SEASON PREMIERE: For Season 2, The Affair is doubling down. Last season, this drama, which demands that you watch closely in order to note all its subtle shifts in perspective, presented the same love affair and mystery story from twin points of view: Noah (Dominic West), the married author who initiates an illicit affair with a local married waitress, and that waitress, Alison (Ruth Wilson), who sometimes recalls the same events very, or slightly differently, than her lover. This season, those

2015

Oct

THE AFFAIR MARATHON By David Bianculli

Season 2 of Showtime’s The Affair launches tomorrow night – and as a warm-up act, the network is repeating all 10 episodes of Season 1, in a marathon burst beginning at noon ET. If you’re new to the series, its innovative conceit, borrowing from Rashomon, is to look at the same story from more than one perspective. In Season 1, it was the affair of a married man. In Season 2, it’s the aftermath of that affair, but The Affair is doubling down, presenting its tale from four

2015

Oct

LIVE FROM NEW YORK! By David Bianculli

This 2015 theatrical documentary on the 40 years of Saturday Night Live and its social impact arrives tonight in its natural environment: On NBC, in prime time, 40 years after SNL itself premiered. I’ll be watching, because SNL had a profound social impact on me 40 years ago: Its introduction, in 1975, was the means by which I talked myself into an assignment writing a TV review of it for Florida’s Gainesville Sun. And, thus, a career…

2015

Oct

DOCTOR WHO By David Bianculli

The two-part opener of the modern era’s Season 9 was another cleverly constructed, twist-filled Doctor Who. I’d say “surprisingly” as well as “cleverly,” except that this series has been so consistently imaginative and enjoyable, it’s no longer surprising that it delivers. And on this show, very little is what it seems to be at first glance – including, tonight, even the very environment of an imperiled underwater base of operations.

2015

Oct

AMERICAN SNIPER By David Bianculli

Bradley Cooper stars in this biography of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, in a movie directed intensely by Clint Eastwood. Cooper’s performance is formidable, and impressive – and markedly unlike any of his movie roles to date.

2015

Oct

THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW By David Bianculli

SEASON PREMIERE: TV is a little less laugh-out-loud funny whenever Graham Norton is on hiatus, but now he’s back. He begins Season 18 of his long-running, freewheeling British talk show with a guest list that includes The Martian star Matt Damon. Last time Damon was on the show, alongside Bill Murray and Hugh Bonneville (pictured), he told Norton at the end it was the best time he’d ever had on a talk show. So this time, he’ll be showing up ready to have fun.

2015

Oct

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE By David Bianculli

SEASON PREMIERE: Season 41 begins tonight, with the same person acting as guest host and musical guest: Miley Cyrus, fresh off hosting MTV’s Video Music Awards (pictured), and even fresher off NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where she appeared earlier this week.

2015

Oct

GREASE By David Bianculli

Here’s a new reason to revisit this iconic movie version of the Broadway musical. In January, the Fox network is mounting a live TV production of Grease: Live, starring Julianne Hough and Aaron Tveit in the roles played in the 1978 film by, respectively, Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta. Also in the upcoming TV production: Vanessa Hudgens as Rizzo, Carly Rae Jepsen as Frenchy, and Jessie J singing the opening number that was introduced in the movie, “Grease (Is the Word.)”

2015

Oct

FRANK MILLER'S SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR By David Bianculli

Curious about Lady Gaga’s screen presence in next week’s American Horror Story: Hotel on FX? Well, you can catch an early glimpse of her here, outside of her music-video comfort zone, in this 2014 sequel to 2005's Sin City. Frank Miller, creator of the original graphic novel on which this cinematic series is based, co-directs with Robert Rodriguez, and many of the famous faces from the first film are back for more noir, including Mickey Rourke and Bruce Willis. As for the women, as a

2015

Oct

POV: "AI WEIWEI: THE FAKE CASE" By David Bianculli

Ai Weiwei is an outspoken artist who has been jailed, prosecuted and persecuted by the Chinese government, yet defiantly becomes more visible, and more vocal, after every punishment inflicted upon him by the state. One inventively aggressive counter-move by the artist: after his release from prison, he installed four constantly operating webcams in his home, putting himself under global surveillance to catch any intrusions or abuses by government forces. What drives someone to be so brazenly and

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