Showtime’s new documentary on the legendary Motown record label sometimes plays as if the Wayans brothers should be standing in for the lead characters...

2019

Aug

SUMMER UNDER THE STARS: SHIRLEY MACLAINE By David Bianculli

Shirley MacLaine is the artist honored today by TCM’s “Summer Under the Stars,” and the roster of movies presented today and tonight includes several ones worth recording, revisiting or just plain enjoying and encountering. Today at 9:30 a.m. ET, TCM presents 1967’s Woman Times Seven, in which MacLaine plays seven different roles in a comedy anthology film. When it was shown originally on TV in the U.S., one of the seven segments was cut as being too risqu&eacut

2019

Aug

ATTENBOROUGH AND THE GIANT ELEPHANT By David Bianculli

The title of this nature documentary may sound like a children’s book, but I guarantee you, anything David Attenborough does is terrific television for the entire family. And whenever he’s not just narrating, but also on camera, it’s a can’t-miss treat. And this time, it’s about Jumbo the elephant, said to have inspired Walt Disney’s Dumbo.

2019

Aug

HITSVILLE: THE MAKING OF MOTOWN By David Bianculli

Showtime has carved out a strong niche for itself, presenting all manner of deep-dive documentaries on music and musicians. (Its recent two-part study of David Bowie was particularly impressive.) Tonight, it presents a new documentary about the birth and growth of Motown – a Supreme subject indeed. For a full review, see David Hinckley’s All Along the Watchtower.

2019

Aug

TOP HAT By David Bianculli

This 1935 Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers movie is one of the all-time great musicals – and the perfect example of how the genre combatted the Depression by allowing moviegoers a chance to escape to a world where everyone was glamorous, and sophisticated, and about to fall in love. Oh, and the music… There’s so much to love here, but let’s just mention three words: “Cheek to Cheek.” Or two words: this film’s title song.

2019

Aug

REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER By David Bianculli

Tonight’s scheduled guests include Michael Smerconish, the CNN host who had me on his SiriusXM show once to talk about my Platinum Age of Television book, and knocked me out with both his enthusiasm for and knowledge of deep-dive TV history. So I expect whatever questions Maher throws at him here, he’ll be well prepared.

2019

Aug

'JAWLINE' BRINGS US INTO THE RACE FOR INTERNET FAME By David Hinckley

Ever since the Lord invented small towns, some percentage of young folks born in those towns have had a hankering to get out...

2019

Aug

THIS OLD HOUSE 40TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL By David Bianculli

SPECIAL PREMIERE: It’s been 40 years since PBS began presenting one of TV’s original DIY home repair series. It also seems like 40 years since I’ve started redoing my own old house – but I digress. Check local listings.

2019

Aug

FREAKS By David Bianculli

Tod Browning’s 1932 movie is amazing – so strange, and singular, that it sticks with film students when I show it to them in classes even today. It’s about the so-called “freaks” at a circus sideshow, and the clear moral is that the “normal-looking” humans, for the most part, are the actual monsters. These “freaks,” by contrast, form a loving, loyal, and protective family. One of us! One of us!

2019

Aug

WHILE YOU'RE LAUGHING YOU'LL BE PULLING FOR THE SISTERS OF 'THIS WAY UP' By David Hinckley

There’s been another Sharon Horgan sighting, which means we need to brace ourselves for a comedy wherein some parts get incredibly sad...

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