This documentary film biography of tennis champion Althea Gibson is presented in cannily timely fashion, just as Serena Williams is trying to accomplish some amazing feats in women’s tennis at the current U.S. Open Championship. What Gibson did, as an African-American tennis player in the years after WWII and beyond, is a special story indeed. Watch her face her first opponent in a major tennis final. Watch her, later, winning it all at Wimbledon, and later at the U.S. Open. Watch her as a

2015

Sep

JIMI HENDRIX: ELECTRIC CHURCH By David Bianculli

This musical documentary captures a Jimi Hendrix concert in Atlanta from 1970 – one of his final performances before his death. I happened to be there for one of his first U.S. performances, a handful of years before – when he was the unknown opening act for The Monkees. But at this 1970 Electric Church concert, no one, as he played and sang, was screaming for “Davy!”

2015

Sep

20/20 By David Bianculli

Today’s special subject: Pope Francis, who’s about to visit the United States. Perhaps you’ve heard…

2015

Sep

AGATHA CHRISTIE'S PARTNERS IN CRIME By David Bianculli

MINISERIES PREMIERE: Parts 1 and 2 of 6. Acorn TV imports another BBC mystery, this time one made and televised in the U.K. earlier this very year. It’s actually two three-part mystery movies featuring some of Agatha Christie’s least-known sleuths: the married duo Tommy and Tuppence, whose natural curiosity (hers, mostly) leads them to solve crime in England in the 1950s. David Williams and Jessica Raine star, and the first two installments of the initial three-parter, The Secret Adv

2015

Sep

NCAA COLLEGE FOOTBALL By David Bianculli

The oncoming weekend of college football madness begins this afternoon, when the two Carolinas, North and South, battle each other at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN. (For extra fun, look for Confederate flags in the stands, and how quickly ESPN cuts away from them.) At 8 p.m. ET, also on ESPN, is another game, TCU vs. Minnesota – and the importance and fun of all these meetings, and more, is explained by Gerald Jordan in his Crossing Jordan blog.

2015

Sep

UNDER THE DOME By David Bianculli

This is the penultimate episode of Under the Dome, which ends its run next week after three increasingly nonsensical summer seasons. I gave up for good somewhere around the alien seed pods, because, like Stephen King, I’ve seen all that already in science fiction films from the 1950s. But TV this much off the rails can provide its own sort of pleasure: As USA Today TV critic Robert Bianco writes, encouraging even newcomers to sample these last two programs, “Plunge in and enjoy the o

2015

Sep

SEX&DRUGS&ROCK&ROLL By David Bianculli

In tonight’s new episode, Johnny Rock (Denis Leary) is determined to wean his rock-star daughter Gigi (Elizabeth Gillies) from her crush on Johnny’s rock-band contemporary, John Corbett’s Flash. So Johnny encourages her to date someone her own age, which ends up unnerving almost everyone. The episode title: “Hard Out Here for a Pimp.”

2015

Sep

DOCUMENTARY NOW! By David Bianculli

Last week’s scheduled episode of this faux documentary series was postponed, because of violence befalling the pretend TV crew in its satire of HBO’s Vice documentary series. It was thought insensitive to televise in the immediate wake of the shooting deaths last week of a TV crew in Virginia – but this week, apparently, it’s okay. Bill Hader and Fred Armisen play absurdly reckless reporters tracking down a ruthless drug lord south of the border. Helen Mirren introdu

2015

Sep

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME COLLEGE FOOTBALL? By Gerald Jordan

The egalitarian season is under way. College football... It’s egalitarian because every state has a college or university that purports to play football at some level...

2015

Sep

2015 U.S. OPEN TENNIS TOURNAMENT By David Bianculli

At yesterday’s first-round play of U.S. Open tennis, the players weren’t the only ones serving up something new. ESPN commentator Pam Shriver interviewed U.S. player CoCo Vanderweghe about her match. What’s so unusual about that, you ask? The match wasn’t over, that’s what. It’s one thing to toss a fast question or two at a pro football coach as he runs off the field to rally his troops at halftime – but to interview a tennis player between sets? That&rs

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