This new episode airs on a special day for the core members of this geeky sitcom. It’s May 4. May the 4th. Known, in some cinematic sci-fi circles, as Star Wars day… as in, “May the 4th be with you.” Sigh… And The Big Bang Theory made that very joke, on air, a few years ago, in case you think I’m stretching things.

2017

May

RIVERDALE By David Bianculli

This is the penultimate episode of this first season of Riverdale, so whatever mysteries are going to be solved, they should start being solved about…now…

2017

May

THE AMAZING RACE By David Bianculli

I’m not recommending this entire series – not this many iterations into its run, where even is repetitions have become repetitive. But tonight’s episode is set in Venice, and any chance to get to see Venice up close is worth it. Even with a bunch of grumbling and fumbling reality-show competitors blocking much of the scenery.

2017

May

SOUNDTRACKS By David Bianculli

This reflective new documentary series trains its sights tonight on the shooting of students at Kent State University by the Ohio National Guard in 1970. The date was May 4 – a day far more worth remembering than “Star Wars day.” And musically, expect at least one unavoidable, unforgettable focal point: “Ohio,” the searing instant-response song by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

2017

May

THE GOLDBERGS By David Bianculli

Pop Quiz of the Day: Tonight’s episode of The Goldbergs is about the characters seeing, and reacting to, a frightening, Cold War-inspired ABC made-for-TV movie from 1983, called The Day After (pictured). It imagined a Soviet nuclear strike on the Midwestern U.S., and its aftermath. The pop quiz question is this: What other TV series, also set in the Eighties, presented the same basic plot last year, with its characters watching The Day After and reacting to it? (Hint: It wasn’t The R

2017

May

NATURE: "DOLPHINS: SPY IN THE POD" By David Bianculli

Part 1 of 2. Nature established an instant hit, earlier this season, by following scientists who designed intricate robotic approximations of animals and set them loose in the wild, to watch how actual animals interacted with them. Tonight and next week, Nature provides a reprise, and an underwater one at that, by photographing the fish and mammals who encounter the scientists’ ingeniously designed and operated mechanical dolphins. Sometimes, the dolphin footage they capture is completely

2017

May

FARGO By David Bianculli

This new season of Fargo started with an extended segment enacted entirely in German, set in East Berlin in the late Eighties. Tonight, in episode three, part of the show flashes back again – this time to the Seventies (pictured), the heyday of the sci-fi writer who, under another name, was just murdered because of a case of mistaken identity. Or, at least, mistaken address…

2017

May

BROCKMIRE By David Bianculli

Tonight’s episode is called “Road Trip,” and it sends Brockmire and his new minor-league employer, played by Amanda Peet (pictured), out to meet and greet their fans – and others. Based on their histories and personalities, not a great idea…

2017

May

FULL FRONTAL WITH SAMANTHA BEE: NOT THE WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS’ DINNER By David Bianculli

This is the first time since Saturday night’s live Samantha Bee special, Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, that TBS has found a place and time to repeat that show in its entirety. It’s definitely worth watching – and among its many pleasant surprises was how adept a character actress Bee was in her “period” standup routines, when she appeared in costume to play various female comics through the ages. But other elements of the show were even more bril

2017

May

YOU HEARD IT HERE LAST: I REVIEW A 35-YEAR-OLD TV SPECIAL By David Bianculli

The recent death of filmmaker Jonathan Demme reminded me of one of my favorite early works of his – a comedy-drama special made for TV in 1982, and a show which most obituary writers and columnists had overlooked completely. But I thought, partly because of that, it warranted a second look…

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