making of another movie – specifically, a week of filming during 1957’s The Prince and the Showgirl, which starred Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe. The point of view here is from Olivier’s assistant, Colin Clark, who documents the stars’ flinty relationship, and his own “dream week” with the vulnerable, magnetic actress. Eddie Redmayne portrays Clark, Olivier is played by Kenneth Branagh, and Monroe is played by Michelle Will
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jan
1
 
 
Michael Kantor, who looked lovingly and intelligently at New York stage history in Broadway: The American Musical, returns with another smart, talent-filled treatise, this time focusing on Jewish performers, composers, book writers and influences on the Broadway musical. Joel Grey hosts, and the vintage performance clips you’ll see include Zero Mostel in Fiddler on the Roof, Nathan Lane in The Producers, Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl, and, yes, David Hyde-Pierce in Spamalot, singing the p
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jan
1
 
 
Of all the series on my Top 10 TV Shows of 2012 list, this is the first to return in 2013 with a fresh episode. I’m still recovering from the Christmas episode, so I hope this one takes it a little easier, emotionally. For that matter, I hope 2013 does, too. I’m just saying…