DAVID BIANCULLI

Founder / Editor

ERIC GOULD

Associate Editor

LINDA DONOVAN

Assistant Editor

Contributors

ALEX STRACHAN

MIKE HUGHES

KIM AKASS

MONIQUE NAZARETH

ROGER CATLIN

GARY EDGERTON

TOM BRINKMOELLER

GERALD JORDAN

NOEL HOLSTON

 
 
2011
Oct
11
 
 
History is complicated. No one has done more to bring "serious" history to television than Ken Burns. In his latest nonfiction miniseries, Prohibition, he and co-producers Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein again marshal a small army of academics, writers, and researchers to explore a key epoch in US history -- the nation's nearly 14-year-long experiment in outlawing booze.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Oct
10
 
 
One of this fall's purportedly manly new sitcoms, CBS's How to Be a Gentleman, already has been sent from Thursdays to Saturdays in preparation for burial after its handful of remaining episodes are burned off. Now comes another...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Oct
10
 
 
Our friends at Warner Archive just notified us they aren't only doing the 20 percent sale you see on today's home page NEW THIS WEEK space. Deals include: "Smile Jenny, You're Dead" (David Janssen pilot for Harry O), "Then Came Bronson" (Michael Parks on motorcycle) and "Probe" (Hugh O'Brian's futuristic series pilot)...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Oct
9
 
 
The second episode of Season 6 of Showtime's Dexter was televised Sunday night at 9 ET. An hour later, on AMC, Breaking Bad concluded Season 4. And so far as I'm concerned, the two outstanding, unusual drama series share more than an evening's proximity. When they do finally wrap up their daringly dark story lines, I predict they'll end the same way. They'll end, I suspect, with loving relatives learning about their misdeeds, and squaring off against them in a raw, potentially fatal confrontation, fueled by disbelief, anger and betrayal...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Oct
9
 
 
Not a lot of good news comes out of war, and sometimes you have to be lucky to find it. Here's some -- a small, one-hour documentary that plays infrequently on Military Channel, where most will not see it. And it next airs at 9 in the morning, when, again, most will not see it. But a great story is a great story. So set your DVRs for Tuesday (Oct. 11) at 9 a.m. ET for an astonishing story of loyalty, steadfast determination and, most of all, love. You won't be disappointed...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Oct
6
 
 
Political commentator Laura Ingraham's 2003 book, Shut Up and Sing: How Elites From Hollywood, Politics and the U.N. Are Subverting America, was critical of stars from the left who went public with political views when their only qualifications were to entertain us. It seems that same level of scrutiny has just been applied to a star from the right...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Oct
6
 
 
Overlooked amid the excitement of the new fall season, the cosmically entertaining Cartoon Network series Batman: The Brave and the Bold last week outdid itself with an opening segment inspired by the long-forgotten sitcom The Pruitts of Southampton, which starred Phyllis Diller and ran for one season only (1966-67) on ABC...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Oct
6
 
 
Thursday's new episode of NBC's Parks and Recreation (8:30 p.m. ET) came as a preview DVD in the mail -- and its contents came as a total surprise. The pre-credits open, the best lampoon of public radio since Alec Baldwin promoted his "Schweddy balls" on Saturday Night Live, may be my favorite TV moment of the year. But for very personal reasons...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Oct
5
 
 
I've road-tested my advance copies of FX's American Horror Story, the aggressively twisted new series premiering Wednesday night at 10 ET, to peg it as TV's most polarizing series since Twin Peaks. I love it, and see all sorts of potential in it. Others dismiss it immediately and harshly: "The Shining called," sneered one person whose opinion I respect. "It wants its crappy first draft back"...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Oct
5
 
 
When I first saw the title for FX's "American Horror Story", I thought: "Finally...a show about unaffordable health insurance and upside-down mortgages." Somewhat off the mark -- but it's an equally scary idea that introduces us to the troubled Harmon family as it moves into an L.A. mansion that it bought for a song...