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

 
 
2018
Nov
13
 
 
Last week, this series delved into the origins of the psychic triplets – and provided some interesting surprises. For one thing, they aren’t triplets, but clones. For another, there used to be five of them, but two were killed as the rest escaped from the facility that created them. This drama about mutants on the run continues to shift in interesting ways, with its characters’ allegiances as well as their actions and motivations.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Nov
13
 
 
“STELLLLLL-AAAAA!” Marlon Brando changed acting immediately, and for generations, with this electrifyingly animalistic portrayal of Stanley Kowalski in this 1951 adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play. Elia Kazan directs, honing in on all the angst and misery, and Brando is matched, in fire and fury and in tortured silences, by Vivien Leigh as Blanche DuBois and Kim Hunter as Stanley’s passionate spouse, whose name, in this movie’s most indelible scene, he screams to t
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Nov
13
 
 
To celebrate episode number 100, Blackish goes purplish. Or, at least, finds a way to celebrate the music and impact of Prince, and how his music, in tonight’s new installment, got Bow and Dre together in the first place. Along the way, virtually every cast member gets to act a little Princely.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Nov
13
 
 
In this new episode, we see, for the first time, some very old drama: Flashbacks to the early road trip that ignited the sparks between Jack and Rebecca.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Nov
12
 
 
Nat Geo’s ambitious hybrid docudrama Mars seems to focus more on the drama and less on the "docu" part as its second season begins...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Nov
12
 
 
Yes, I’ve just co-edited (with Doug Howard) a book on TV finales, which is called, fittingly enough, TV Finales: From Howdy Doody to Girls...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Nov
12
 
 
This week marks the beginning of this cycle’s live playoffs, when the remaining 24 singers – six from each team – fight, and sing, for survival. More important, switching to a live format means that segments can’t be edited, and judges must be aware and respectful of the time allotted for each portion. And the way judge Kelly Clarkson free-associates and freely (and charmingly) gabs, the level of unpredictability from now on is ramped up considerably.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Nov
12
 
 
This new HBO documentary asks a simple yet provocative question: What determines the value of art, financially if not aesthetically? (True story: I asked this same question firsthand as a young TV critic in the late 1970s. I visited the then-extant Dudley Do-Right Emporium on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood then, and saw a Rocky & Bullwinkle animated cel on sale for $50. That seemed a high price to pay for a simple group shot of Rocky, Bullwinkle, Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale, so I passed.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Nov
12
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: Is there life on Mars? Well, in the cliffhanger to last season’s National Geographic series – an unusual combination of nonfiction interviews with experts and a scripted dramatization of what a manned mission to the red planet might entail – there was a discovery of life on Mars. The scripted, fictional part of this show, that is. And tonight, that story, and that mission, continues, as do the real-life questions and considerations discussed by the people inter
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Nov
11
 
 
The end is near! Well, actually, the ends are near – because this Friday, Nov. 16, as a tie-in with the publication of a new book I’ve co-edited, New Jersey’s Rowan University presents an all-day, absolutely free Finale Fest…