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

 
 
2019
Sep
26
 
 
Tetanus shots are more fun. Still, some sort of inoculation might be needed after watching Patricia Heaton striving to survive this new hospital comedy...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Sep
25
 
 
Stumptown might just help get us past the tragic demise of Jessica Jones...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Sep
25
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: Last season, when Fox unveiled its American remake of this weird Korean TV hit, host Nick Cannon pretended not to be thrown by any of the strangeness – not by the ornate yet tacky costumes worn by the anonymous “masked singer” competitors, and not by the judges’ laughably optimistic and unrealistic guesses about which celebrities might be hiding underneath their disguises. (“It’s Beyoncé!” screamed one. Yeah, right. Why not Bruce
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Sep
25
 
 
CONCLUSION. This is Episode 8, the concluding chapter of Ken Burns’ newest documentary epic. He and writer Dayton Duncan have opted to end their series in the year 1996, so it doesn’t cover the most recent 23 years of country music history. But its historical perspective does linger just long enough to present the start of the final chapter of Johnny Cash’s amazing artistic journey – when, in 1994, he teamed with producer Rick Rubin for American Recordings, the
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Sep
25
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: Cobie Smulders, who has successfully negotiated both the silly romantic comedy of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother and the action-movie requirements of the Marvel Avengers franchise, stars in this new drama series. It’s based on a graphic novel, and set in Portland, and presents Smulders as Dex, a war veteran with a past, a drinking problem, and some apparent PTSD – like an ABC version of Netflix’s Marvel heroine from another illustrated
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Sep
25
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: It’s astounding, really, but this is the Season 23 opener for South Park. And it’s still dancing on the edges of controversy and current events: Tonight’s episode is titled “Mexican Joker,” and has ice coming to the small South Park community of Colorado. No, wait – that wouldn’t be unusual. ICE. It’s not frozen weather, it’s immigration patrol – as in ICE.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Sep
25
 
 
I didn’t like last week’s season premiere much: This new story, 1984, seems like little more than an excuse to wallow in the slasher genre of the Eighties. But there is more going on here: the serial killer who has come to terrorize the summer camp is the so-called Night Stalker, played by Zach Villa (pictured). He was an actual serial killer in 1984-85 (real name Richard Ramirez), and the character also has appeared, as a ghost, in American Horror Story: Hotel. M
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Sep
25
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: This new series from FXX is a sort of Short Attention Span Theater – or, if you prefer, a self-contained, self-programmed alternative to YouTube. Some of the short pieces that are slices of Cake are animated. Others are live action. But all are very brief, so if you don’t like one, stick around. As with Robot Chicken,something even stranger is just around the bend…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Sep
25
 
 
Two previous sitcom inhabitants get top billing in ABC’s tough-as-nails Stumptown. The only one of real import is former How I Met Your Mother co-star Cobie Smulders...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Sep
24
 
 
Episode 6. Tonight’s installment includes one of the best and most dramatic segments of the entire miniseries. And believe it or not, it’s about Dolly Parton: Behind her self-deprecating stage presence and appearance, it turns out there’s quite a story there. And quite a songwriter, too… Check local listings.