Jimi Hendrix was the very first performer I saw in concert, in 1967, when I was 13 years old. Impressive, huh? Except that the next performers I saw, about 30 minutes later, were The Monkees. Hendrix was the opening act for the Monkees then, but only for a handful of concerts – and I was at the one in Miami, taken by my aunt, with my cousins, to see The Monkees, because I had been too young to see The Beatles the year before. (Arrgh.) But I digress. This American Masters documentary covers

2013

Nov

NEW GIRL By David Bianculli

After shooting the pilot for New Girl, Damon Wayans Jr. had to leave the show before it went to series, because his then-endangered sitcom, Happy Endings, was unexpectedly renewed, not canceled. But here he is again, returning as the same character, Coach, and making the first appearance in what is now being called a recurring role. That’s one positive benefit of Happy Endings eventually having a not-so-happy one. It’s gone now. But on this series, at least tonight and sometime in th

2013

Nov

GONE WITH THE WIND By David Bianculli

This 1939 Civil War epic set audience records for a movie presentation on TV when it was shown, for the first time on the small screen, as a two-part NBC special in the mid-Seventies, just before the home-video revolution. Now, instead of seeing it on a small square screen with tons of commercials, you can watch it on widescreen, high-definition TV, and in a single sitting, on TCM, where it’s uninterrupted as well as uncut. Clark Gable is Rhett Butler, and Vivien Leigh, today’s TCM b

2013

Nov

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER By David Bianculli

Cristin Milioti, the titular mother finally introduced at the end of last season, makes her third appearance tonight, briefly. But watch, too, for another appearance by Anna Camp, who was so funny last week as the disastrous wedding-weekend date of Josh Radnor’s Ted. I spent a long time trying to place where I’d seen her before, then it finally clicked: She stole lots of scenes on HBO’s True Blood as Sarah, the anti-vampire, oversexed religious zealot.

2013

Nov

MIKE & MOLLY By David Bianculli

SEASON PREMIERE: CBS has yet to fully cash in on the movie stardom of Melissa McCarthy, who starred in this sitcom before breaking out on the big screen, and has stayed with it ever since. This is the premiere episode of Season 4 – that’s how long this show has been around – and starts, this season, with a plot that breaks McCarthy’s Molly away from her school blackboard, and sends her out as a loose cannon into the wider world.

2013

Nov

SLEEPY HOLLOW By David Bianculli

This series returns with a guest-star appearance worthy enough to note. John Noble, the standout star from Fringe, returns to a Fox genre show, this time playing a character called the Sin Eater. (Next week: Gordon Ramsay as the Sin Cooker?)

2013

Nov

MOM By David Bianculli

Allison Janney really gets to go for some broad comedy in tonight’s new episode. Her character hits menopause, and reacts with a series of crazy mood swings, from heated-angry to aging-denial– the latter which has her going even blonder and dressing more trendily than her daughter, played by Anna Faris.

2013

Nov

THE STORY OF FILM: AN ODYSSEY By David Bianculli

Depending upon the content of each week’s documentary, this imported film history series either gets a prime-time slot, or is pushed to later at night. Tonight’s episode, Part 9, is the latest push yet, so if you’re following and enjoying this series, set your recorders, because it shows up at 2:15 a.m. ET, and has the clunkiest title yet: 1969-1979 – Radical Directors in the 70s Make State of the Nation Movies. And its focus includes movies from Australia, two of which a

2013

Nov

TOKYO DOES BOURDAIN By Eric Gould

Channeling his best Hunter Thompson-Lowell Thomas-Paul Bowles reportage, Anthony Bourdain finds Tokyo at once reserved, yet bound in erotic fantasy -- perhaps the ultimate enigma...

2013

Nov

ONCE UPON A TIME By David Bianculli

One of the favorite animated Disney heroines of the modern era makes her first 3-D appearance in tonight’s new episode. It’s Ariel, the scaly star of A Little Mermaid, as embodied by JoAnna Garcia Swisher, who once played Cheyenne on Reba McEntire’s sitcom Reba. And who plays evil Ursula? Let’s put it this way. The tentacles may be new, but the face is familiar…

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