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

 
 
2015
Nov
29
 
 
Downton Abbey is returning, as usual, shortly after the calendar turns to the New Year. But this year, before it returns, PBS is setting the scene, and the table, by presenting a retrospective of this series’ first five seasons. If you’ve never seen Downton Abbey, consider this special a 90-minute collection of Spoiler Alerts. Otherwise, enjoy. Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Nov
29
 
 
MIDSEASON FINALE: So last week’s episode ended with one of the towers collapsing, threatening to delay a long-awaited reunion – and threatening just about everything and everyone else in the process. Tonight’s episode is the midseason finale, a point in each season’s narrative when the body count, traditionally, has risen dramatically.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Nov
29
 
 
Jeffrey Dean Morgan, as Jason, has been a charismatic, funny and likable replacement for the departed Kalinda as a resourceful private investigator. Alicia (Julianna Margulies) already has leaned on him strongly – and tonight, she considers doing something more than leaning, and others are noticing their mutual chemistry. With her husband running for President, that's not necessarily a smart move...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Nov
28
 
 

This time of year, what do The Great American Dream Machine, Better Call Saul and dozens of other great DVD boxed sets have in common? They’re all gift suggestions from myself, here or on NPR’s Fresh Air, or from other TVWW editors and writers…

 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Nov
28
 
 
CNN is repeating several episodes of its latest decade documentary tonight, starting at 7 p.m. ET. Web and DVR schedules conflict, so I’m not positive which installments are shown when, but I believe the opening episode, on TV in the Seventies, is repeated at 9 p.m. ET. Viewer warning: I’m in it, somewhere. Tread lightly.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Nov
28
 
 
This 2014 action comedy is like a James Bond amped up even more overtly, with Colin Firth, especially, having fun with the action sequences while playing against type. Supporting players include Michael Caine and Samuel L. Jackson, so there’s a lot of expertise and cinema history within this secret British spy society.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Nov
28
 
 
If you still have the family around for the holidays, gather them to watch this 1962 film classic, which stars Gregory Peck as a Southern lawyer defending a black man in a small town during the Depression. The younger kids should identify with Scout, and the adults with Peck’s Atticus Finch – and there’s a lesson to be learned here, and a movie to be embraced, by everyone.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Nov
28
 
 
Fans of The Walking Dead spent most of a month debating whether the character of Glenn was dead or alive, until his fate was revealed in last week’s episode. Coincidentally, also last week, Doctor Who may or may not have killed off the character of Clara for good. That episode is repeated at 8 p.m. ET, followed by tonight’s new episode at 9 p.m. ET, which has the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) without his companion, and trying to obey her dying order not to seek vengeance. Is Clara, played b
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Nov
28
 
 
Two reasons to give The Spymasters: CIA in the Crosshairs a try tonight. First, it’s a documentary interviewing all the living CIA directors in history, and they’re spilling rather than unearthing secrets – and often disagreeing. Second, it’s a film by Gedeon and Jules Naudet, the filmmaking brothers who made the stunning 2002 documentary 9/11, employing ground-level footage they were shooting, following New York firefighters, as the first plane hit the tower.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Nov
28
 
 
This fabulously creepy series continues – and tonight, there’s just what this isolated French town doesn’t need: another death in the family.