In this week’s episode, An Idiot Abroad reluctant traveler Karl Pilkington travels some more – in this specific instance, to examine some global approaches to marriage, and to re-examine his own thoughts on the topic. (Thoughts which, since he’s been living with the same woman, without marrying her, for 20 years now, may be somewhat intractable.)

2014

Jan

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE By David Bianculli

Jonah Hill returns to guest host for the third time, hot on the heels of his co-starring role in Martin Scorsese’s Wolf of Wall Street. Musical guest: Bastille.

2014

Jan

MOYERS & COMPANY By David Bianculli

I couldn’t think of anyone better, or more charismatic, to carry on Carl Sagan’s Cosmos series and legacy than astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who matches wits, and wit, so well with Bill Moyers on this show, they ought to think about starring in the talk-show equivalent of a buddy movie. Their conversation began last week – and went so well, it’s going into overtime with tonight’s installment. It seems only fitting: their cosmic conversation, likes the un

2014

Jan

MITT By David Bianculli

For now, Netflix has earned the right to be noted whenever it makes a programming step, so let’s note this: Its newest exclusive offering, a documentary about the presidential campaign of Mitt Romney, is unveiled today. But it’s unveiled at the odd hour of 11 a.m. ET – and presents a look at the losing candidate of an election that took place two years ago. Before this, when was the last time you read a media mention of Mitt Romney? My point exactly. As attention-getting moves

2014

Jan

BLAZING SADDLES By David Bianculli

In Mel Brooks’ 1974 comedy triumph of a Western spoof, Cleavon Little plays Black Bart – technically, black Bart – who, at one point, extricates himself from a mob of bigots by holding himself hostage at gunpoint. And it works. So does the rest of the movie, from its infamous campfire scene to its shatter-the-fourth-wall climax. Gene Wilder, Harvey Korman, Madeline Kahn and Brooks himself co-star.

2014

Jan

THE REAL MARY POPPINS By David Bianculli

Pamela Travers, who wrote Mary Poppins under the name P.L. Travers, is profiled in this public television special – which finds the room, and the time, to present clips from the current Disney movie, Saving Mr. Banks, about the long process of turning her book into a film. Check local listings.

2014

Jan

REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER By David Bianculli

Tonight’s guests include Erin Brockovich – the real one, not Julia Roberts, who played her in the movie of the same name – and Willie Nelson. Hmm. Willie Nelson and Bill Maher together, with marijuana legalization as part of the national news cycle. What will they talk about?

2014

Jan

FOR BILL COSBY, CAN LIGHTNING STRIKE THRICE? I TOLD CNN THIS… By David Bianculli

So Bill Cosby has signed with NBC to star in a new series. After making major TV history for NBC twice already, with I Spy and The Cosby Show, can he do it again?...

2014

Jan

NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE By David Bianculli

This 1978 comedy showed how movies went viral before the age of the Internet. When this film was released, most members of the college-age generation were driven to see it, with word of mouth anointing it instantly as a special, must-see experience. It turned Saturday Night Live player John Belushi into a movie star and comedic force, and captured playful young anarchy as perfectly for the Seventies as Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, a decade later, would do for the Eighties. Other familiar face

2014

Jan

MILDRED PIERCE By David Bianculli

Joan Crawford walked away with an Oscar for playing a proud woman who is devoted to her daughter in ways that aren’t always reciprocated. It’s a juicy role – Kate Winslet, in an HBO miniseries version of the same story, won awards as well – but for my money, it’s Ann Blyth, as Mildred’s grown-up, icy daughter, who brings this film home and makes its melodrama so involving.

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