Part 1 of 3. Please, please, please watch this. Sir David Attenborough is an endangered species himself – the best natural-history TV host on the planet – and in this three-part series, he looks over his 60-year-plus career (!!!), flipping pages in his video scrapbook, showing nothing but charming or jaw-dropping or thought-provoking highlights along the way. Tonight’s opener, Life on Camera, shows how technical innovations along the years helped Attenborough and his crews get

2013

Jan

AMERICAN IDOL By David Bianculli

Ratings are down, substantially, for this series for the second year in a row, as its game of musical judges’ chairs does nothing to stop the bleeding. But the 2013 version does offer two small pleasures. One is that new judges Nicky Minaj and Mariah Carey clearly get on each other’s nerves – it’s no ratings-hungry act, more of an oil-and-vinegar attention-hungry mini-competition. What I enjoy most this year, though, is watching all the Carey-obsessed fans who audition by

2013

Jan

NOVA: "RISE OF THE DRONES" By David Bianculli

This week’s new Nova looks at the growth, use and occasional misuse of drone aircraft. There are some stunning and sobering images included here – and some statistics to match. For a full review, see Ed Bark’s Uncle Barky’s Bytes. Check local listings.

2013

Jan

INSIDE THE NFL By David Bianculli

Last Sunday, there were only two postseason football games. Up ahead, only the Super Bowl. On this particular installment, the features are longer, the highlights deeper, the insights even better. As a prelude to the Super Bowl, and an explanation of how the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens fought their way there, this is a must-see for sports fans.

2013

Jan

AMERICAN HORROR STORY: ASYLUM By David Bianculli

SEASON FINALE: We know now, this year, what we didn’t know last year when American Horror Story presented its season finale: the story ends here, so no character is safe. Who’s going to survive to the end of this year’s Asylum story line? There’s no telling – and the way characters have been dropping the past few episodes, there aren’t that many left anyway. Tune in, strap in, and expect a bumpy ride – into the future, reportedly.

2013

Jan

PLANET EARTH: THE COMPLETE BBC SERIES By David Bianculli

With the PBS Nature series currently saluting natural-history TV host Sir David Attenborough with a new three-week retrospective, it’s a fine time to point out some of his best work, available at great rates on Amazon and elsewhere...

2013

Jan

THE TASTE By David Bianculli

SERIES PREMIERE: Does TV really need another cooking competition show? Of course not. But this one, like The Voice, brings something new to the mix: a democratic sense of fair play. In The Voice, contestants, in the initial round, are heard but not seen, so judges spin their chairs around in approval based on only the singing skills of the competitors. The Taste is the culinary equivalent of that. A quartet of judges, including Nigella Lawson (pictured) and Anthony Bourdain, select the best reci

2013

Jan

PIONEERS OF TELEVISION By David Bianculli

This installment is devoted to prime-time soaps – but has such a narrow focus, it’s devoted almost entirely to Dallas, its spinoff Knots Landing and its main Eighties competitor Dynasty. Though ABC’s Sixties hit Peyton Place does get a mention, the genre’s first prime-time series, DuMont’s Faraway Hill in 1946, isn’t noted at all, not even with a fleeting mention. Nor, for that matter, is the current TNT revival sequel to Dallas, which seems really odd. All th

2013

Jan

PARENTHOOD By David Bianculli

SEASON FINALE: This final episode of the season is a pivotal one, especially for the women on the show. Kristina (Monica Potter, pictured) gets ready for the next stage of her cancer treatment, and Sarah (Lauren Graham) makes the choice regarding the two men in her life.

2013

Jan

WILD THINGS WITH DOMINIC MONAGHAN By David Bianculli

SERIES PREMIERE: Dominic Monaghan, the charismatic actor who played Charlie on Lost and “Merry” Brandybuck in the Lord of the Rings movies, takes viewers on a hectic romp to try and hunt dangerous animals and insects – but only with a film crew, and a lot of knowledge and enthusiasm. He ends up being an infectiously delighted, unafraid and nature-loving mixture of Sir David Attenborough and the late Steve Irwin. The opener takes him, and us, to Laos, and deep into a cave in sea

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