New DVD Releases of Old TV Shows Featuring Mel Brooks and David Steinberg Are a Riot -- And Still Seem Capable of Inspiring One

They're old TV shows, newly released on DVD, and they're both hilarious - but they're not sitcoms. They're talk shows: one is a seminar that gathers most of the writers who worked on Sid Caesar's comedy programs of the 50s and 60s, the other is an old episode of The David Susskind Show that invites its prominent guests to explore the topic How to Be a Jewish Son. The former features Carl Reiner, Larry Gelbart and Neil Simon. The latter features David Steinberg and George Segal. And both are stolen, in their own way, by Mel Brooks... (more)

	WAIT UNTIL DARK TCM, 8 p.m. ET New York is the location highlighted in tonight’s “31 Days of Oscar” tribute on TCM. It begins with this 1967 thriller, starring Audrey Hepburn as a blind woman terrorized, in and around her walk-down city apartment, by a sadistic thug (Alan Arkin). Great, still-scary, still-clever movie. And it’s followed by four others, including 1960’s The Apartment at 10 p.m. ET and 1975’s Three Days of the Condor at 12:15 a.m.
	SMASH NBC, 9 p.m. ET SERIES PREMIERE: If you missed Monday’s premiere episode of this entertaining and ambitious new drama series, starring Katharine McPhee as a talented hopeful auditioning for a Broadway play about Marilyn Monroe, you can see it here, in this same-week repeat. And you can read my full review HERE, in what amounts to another same-week repeat.
	AN IDIOT ABROAD 2: THE BUCKET LIST Science Channel, 10 p.m. ET Tonight’s new program itinerary sends Karl Pilkington to Alaska, in search of whales. Sounds lovely – but instead of booking him on an excursion tour on a chartered boat, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant send him on a fishing boat – and make him earn his keep, cutting octopus tentacles and other duties, until he’s sick of them. Literally sick of them.
	SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE NBC, 11:29 p.m. ET Zooey Deschanel is the guest host, appearing for the first time – and she’s a guest who can both act funny and sing well, so there’s a lot of possibility here. And the musical guest is Karmin, the YouTube sensation (well, one of them) that came to the fore by doing very clever covers of the songs of others.
	KRAMER vs. KRAMER TCM, 4:45 a.m. ET Here’s the final New York movie of the night on TCM – and this 1979 movie, starring Dustin Hoffman as a young father trying to deal with unexpected single parenthood, is worth watching (or setting your recorder to catch) for plenty of reasons other than the Manhattan scenery. It features terrific performances by Hoffman, and by Meryl Streep as the mostly absent mother who asks for a divorce. Streep won an Oscar for her role here, and another for Sophie’s Choice in 1982. But since then, that slacker actress hasn’t won a single Best Actress Oscar in 29 years. So maybe this year, thanks to her nomination for The Iron Lady, you can root for her wholeheartedly – as the underdog.

« Previous | Next »

Me-TV and Antenna TV Make It Possible to Relive CBS's Legendary 1973-74 Saturday Night Comedy Lineup Five Nights a Week

Ed Martin

It's only four years old, and isn't available everywhere -- at least not yet -- but the relatively new nostalgia network Me-TV already has done something remarkable. It has made it possible for anyone old enough to remember CBS's legendary 1973-74 Saturday night comedy lineup to relive three-quarters of that singularly sensational viewing experience Monday thru Friday from 7:30-9:30 p.m. ET . . . (more)

Don't Get Fooled Again? ABC's 'The River' Makes One Feel 'Lost' Anew

Ed Bark

Whatever the lessons of Lost, they seem lost on ABC. Because here comes another otherworldly, string-along drama series whose humans are at the mercy of mysterious unseen forces that include a demon spirit reminiscent of "The Smoke Monster" . . . (more)

Traveling the 'Downton Abbey' Road: Where It Came From, and Why Viewers Are Watching

Noel Holston

When you're alone and life is making you lonely, you can always go... Down-tonnnn! Okay, I've gotten that out of the way, my worst pun of the year. So far. But let's do talk about Downton Abbey, the most watched and talked-about series PBS has had since, oh, The Civil War . . . (more)

Win or Lose, New England Knows Both Very Well

Eric Gould

Make a casual check into the all-time most watched television broadcasts, and you'll quickly find that about half of them are Super Bowls. And the focus is, once again, on the Boys from Boston. This modern American spectacle has it all: brute force, high-flying athletic ability, luxury sports palaces, dolled-up cheerleaders and, this year, Madonna . . . (more)

TUBE-TIED: Nonstop 'Simpsons'!

Could you watch 500 episodes of The Simpsons in a row? As in 24/7 nonstop? That's what hardcore fans are doing in Hollywood, trying to beat the Guinness world record for TV viewing. The Simpsons Ultimate Fan Marathon Challenge started Wednesday at 5 p.m. ET with 100 contenders, and two nights later, just 29 diehards were still in the mix watching episodes from Season 7 . . . (more)

HOT SPOTS: Super Bowl Ads!

When it comes to the Super Bowl, the NFL's big clash sometimes seems less about pigskin than about advertising. Sponsors fight to stand out among the fusillade of spots coming at viewers on the most-watched program of the year. Here's some ratings perspective . . . (more)

AGATHA CHRISTIE'S POIROT

Now on Blu-ray -- David Suchet's dapper Belgian detective in sets for Series 1 and Series 2, with Series 3 due on HD March 6.

Click for more

Sign up for a
FREE subscription
for TVWW updates