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
Aug
5
 
 
On The Essentials tonight, guest co-host Tina Fey admits to always having had a crush on Gene Kelly, star of Singin’ in the Rain. And Kelly’s on view in this movie that’s paired tonight with Rain, though it’s a very, very different type of film. Inherit the Wind, filmed eight years after Singin’ in the Rain, features Kelly in a dramatic role, a supporting but key player in this intense play inspired by the infamous Scopes “monkey trial.” Evolution, educa
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Aug
5
 
 

Those ubiquitous Seinfeld reruns are just one of many places you’ll find Jason Alexander these days. He'll be in the new animated children's series Kody Kapow on the Sprout channel, and later this fall on the new Audience Network comedy Hit the Road...

 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Aug
4
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: This is so weird, it’s hard to describe, but here goes. It helps if you’ve been a fan of What’s Up, Tiger Lily?, like I have, for decades, because that Sixties Woody Allen film debut establishes a parallel – up to a point. In that film, Allen took an existing action film from the Pacific Rim, and dubbed it with intentionally incongruous and funny dialogue, to turn it into some absurd hunt for a secret recipe. Comrade Detective sort of does the same thing,
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Aug
4
 
 
DOCUMENTARY PREMIERE: Bryan Fogel, a cyclist and a filmmaker, learned firsthand what many good reporters learn while investigating their subjects: Go where the story takes you, even if you didn’t expect to go there. In his case, he set out to make a film about the effects of performance-enhancing drugs, and intentional doping, on athletes in the cycling world. What he ended up doing was uncovering proof of a deep-seated, organized doping scandal by Russian athletes at the 2014 Olympic Game
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Aug
4
 
 
SEASON FINALE: Tonight PBS presents a two-layer cake serving of this competitive baking show import: Two episodes, back to back, including the competitive, and usually emotional, season finale. But first, it’s Patisserie Week! Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Aug
4
 
 
SERIES RETURN: Bill Maher is back for the second half of Season 16. Good thing the news was quiet in his absence, so there won’t be too much to recap. And he’ll be off to a strong start, with former Vice President Al Gore as the opening guest, promoting his new documentary about climate change, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Aug
4
 
 
In this week’s episode of this anthology series from the Duplass brothers, James van der Beek plays one-half of a couple (Davie-Blue plays the other half), and the two of them use their time and location in a hotel room to play a joke on a pizza delivery boy. Or, perhaps, more than one joke. ("No anchovies? You've got the wrong man. I spell my name Danger!...")
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Aug
4
 
 
Like most spoof shows, Amazon’s Comrade Detective may have a finite life span. But the new series offers some clever moments out of the gate...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Aug
4
 
 
Steve Harvey defies ubiquitous. To say he's everywhere is to shortchange him. He somehow found time to appear late Thursday afternoon at NBC Universal's portion of the Television Critics Association press tour...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Aug
3
 
 
NBC entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt began his network's marquee panel with a bang Thursday at the Television Critics Association "press tour"...