DAVID BIANCULLI

Founder / Editor

ERIC GOULD

Associate Editor

LINDA DONOVAN

Assistant Editor

Contributors

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MIKE HUGHES

KIM AKASS

MONIQUE NAZARETH

ROGER CATLIN

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TOM BRINKMOELLER

GERALD JORDAN

NOEL HOLSTON

 
 
2019
Dec
1
 
 
In tonight’s episode, the title character (played so winningly by Kathryn Hahn) gets distracted by a series of increasingly frank and sexy texts – which may or may not be coming from the former high-schooler who was tormented not so long ago by her bullying son.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Dec
1
 
 
This long-running arts interview program, hosted for about a quarter-century by James Lipton, has moved from Bravo to Ovation, and Lipton, while remaining involved with the show, has turned over on-air duties to a series of guest hosts. Tonight, that guest host is Kelsey Grammer, and his guest is James Burrows, the best TV comedy director of a couple of television generations now. Not only did he direct Grammer in all of Frasier, and Cheers before that, but Burrows other prominent
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Nov
30
 
 
When the original copyright was allowed to lapse on this 1946 holiday movie, it was all over the place during the Christmas season – and I do mean all over, because even local broadcast stations and low-rent cable channels could run It’s a Wonderful Life for free. No rights fees. Every ad they crammed into the telecast, and there were plenty, amounted to 100 percent pure profit. What could be more perfect for the commercialization of the season than that? But when NBC and U
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Nov
29
 
 
TCM realizes that, the day after Thanksgiving, lots of people have the day off, and may want to spend a few hours entertained by their TV sets. Presto: an all-day marathon of Pink Panther movies. The best ones, the ones with Peter Sellers starring as Inspector Jacques Clouseau, the role that he made his own (even though others adopted it after he quit the Blake Edwards comedy film franchise). And the fun here starts early, with the two 1964 comedy gems, The Pink Panther and&n
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Nov
29
 
 
Here’s another example of why Graham Norton continues to reign over television’s most entertaining and genuine talk show. By bringing his guests on all at the same time, he allows for moments of true spontaneity, and interactions you won’t witness anywhere else. Tonight’s guests include Elizabeth Banks, Ricky Gervais and singer Kylie Minogue, all of whom have been on Norton’s show before – but not together. In her most recent appearance, Banks was surprised wh
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Nov
28
 
 
TV critics are used to pomp and hype, to overstuffed praise for shows in development. So it's refreshing when we get the opposite: That was the day Fred Rogers showed up...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Nov
28
 
 
I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade – and it looks like relatively good weather for today’s outdoor festivities in New York City, so here it is. The parade is broadcast live, as usual, by NBC – but not even NBC Radio, which was founded in 1926, was around when the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade was held in 1924. The country’s first Thanksgiving Parade held in a major city, though, was in Philadelphia, which held its first celebration in 1920.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Nov
28
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: I don’t have the slightest idea why Apple TV+ didn’t include this spooky new M. Night Shyamalan series when the streaming service launched earlier this month, because it’s better than The Morning Show or anything else the service has offered thus far. Well, actually, that may explain it, because had Servant rolled out with all the other new Apple TV+ shows November 1, it would have eclipsed them all. I don’t have an explanation, though
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Nov
28
 
 
This marks the 80th anniversary of this all-time classic family film, which premiered in 1939. On this occasion, Thanksgiving night, TBS is showing it twice to families curling up around the TV after dinner – once at 6 p.m. ET, and again at 8:15. Both showings are hosted, for the evening, by Angela Lansbury.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Nov
28
 
 
And once the Thanksgiving turkey has been carved and ingested, it’s time for two other holiday traditions: pumpkin pie, and TV’s first Christmas specials. And right on time, Starz presents an 8 p.m. ET showing of 2009’s Disney’s A Christmas Carol, showcasing the voices of Jim Carrey (no Mickey, no cartoons: what the Dickens?), shifting the focus from Thanksgiving to the next major holiday, not counting Black Friday. Pumpkin pie not included…