For a generation of comedians, the challenge was the same: Do an open-mic set at the Comedy Store. Do your best; hope club-owner Mitzi Shore likes you...

2020

Oct

THE CIRCUS: INSIDE THE CRAZIEST POLITICAL SHOW ON EARTH By David Bianculli

Some weeks, The Circus is more like a circus than others. And this week, it’s three-ring craziness all the way. When I want to distract myself from thinking about President Trump testing positive for COVID-19, I just start thinking about those other poor patients at the hospital where Trump is being treated – and how they have to endure all the endless car horn honks and chants from people on both sides of the political divide. It’s like an anti-hospital zone –

2020

Oct

THE WALKING DEAD By David Bianculli

SEASON FINALE: It finally arrives. Tonight, the Season 10 finale of The Walking Dead shows up as a stand-alone special, presenting the final confrontation with the Whisperers. Psst! Pass it on.

2020

Oct

LOVECRAFT COUNTRY By David Bianculli

This wild series presents another new episode – and this one is called Last week’s episode, a full-hour flashback set in Korea, was a wild departure – shocking, sexy, and supremely supernatural. Tonight’s episode returns to the U.S., but following the ramifications of last “Jig-a-Bobo,” which I have no idea how to interpret. But I’ll be watching.

2020

Oct

BLACK-ISH By David Bianculli

SPECIAL: This one-hour “Election Special” gives this this show’s writers and stars a chance to weigh in with their opinions and observations a month before the election. But can they possibly have anticipated the events of this week?

2020

Oct

THE WALKING DEAD: THE WORLD BEYOND By David Bianculli

SERIES PREMIERE: This new series is yet another Walking Dead spinoff. They’ve done one set before the events of The Walking Dead, and this one appears to be set in the time after – which sort of makes this a series with its own prequel and sequel, which is kind of what Better Call Saul is pulling off, teamed with Breaking Bad.

2020

Oct

FIRST LADIES By David Bianculli

NONFICTION MINISERIES PREMIERE: This new documentary series looks at different first ladies in presidential history – starting, tonight, with Michelle Obama.

2020

Oct

FARGO By David Bianculli

What a wonderful series this is. And tonight, it goes in some very unexpected directions…

2020

Oct

THE COMEDY STORE By David Bianculli

NONFICTION MINISERIES PREMIERE: This documentary series is two years shy of the golden anniversary of the Comedy Story on the Sunset Strip – but it’s worth celebrating anyway, especially in the hands of Mike Binder. His interviews with the likes of David Letterman and Michael Keaton are valuably candid and casual, and lead to some new, true insights about comedy and comedians. For my full review on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, visit the Fresh Air websit

2020

Oct

LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER By David Bianculli

When I want to distract myself from thinking about President Trump testing positive for COVID-19, I just start thinking about those other poor patients at the hospital where Trump is being treated – and how they have to endure all the endless car horn honks and chants from people on both sides of the political divide. And then I think about what John Oliver might say about it…

Posts 161-170 of 184

15 16 17 18 19

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