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
May
8
 
 
Last week’s resurrection of Jon Snow was so expected by fans, and so drawn out during the episode, that this weekend’s Saturday Night Live even mounted a drawn-out parody of it. But now that he’s back, the main characters can get back to business – and the business, on this series, is about to get very bloody very quickly.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
May
8
 
 
Last week’s season premiere of Penny Dreadful was a wonderful hour. Parts were chillingly creepy, and other parts were usually heartwarming. And new characters were introduced, including a flinty therapist played by Patti LuPone – playing her own descendant, and demanding attention as instantly and commandingly as Eliza Dushku has this season on Banshee. Other new characters are classic, in more than one sense, as we’ve been introduced to characters from both Dr. Jekyll & M
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
May
8
 
 
Only what’s really going on in Washington right now is more complicated, and in some ways comic, than what’s happening on this show, in which presidential candidate Selina (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) finds herself with a statistical tie in the electoral college, and seeing a recount in one close state race as her only way to claim the presidency. Martin Mull guest stars.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
May
8
 
 
After this week in politics, especially on the Republican side, a deconstruction is both welcome and necessary. Go for it, John…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
May
7
 
 
Ernie Hudson took a long and winding road to become Lily Tomlin’s boyfriend in Grace and Frankie. An interesting road. Inspirational. Not easy. It could also describe the acting profession in which he has spent his life...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
May
7
 
 
On a Saturday night, there are few better options than to dive into a repeat showing of Ken Burns’ tuneful, informative, often inspirational series celebrating America’s home-grown musical genre. Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
May
7
 
 
Dozens of variations on this 1950 movie have emerged over the years, but few manage to match the original. Bette Davis plays a veteran star who is befriended, used and betrayed by a young actress (Anne Baxter) intent on using the veteran performer as a stepping stone to achieve her own star status. Watch for Marilyn Monroe in a fleeting supporting role, just before achieving her own sudden stardom.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
May
7
 
 
New edition: Brie Larsen is tonight’s guest host, and the musical guest is Alicia Keys.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
May
7
 
 
The early film career of David Lynch, before he became a media phenomenon with Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks, included a disturbingly original 1977 film called Eraserhead, which impressed Mel Brooks so much that he backed Lynch’s first Hollywood feature, The Elephant Man. But long before that, Lynch was an art student at Philadelphia’s Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and dabbling in short films. His very first effort was way back in 1966, an animated short subject called Six Men
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
May
6
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: The series with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin is back for a second season, and this year there’s continued attention paid to Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston, as their respective ex-spouses who have found, in later life, new identities together as gay men in a new committed relationship. Both in the age of its stars and its central topic of life after retirement age, this Netflix comedy is offering something the traditional networks haven’t offered much since The Golden G