Once again, Lena Dunham, as both writer and star of this series, dares to go someplace different and not always flattering or politically correct. In tonight’s new episode, trying to please an editor who encourages her to write edgy stories based on her own experiences as a young New Yorker, seeks out cocaine to describe her first experiment with that drug – but it ends up being anything but a controlled experience.

2013

Jan

RIPPER STREET By David Bianculli

It’s only the second episode of this series, and already there’s a special guest star: Joseph Gilgun from Misfits, playing a heavily tattooed bad guy who gets close to brothel owner Long Susan (MyAnna Buring). Her reasons for wanting to get closer, though, are much different than his.

2013

Jan

AN IDIOT ABROAD 3 By David Bianculli

Karl Pilkington and Warwick Davis continue their oil-and-water traveling circus, this week going to India, where Pilkington gets to regale Davis with tales of how much he hated his previous visit. Davis, meanwhile, is determined to look on the bright side – though, with dour Karl along, that’s never easy, even when you take him to an outdoor "Happy yoga" session. It is, however, quite entertaining. And if you missed last week’s season premiere, you can catch up. It’s repe

2013

Jan

LORD OF THE FLIES By David Bianculli

Long, long before The Hunger Games, children were fighting for survival in this 1963 adaptation of the William Golding novel. As a matter of fact, it predates, and prefigures by decades, Lost as well. After a plane crashes on a remote island, the survivors split into tribes and work to both survive and conquer one another.

2013

Jan

THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW By David Bianculli

Among the guests on this week’s show is one very familiar guest: Denzel Washington, fresh off his searingly good performance in Flight. Here, though, it’s wild-man host Graham Norton who will try to turn everything upside down.

2013

Jan

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE By David Bianculli

Tonight’s guest host, on this new edition, is Adam Levine. He’s not the musical guest, though: That would be Kendrick Lamar. A few days ago, one of my college students identified Lamar as his favorite musical artist, and I had to admit I’d never heard of him. Now I have. Good for Lamar, for hitting the mainstream. And good for my student, for being ahead of the curve.

2013

Jan

'VOICE' LESSONS: THOUSANDS VIE FOR A CHANCE TO FACE THE SWIVEL CHAIRS By Noel Holston

There were no high-tech swivel chairs at the recent Atlanta auditions for the forthcoming edition of NBC’s The Voice. Just one anonymous talent scout and a long, long line...

2013

Jan

DOCTOR WHO: THE SNOWMEN By David Bianculli

This is a repeat of the most recent Doctor Who Christmas special, but it’s worth a second look – or especially a first one, if you missed it over the holidays. The Doctor (Matt Smith), after what happened to his previous companions, is in a world-class funk. Or, in the case of this intergalactic fantasy series, a worlds-class funk. Either way, it takes something big to startle him out of his ennui. One thing: a potential new companion. The other: killer snowmen.

2013

Jan

SHAKESPEARE UNCOVERED By David Bianculli

SERIES PREMIERE: This six-hour documentary series focuses on different aspects of different plays and genres of William Shakespeare. Two installments are shown each Friday, beginning with tonight’s double feature on Macbeth (hosted by Ethan Hawke) and The Comedies (hosted by Joely Richardson). The drawback is that these shows spend too much time on the hosts. The asset: Each hour presents tastes from previous TV and cinematic treatments of Shakespeare’s plays. And while most of the c

2013

Jan

$ By David Bianculli

First, look and see if you have Cinemoi on your cable or satellite service (DirecTV is its major home in the States right now.) It’s supposed to be a channel showing subtitled French films to U.S. audiences, but it shows a lot more than that. Here, for instance, it presents one of my favorite crime-caper films from the Seventies: 1971’s $, an American movie, filmed in Germany, starring Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn. He plays a bank manager who plans an inside job to rob certain custo

Posts 31-40 of 204

3 4 5 6 7

New From TVWW

PBS' 'Frontline’ Examines Pension Promises and — Spoiler Alert — Finds the Math Doesn’t Add Up

The Decadence of ‘Versailles’ Comes to Ovation

Prescribing Mamie Gummer in 'Emily Owens, M.D.'

Looking for a Free Ride? HBO Can Deliver

'Pass the Biscuits' Part of the Hatfield-McCoy Pop-Culture Legacy

Dispatches From TVWW

'Extinction: The Facts' is a Sobering Call to Action

How 'Mayans' Has Been Influenced by the Show's Creator Elgin James

For Whom the Bell Tolls: Ken Burns and Lynn Novick Take on Ernest Hemingway, the Man and the Myth

In the Final Season, Sutton Foster's Liza is Now the Genuine Version of Her 'Younger' Self

Season 2 of 'City on a Hill' Returns with Kevin Bacon, Aldis Hodge, and Boston Corruption