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

 
 
2016
Feb
22
 
 
You might think there are only so many ways to tell a police drama, until TV shows like Suspects prove different. Suspects sets itself apart because all its dialogue is improvised...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Feb
22
 
 
Just a reminder: Hulu is streaming 11.22.63, the Stephen King miniseries starring James Franco as a man who travels back in time hoping to prevent the John F. Kennedy assassination, the way the broadcast networks show their series: One episode a week. So tonight is episode two – and if you missed episode one, you can catch up by traveling back in time to last Monday’s premiere. Or, I guess, you can just go to the Hulu website, where last week’s episode, along with tonight&rsquo
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Feb
22
 
 
LIMITED SERIES FINALE: Limited series, miniseries, rebooted series, sequel series – whatever this six-episode X-Files of 2016 is, it ends tonight. And ends the same way it began: With Joel McHale guest starring as a conspiracy theorist with a TV show, and with a story circulating about the government’s secret program of injecting innocent civilians with DNA from aliens.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Feb
22
 
 
We’ve already had a very recent Mike Nichols tribute on American Masters, and this one, like that one, relies largely on an extended interview with Nichols himself. The difference here is that it focuses on his early life, and the very start of his career as a film director after his comedy and stage work. And since that part of his life was as fascinating as the rest of it, why not tune in to compare and contrast?
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Feb
22
 
 
Last week’s Season Two premiere was wonderful, and set Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk) up at a new place of business, with a new boss (Ed Begley, Jr.), a company car, and other perks that far outshine illegally obtained cucumber water. So why is there this feeling that things aren’t going to go well for Jimmy? Oh – because we know they won’t, or he wouldn’t, in time, become Saul Goodman. Bob Odenkirk stars.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Feb
22
 
 
Last week’s second episode was much stronger than the premiere, with one segment lengthy and detailed enough to seem almost John Oliver-ish, and with Samantha Bee making strong comedy points about both the Supreme Court vacancy and the actual demographic makeup of Syrian refugees. If her learning curve continues to be as steep, tonight’s third outing will be really strong – and really, really funny.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Feb
21
 
 
If you only saw the last five minutes of Downton Abbey Sunday, it would have been a little like showing up for World War I on Armistice Day. You’d look around, see all the relieved happy faces and think, “Well, everything seems fine. Nothing bad happened before this, did it?”...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Feb
21
 
 
Sacha Baron Cohen’s new The Brothers Grimsby is now out in theaters, and we’ve been riffing on old clips from his HBO series Da Ali G Show for a couple of weeks now. (Booyakasha!)... Cohen is brilliant at maneuvering and improvising on the spot — and it’s no surprise he got himself in front of none other than the seeming next Republican presidential nominee to gleefully pitch a new business idea...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Feb
21
 
 
On that night in 1991,  I claimed the big TV in the house. That 30-inch set. All mine. Cue Oscar themed music...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Feb
21
 
 
The milestone in the title actually was reached last year, but other than a few cranky TV critics, who’s counting? The original Disneyland series on ABC started in 1955, even before the theme park bearing its name was opened to the public – and has given us many iterations of Disney anthology series and children’s shows over the past six decades. And this two-hour special embraces the movies, too. Enjoy? Absolutely. Among the guests: The Lion King composer Elton John.