Susan Stroman, Mel Brook’s collaborator on the musical stage version of his 1967 movie The Producers, directed this 2005 film version of their Tony-winning Broadway triumph. Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick reprise their stage roles, but Will Ferrell and Uma Thurman are imported to add some Hollywood sales clout – Ferrell as Franz Liebkind, and Thurman as the ultra-shapely Ulla.

2014

Jan

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: CLEMSON VS. OHIO STATE By David Bianculli

This particular postseason college contest used to be called the Orange Bowl. Now, in part of America’s corporate takeover, it’s called the Discover Orange Bowl, as though we will all be witness to a bright new color. The teams playing tonight are Clemson (10-2) and Ohio State (12-1), live from Miami’s Sun Life stadium.

2014

Jan

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER TIME By David Bianculli

Sorry if I seem to be pushing this particular concert special a bit too often, but T Bone Burnett’s assemblage of talent, tied to the Coen Brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis movie, delivers in a way that makes me tune in almost every time it’s televised. You may not know most of the music, or even most of the players, as this concert begins – but by the time it’s over, I suspect you’ll be thrilled, and impressed, by the folk music canon of the early 1960s and befor

2014

Jan

A BEAUTIFUL MIND By David Bianculli

Ron Howard directed this 2001 psychological drama, which gave Russell Crowe his breakout role as a troubled mathematician. Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris and Paul Bettany co-star, and the plot is clever enough to reward return viewers and first-timers alike.

2014

Jan

THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS COMEDY HOUR: THE BEST OF SEASON 3 By David Bianculli

How in the world did I overlook giving this set a Seal of Approval until now? When Time Life approached Tom and Dick Smothers about releasing best-of-season sets of their classic, influential Sixties variety series, the company wanted to begin sequentially, with Season 1, but Tom insisted upon starting with Season 3. It was his favorite, and he feared that a complete series might never follow – and damned if he wasn’t right, at least for now...

2014

Jan

COMEDIANS IN CARS GETTING COFFEE By David Bianculli

SEASON PREMIERE: A new season of Jerry Seinfeld’s online series begins on Crackle today (available any time) with a visit with Louis C.K., for which Paul Revere would have to light three lamps: unlike the British, Seinfeld and his guest, in this outing, arrive both by land and by sea. They tool around in both a car and a boat, but I doubt whether it’s a back-door spinoff: Comedians in Boats Getting Coffee sounds a bit too… let them eat cake-ish. This series as it is, though, i

2014

Jan

COMMUNITY By David Bianculli

SEASON PREMIERE: Last year, this series plodded on without its creator Dan Harmon, whose departure from the show was more the network’s idea than his own. Tonight, after a long fall hiatus, Community is back, and so is Harmon, with an episode that jumps forward in time for a Season 5 shuffling of the deck, or at least the premise. “We can ‘Repilot,’” one character says, employing the title of the episode itself. “Like Scrubs, Season 9!” And they do, thou

2014

Jan

THE BIG BANG THEORY By David Bianculli

Years ago on Chuck Lorre’s Two and a Half Men, Jon Cryer’s Alan had a beautiful, blonde, not very bright significant other named April (played entertainingly by April Bowlby), an aspiring actress who got a job on a TV pilot very much like CSI: Miami. Tonight on The Big Bang Theory, Kaley Cuoco, as Penny, gets a similar acting opportunity – on another CBS TV institution, NCIS.

2014

Jan

MASTERPIECE MYSTERY!: "SHERLOCK" By David Bianculli

This Season 2 opener of Sherlock introduced an adapted version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s memorable character of Irene Adler, embodied on television by Lara Pulver. And I do mean embodied, since Irene introduces herself to Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) in a way that’s intended to rattle him: totally nude. Oh, and it works. It’s elementary, my dear Watson. Check local listings.

2014

Jan

ELEMENTARY By David Bianculli

On the same day a Sherlock repeat featuring the character of Irene Adler shows up on PBS, a new episode of Elementary is presented, featuring the same character. But here, she’s played by Natalie Dormer, who also plays Margaery on HBO’s Game of Thrones – and she’s not only Irene Adler, but Adler herself also has been revealed to be Sherlock Holmes’ greatest adversary, Moriarty. Which means, in this CBS reboot of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle classic, that of the three

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