Inhabiting Marilyn Monroe requires the look, the curves, the vulnerability and the breathy little girl intonations, not necessarily in that order. Kelli Garner checks out on all four in Lifetime’s The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe...

2015

May

HBO'S 'BESSIE': A SHOWCASE FOR QUEEN LATIFAH IN A SERVICEABLE BIOPIC By Ed Bark

According to HBO publicity materials, Bessie has been 22 years in the making. The movie charts the ups and downs of a vintage blues singer who died in 1937 at the age of 43...

2015

Apr

HBO'S 'THE CASUAL VACANCY' GETS AROUND TO EARNING ITS KEEP By Ed Bark

Contemptible men abound in J.K. Rowling’s “first novel for adults.” As for the only one who isn’t, well . . . he’s soon dead. The Casual Vacancy, a three-hour HBO miniseries is a decidedly bleak affair with a modicum of redemption...

2015

Apr

HBO'S 'GAME OF THRONES' STILL AT TOP OF ITS GAME By Ed Bark

So-called “event television” is seldom as advertised. But with HBO's Game of Thrones, this might be an understatement...

2015

Mar

BRACE YOURSELF FOR HBO'S SUPERLATIVE 'GOING CLEAR: SCIENTOLOGY AND THE PRISON OF BELIEF' By Ed Bark

HBO's Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, premiering Sunday night at 8 ET, is an extraordinary investigative documentary with the power to provoke anger, astonishment and any number of other strong emotions...

2015

Mar

ABC'S 'AMERICAN CRIME' SOARS ON THE STRENGTH OF ITS DARING, DAUNTING PREMISE By Ed Bark

Brace yourself for American Crime. This is one brave-ass series. Which couldn’t be said for a good long while about a Big Four broadcast network drama...

2015

Mar

THE BY-THE-BOOK ABCS OF 'CSI,' WITH OSCAR-WINNER PATRICIA ARQUETTE TAKING THE FOURTH By Ed Bark

There’s no need to feel unduly sorry for Patricia Arquette. Yes, she’s the newly crowned Best Supporting Actress Oscar-winner for Boyhood. And now, just when all these new doors are opening, she’s tied to a previous commitment to another formulaic CBS crime series. It’s a nice “problem” to have, though...

2015

Feb

LAND OF DISTINCTION: FOX'S 'THE LAST MAN ON EARTH' By Ed Bark

Keep the title in mind. It’s The Last Man On Earth, not the last human. So if you’re wondering what star Will Forte is going to do with all that post-apocalyptic time on his hands...well, there’s no need for that. Not even in the short run...

2015

Feb

ABC'S 'SECRETS AND LIES' IS A MURDER MYSTERY WITHOUT A STRONG ENOUGH PULSE By Ed Bark

The media hounds are omnipresent in the first two episodes of ABC’s Secrets and Lies. Not the “Social Media” ones, but the traditional pack of salivating, question-shouting curs. They bedevil “person of interest” Ben Crawford...

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Ed Bark

Since 2006, Ed Bark's local and national TV stories and observations have been showcased on his pioneering website, www.unclebarky.com. For 26 years before that, he was TV critic for the Dallas Morning News. He's a past president of the Television Critics Association, and for seven years served on the national Peabody Awards board.

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