MOVIE PREMIERE: Director Mike Flanagan, whose credits include Oculus and Gerald’s Game, directed this horror movie starring Jacob Tremblay as a boy taken in by foster parents Kate Bosworth and Thomas Jane. Originally, it was his next project after hitting it big with the imaginatively scary Oculus, and was slated for release by Relativity in 2015 – but never surfaced, reportedly because of that company’s financial problems. Like A Nightmare on Elm Street, it’s about a you

2018

Jan

ROTTEN By David Bianculli

DOCUMENTARY SERIES PREMIERE: If you were watching political coverage at the end of 2017, no matter where on TV you were watching, you might have thought of that saying, “Laws are like sausages. It’s better not to see them being made.” Well, in this new six-part Netflix documentary, the reverse is true, and Rotten shows you, in often intentionally uncomfortable detail, how sausages are made. And how fish are caught, and chickens are raised, and crops are grown, and all the other

2018

Jan

CHILD SUPPORT By David Bianculli

SERIES PREMIERE: This new game show is a throwback of sorts to Kids Say the Darndest Things, a feature presented originally on the radio and TV versions of Art Linkletter’s House Party – but that was back in the Forties, Fifties, and Sixties. A revival ran decades later, in the late Nineties, but that was hosted by Bill Cosby, whose legacy is a lot more problematic at the moment. (And probably forever.) But Ricky Gervais still sees the value, and the humor, in having adults listen to

2018

Jan

MARVEL'S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. By David Bianculli

In tonight’s episode, the intergalactic gladiator games that are staged in this alternate future timeline (just go with it, because I don’t have the timeline to explain) put Daisy at dead center – with plans for her to fight to the death, and perhaps destroy chunks of populations and planets in the offing when unleashing her untested powers as Quake. Also in tonight’s episode, but behind the scenes, series star Clark Gregg, who plays Coulson, makes his directorial debut.

2018

Jan

DELIVERANCE By David Bianculli

John Boorman directed this 1972 film version of James Dickey’s poetic thriller of a novel, about four suburban weekend warriors on a canoe trip down south, braving a winding river before it’s flooded by a dam land reclamation project. On camera, though, Deliverance becomes both a thing of beauty – the way the river and the scenery are shot is breathtaking – and a thing of terror. I saw this movie more than 45 years ago, and still wince at the phrase “purty mouth.&rd

2018

Jan

'BREAKING BAD' TURNS 10, BUT HAS A PAST AND A FUTURE: THAT'S 'SAUL,' FOLKS By David Bianculli

AMC’s Breaking Bad turns 10 years old this month, which its network is celebrating by repeating the entire series, in sequence, on weekends through the end of January. The celebration is richly deserved, and not only for the way the series advanced the evolution of quality TV in general, and AMC in particular. Breaking Bad also happens to be, in my opinion, the best TV drama series ever presented. It’s got brilliantly written and performed characters, its photography is as

2018

Jan

TCA'S WINTER PRESS TOUR – DAY 1 By Roger Catlin

There was a bit of excitement as the TV Critics Association (TCA) winter press tour began Thursday — and not just because so many out of town reporters managed to get to Pasadena before the wintery bomb cyclone hit the Northeast...

2018

Jan

'THE GOOD PLACE,' SEASON TWO, PART TWO By David Hinckley

Watching The Good Place gets gooder and gooder...

2018

Jan

THE BIG BANG THEORY By David Bianculli

In this new episode, Sheldon and Amy continue their wedding plans, and set out on a mission to decide which of their friends deserve which positions of honor in the actual ceremony. How to decide? Scientifically, of course – by conducting a series of secret experiments.

2018

Jan

THE FOUR: BATTLE FOR STARDOM By David Bianculli

SERIES PREMIERE: Fox begins 2018 by unveiling its newest singing competition show, an American variant of a successful TV series from Israel. For the U.S., the host is Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas, and the judges include Sean Combs and Meghan Trainor. The supposed twist is that the series begins in the middle, essentially, with the four “finalists” already chosen as the show begins – and forced to defend their individual perches as finalists against new opponents who t

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