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

 
 
2011
Jun
29
 
 
There's still plenty of time to catch up on the Science Channel series Through the Wormhole, narrated by and starring Morgan Freeman, and enjoy his guided tour considering some of science's biggest questions. Freeman looks and sounds both authoritative and interested -- and over on CBS's The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,Ferguson's mechanical sidekick, Geoff -- a grinning skull with a mohawk -- pretty much has Freeman's number as an impressive, smart-sounding science guy...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Jun
29
 
 
Latest to pin down fall debut dates: CBS. The new comedy 2 Broke Girls gets a big Monday night curiosity tune-in following Ashton Kutcher's arrival on Two and a Half Men, while The Good Wife moves to Sunday following The Amazing Race and leading in to CSI: Miami. (Big question: Why?...)
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Jun
28
 
 
Yes, I'm back from Paris...I wrote were BEST BETS, while watching the view out my window of, sigh, the Notre Dame cathedral...And return to this column for a picture or two from Paris... including those magical time-travel steps in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Jun
27
 
 
Peter Falk, who died last week at age 83, embodied one of the most popular and durable characters in all of TV history, the mystery-solving sleuth of NBC's Columbo. There's a lot to love about Falk's characterization of the mumbling, fumbling but never bumbling Lieutenant Columbo -- and a lot to remember, too, including the time I had lunch with him and faced an unexpected pop quiz...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Jun
27
 
 
If there's a sharper, more passionate writer than Keith Olbermann working in television news today -- someone who wields the raw power of nouns and verbs better than he does -- I don't know who it is. Olbermann, whose second incarnation of Countdown with Keith Olbermann premiered June 20 on Current TV, has something else, too...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Jun
25
 
 
This year's Emmy Award nominees won't be announced until July 14, but the buzz about who should be nominated in what category has already kicked into high gear. So there is no time like the present to look back on the best series and performances of the last year and offer serious advice on who belongs where...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Jun
22
 
 
There are a few comedy standards you can always count on -- a rubber chicken, the spit take, Bugs Bunny in drag, and, of course, a talking dog. The latest competition for Family Guy's unassuming Labrador Retriever and writer, Brian Griffin, comes from the new FX series Wilfred, premiering this Thursday at 10 p.m. ET. Like Brian, Wilfred is a complex intellectual with problems of his own, way beyond the usual concerns of fetching and scratching...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Jun
20
 
 
Louis C.K.'s self-titled "Louie" is subtitled "misery loves company" and fortunately, we're able to oblige him in short comedies where life usually gets the upper hand. The second season debuts on FX June 23rd, at 10:30...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Jun
19
 
 
History Detectives starts its ninth PBS season this week (Tuesday 8 p.m. ET; check local listings), and that's notable for several reasons. The series has longevity, something the television business displays little of anymore. It has lasted because its premise -- discovering whether privately owned items have a historical significance -- is one-of-a-kind, and is produced in a way that genuinely holds a viewer's interest...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Jun
17
 
 
After hosting NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross on Friday, June 17, I'm heading home, packing up, and catching a plane to France, where I'm embarking on an uncharacteristic week-long vacation, courtesy of two sets of friends who are there to a) put me up, b) put up with me, and/or c) take me around...