Long before The Revenant and Leonardo DiCaprio, there was Jeremiah Johnson and Robert Redford. Watch this 1972 movie about survival in the wilderness, and compare and contrast –if you can bear it.
SEASON FINALE: In tonight’s season-ending episode, Jay (Ed O’Neill) decides to re-enter the workplace, yet finds it different than when he left. The episode title, “Double-Click,” refers to a very funny visual sight gag.
SEASON FINALE: Falling asleep in front of the TV set – an occupational hazard for TV critics – is the plot device that allows tonight’s season finale to present an extended dream sequence episode, in which the characters on the show all inhabit their loose counterparts from Good Times. Sometimes very loose counterparts, as the episode is titled “Good Times-ish.” Dyn-O-Mite!
This is the penultimate episode of this season, not even the season finale, yet it finds a way to include Elton John as a special guest star, performing with Gunnar. And yet not even this earned the show a renewal? Sigh.
In last week’s episode, Paige pushed her parents to get even closer to her bible-study teacher and his wife, to whom Paige revealed the truth about her parents being Soviet sleeper agents. That may have been tricky enough as is – but when the teacher goes missing while visiting a foreign country, his wife suspects the worst. And so does Paige… See Alex Strachan's TV That Matters for an appreciation.
David Bianculli has been a TV critic since 1975, including a 14-year stint at the New York Daily News, and sees no reason to stop now. Currently, he's TV critic for NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and is an occasional substitute host for that show. He's also an author and teaches TV and film history at New Jersey's Rowan University. His 2009 Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour', has been purchased for film rights. His latest, The Platinum Age of Television: From I Love Lucy to the Walking Dead, How TV Became Terrific, is an effusive guidebook that plots the path from the 1950s’ Golden Age to today’s era of quality TV.