With the new Star Wars hitting theaters (perhaps you’ve heard?), there’s no better time to revisit what I consider the funniest Star Wars lampoon of all time, hands down. Or paws down, since it involves Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, the acerbic canine puppet alter ego of comedian and writer Robert Smigel. In May 2002, upon the release of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones...

2015

Dec

'FARGO' CREATOR LOOKS BACK ON SEASON 2- AND AHEAD TO SEASON 3 By David Hinckley

...Fargo’s TV creator/author Noah Hawley told TV writers Tuesday, a few hours after the acclaimed Season 2 ended, that Season 3 mostly likely won’t start filming until next November, with a projected airdate of spring 2017. Plenty of time for ice fishing, eh?...

2015

Dec

PROHIBITION By David Bianculli

Part 1. Ken Burns’ illuminating 2011 study of the relationship between society and alcohol is a sobering one – at least in the respect that our policies and attitudes on this subject have been both wildly inconsistent and depressingly familiar. Comparing the temperance movement and the repeal of Prohibition to today’s drug wars and sporadic legalization of marijuana is an even more obvious leap today than when this documentary premiered a few years ago. It’s repeated in w

2015

Dec

NICK NEWS WITH LINDA ELLERBEE By David Bianculli

SERIES FINALE: I’ve loved what Linda Ellerbee has done on television ever since she was one of the hosts of NBC News Overnight – and that’s so long ago, it was before I became a TV critic. But once I did become a TV critic, in the mid-Seventies, I’ve raved about just about everything she’s done. She’s found ways to be smart, funny and different while gravitating to, and surviving and thriving in, TV’s fringe areas of late night and children’s cable

2015

Dec

2015 REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE By David Bianculli

Tonight marks the final Republican presidential debate of 2015. But don’t get too excited, because that still leaves at least seven months before the political conventions, and 10 full months and a week before the presidential election of 2016. In other words, plenty of time for more and more talk. But as times change, so do political fortunes. For tonight’s debate, Donald Trump retains his central position, but Jeb Bush has been pushed more to the fringe, with Ben Carson and now Ted

2015

Dec

THE VOICE By David Bianculli

CYCLE FINALE: Part 2 of 2. This is the big night, when a new winner is announced. Jordan Smith is the frontrunner here – but, unlike as in presidential politics, the current frontrunner indeed is expected to go all the way. At least by me.

2015

Dec

MANHATTAN By David Bianculli

SEASON FINALE: This is the Season 2 finale, and it’s directed by co-executive producer Thomas Schlamme, who defined the look of The West Wing as Aaron Sorkin’s go-to director. Tonight’s final episode is called “Jupiter,” and it’s all about the build-up to the long-anticipated nuclear test.

2015

Dec

RAGING BULL By David Bianculli

When Martin Scorsese made this 1980 drama about boxing champion Jake LaMotta, Robert De Niro gained 60 pounds to play LaMotta in his later years, and won an Oscar. When I gained 60 pounds, all I got was grief from my kids. I’m just saying…

2015

Dec

'DOWNTON'S' PENELOPE WILTON REFLECTS ON HER DUEL WITH COUNTESS VIOLET By David Hinckley

Among many other things, the end of Downton Abbey this March will wrap up one of TV’s most charming buddy relationships, between Maggie Smith’s Dowager Countess Violet and Penelope Wilton’s Isobel Crawley...

2015

Dec

THE VOICE By David Bianculli

CYCLE FINALE: Part 1 of 2. The Final Four perform tonight, and the winner of this new cycle of The Voice will be selected and revealed tomorrow night. Watch, in particular, for Jordan Smith, 21, from Harlan, KY. Last week he sang “Somebody to Love” in the semifinals, and his downloadable recording of it soared to the top spot on iTunes. More to the point, Adam Levine reacted to his vocal performance by saying, “That’s one of the best things I’ve ever seen in my enti

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