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

 
 
2017
Apr
7
 
 
Whether you think Playboy magazine liberated America from its puritanical shackles or sent America spiraling into a Godless moral hell, you gotta admit it changed the game...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
7
 
 
DOCUMENTARY SERIES PREMIERE: This new Amazon TV series, an extended biography of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, is made with Hefner’s cooperation and input, as well as by dipping into his extensive archives of back issues, news clippings, TV interviews and other personal memorabilia. The “character” of Hefner narrates his own tale here, teeing it up in unabashedly subjective terms: “This is my story,” he says at the start. “Or at least how I remember it.”
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
7
 
 
We’re only a few weeks away from the third iteration of Noah Hawley’s latest reimagining of the Fargo universe, originally fabricated so brilliantly by Joel and Ethan Coen in 1996. That’s 21 years ago now – and while Hawley’s two previous versions of Fargo, presented as stand-alone miniseries with separate plots, settings and casts, are fresh, funny, dramatic and captivating, the original article seems fresh and all the rest, too, all these years later. This is the
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
7
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: In the hands of anyone but executive producer Ellen DeGeneres, the concept of First Dates would be in danger of being swallowed up by a mean-spirited reality-show riptide. Not so with her in charge, so, with this new real-life look at first dates (narrated by Drew Barrymore), expect something with elements of humor, intended to be heartwarming and ultimately life-affirming. If, grumbles Ebenezer Scrooge, you enjoy that sort of thing…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
7
 
 
Midway through the Sixties, Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys loved what The Beatles had done with their groundbreaking album Rubber Soul, and decided to break some ground of his own. The result, after months of painstaking songwriting and studio work, was the 1966 LP Pet Sounds, which included such classic, beautiful songs as “God Only Knows,” “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times,” “Wouldn’t It be Nice” and “Sloop John B.” This new documen
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
7
 
 
Every week, my head spins at the headlines. This week, my head didn’t so much spin as revolve like a top. One hundred years to the day after the U.S. declared war on Germany, President Donald Trump authorized the firing of cruise missiles at Syria, in retribution of the apparent deployment of chemical weapons by Syria against its own people. It was a marked, and remarkable, about-face for the current administration, and a military follow-through of a type that former President Barack Obama
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
7
 
 
On the same day Amazon presents a new documentary series about Hugh Hefner, The Movie Channel presents the 2013 movie Don Jon, a movie starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a modern playboy so devoted to being not devoted to women, he earns the nickname “Don Jon.” But Scarlett Johansson co-stars, and in her, he may have met his match – even if a match is the last thing he’s seeking.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
6
 
 

Season Two of the Judd Apatow-produced Netflix rom-com dropped less than a month ago. A third season has already been ordered...

 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
6
 
 
If buying a TV is on your shopping list, then this is the week to accelerate the process. It’s Masters Week...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
6
 
 
Sheldon (Jim Parsons) may not work well with others on a normal basis, but somehow he’s found himself collaborating, on several different fronts, with several members of his inner circle. That might smooth, or at least improve, some of his social skills – but not when they’re all demanding his time at the same time, and adding to his stress level.