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

 
 
2010
Sep
30
 
 
Hollywood mourns, and Turner Classic Movies shuffles its schedule. Tributes to both movie/TV director Arthur Penn, who died Tuesday at 88, and golden-age star Tony Curtis, who died Wednesday at 85, have been inserted into TCM's October lineup...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Sep
29
 
 
It was easy to wonder whether something of a gastronomic nor'easter was brewing last week in the exclusive East Hampton community in which Ina Garten lives, after "30 Rock" trained its parody rifle on The Barefoot Contessa herself and her husband...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Sep
29
 
 
As we near the end of 2010, television certainly doesn't seem that interested in remembering its own past, much less celebrating it. But someone should... so here we are. Did you know, for example, that today -- Wednesday, Sept. 29 -- is the golden anniversary of the premiere of My Three Sons?... Or that, this weekend, The Andy Griffith Show also turns 50?...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Sep
28
 
 
Today's such a busy day, even by my standards, that I barely have time to type what's going on. But since I do, I will. Starting with the fact that today, I host NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and conduct two TV-related interviews. We start off with Terence Winter, creator of HBO's Boardwalk Empire, and conclude with Jim Parsons, Emmy-winning star of CBS's The Big Bang Theory...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Sep
28
 
 
The conversation still is vivid in my mind. CBS had just previewed Scarecrow and Mrs. King for television critics from across the country and the hour-long drama looked as though it would be popular...The time was 1983, and African American actors still were pushed to the margins when television networks looked to fill leading dramatic roles. The reasons, though, seemed flimsy...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Sep
28
 
 
I can't figure this one out. A recent CBS news release announced the network was planning to broadcast a weekend daytime religious program called "Faith in Action: Young People Making a Difference." I didn't know such things still were being made...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Sep
28
 
 
Wow. That didn't take long. Lone Star is dead. Not after a lone episode, but after just two. Fox plugged the plug Tuesday by scheduling Lie to Me for an early return next week in the Texas saga's Monday 9 p.m. ET time slot. Critics like me extolled Lone Star, but apparently we're the only ones who watched it...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Sep
27
 
 
This is getting ridiculous, this "Spoiler Alert" hypersensitivity. Now that VCRs and DVRs and DVDs have given everyone the opportunity to watch what they want to watch when they want to watch it, now some of them want to be protected from their enjoyment being spoiled before they DO watch it. Within limits, that makes sense But guess what, folks? There ARE limits...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Sep
26
 
 
Let me begin this article the way I imagine Ken Burns would want me to -- with some context. In 1993, William Jefferson Clinton was sworn in as the 42nd President of the United States. In the Middle East, PLO leader Yasser Arafat signed a peace agreement with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. In Walpole, NH, and in New York City, filmmaker Ken Burns was putting the finishing touches on his definitive 18-hour documentary about America's pastime, Baseball. And in Philadelphia...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Sep
24
 
 
Eastbound & Down returns this Sunday (10:30 p.m. ET on HBO) with Danny McBride taking another turn as the obnoxious, washed-up major league pitcher who looks like he's getting another chance at pro ball in the Mexican league...