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

 
 
2019
Jan
7
 
 
Few shows walk the line between tragedy and humor as boldly as the British police drama No Offence...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Jan
7
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: Paul Abbott, creator of the original British version of Shameless, is back with more misbehaving, and frankly speaking, law-enforcement officers in Season 3 of this ongoing police drama, that’s almost equal parts very dark comedy. Joanna Scanlan, Elaine Cassidy and Will Mellor star – and this season’s plot has to do, in part, with a violent white supremacy group, and tensions surrounding a new mayoral campaign. For a full review, see David Hinckley's All Along
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Jan
7
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: This America’s Got Talent offshoot takes the current judges from that series – Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel and Mel B – and pairs them with new host Terry Crews for this basic all-star edition. So if you like this show, here’s a higher-octane version, bringing back some of the previous best acts from 194 countries, all of whom are hoping to be crowned the overall AGT champion. But if they’re from almost 200 countries, how does the title, m
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Jan
7
 
 
This new documentary visits, and revisits, a small town in North Dakota – Trenton, to be specific – and tries to measure what has and hasn’t happened to the town and its mostly farming residents since 2011. That’s when the big oil boom, and the discovery of rich natural resources beneath the ground in and around Trenton, tore the community apart. Some residents sold out to big oil interests, who flooded the area with workers and giant oil wells – while others refuse
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Jan
6
 
 
Today’s AFC Wild Card game features two teams whose franchises have moved from city to city – or whose cities have hosted more than one team throughout FL history. Los Angeles and Baltimore, now the respective homes of the Chargers and Ravens, do battle today. The Chargers have the better record, at 12-4, and also have super-hot quarterback Philip Rivers. But the Ravens, even with a 10-6 record, won their division and are hosting, and have a hot QB of their own: rookie Lamar Jackson.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Jan
6
 
 
The last time the Philadelphia Eagles were underdogs in the postseason, they won the Super Bowl. This year, the Eagles barely squeaked into the playoffs: The Chicago Bears have home-field advantage for this NFC wild-card game, and also have the better record: The Bears are 12-4, while the defending Super Bowl champs are a meager 9-7. Still, with Nick Foles at QB, the Eagles have another chance to defy expectations and fully embrace the role of the underdog.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Jan
6
 
 
The hosts this year are Sandra Oh, who’s riding very high thanks to Killing Eve, and Andy Samberg, whose Brooklyn Nine-Nine moves this week from Fox, where it’s been the past five years, to NBC, home of the televised Globes. For full-length Globe stories, see Alex Strachan's TV That Matters and Ed Bark's Uncle Barky's Bytes.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Jan
6
 
 
The new season of Victoria, starring Jenna Coleman as young Queen Victoria, arrives next Sunday on the PBS Masterpiece series – so tonight, as prelude and reminder, PBS presents the final three episodes from last season. These culminate with the “Comfort and Joy” episode, which has a surprising climax for a period drama series: an action sequence involving Prince Albert’s sudden collapse into the thin ice of a lake in winter, with Queen Victoria risking her own life to sa
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Jan
6
 
 
Okay, I give up. Two Sundays in a row now, I’ve screwed up by misidentifying episodes as finales. Two weeks ago, I called Escape at Dannemora a miniseries finale, when there was still one more episode to go. And last week, I thought it was the season finale of Ray Donovan, when it still had three episodes to go. All I can say is, it’s harder keeping track these days – and it’s far from my all-time journalistic error. That occurred in the late 1970s, when I reviewed an NBC
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Jan
5
 
 
There are four wild-card playoff games – two today, and two tomorrow – and this first contest among the four offers what may be the most interesting duel at the quarterback position. For the 11-5 Houston Texans, the QB is Deshaun Watson, who has thrown only two interceptions in his last 10 games. However, he’s also been sacked more than any other quarterback this season. And for the 10-6 Indianapolis Colts, QB Andrew Luck threw 39 touchdown passes this season, coming within one