Millions of Americans have had a longtime habit of waking up to Matt Lauer in the mornings. Waking up to news of his firing Wednesday no doubt caused many to spew their coffee...

2017

Nov

THE VOICE By David Bianculli

Last night’s Top 11 competition belonged to the youngsters. The song selections, chosen by viewers, weren’t always showcasing the singers to full advantage, but three of the contestants, especially, stepped up big time, and all were teenagers: Team Adam’s Addison Agen with a haunting version of Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You,” Team Jennifer’s Noah Mac with his oddly compelling version of “Electric Love,” and Team Blake’s Chloe Kohanski

2017

Nov

RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER By David Bianculli

This is a very, very old Christmas special, going all the way back to 1964, which makes it one of the few to predate A Charlie Brown Christmas. Predate, but not eclipse. The major reason to watch this one , after all these years, is simple nostalgia – unless you have a more complicated affinity for tacky tabletop stop-animation.

2017

Nov

THE FLASH By David Bianculli

Last night, the CW’s Supergirl and Arrow combined for the first night of a four-hour, four-series two-parter, concluding tonight with The Flash and, at 9 p.m. ET, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. The extended story line involves a parallel world, Earth-X, in which the Nazis won WWII (and yes, they dropped a requisite Man in the High Castle joke), with the familiar heroes from the CW superhero shows facing off against their evil, darker-dressed counterparts from this other world. As last nig

2017

Nov

THE FRONT By David Bianculli

This 1976 drama stars Woody Allen, but isn’t a Woody Allen film. It’s one of his relatively rare acting-only roles, playing a cashier in the early 1950s who agrees to earn money to offset his gambling debts to agreeing to pose as a “front” for a blacklisted show-business writer – a job description that expands as more and more blacklisted writers hire him to pretend to write their scripts, in exchange for a percentage. Co-stars include Zero Mostel, who, like The Fro

2017

Nov

THIS IS US By David Bianculli

NBC calls this the “Fall Finale” for This Is Us, which is a shorter and neater way of saying, “The economically important November ratings sweeps periods are over, December doesn’t matter to us, so we’re basically going to start televising junk until we restart our engines in January 2018. See you next year.” This final fresh This Is Us episode of 2017, meanwhile, focuses on Randall, and promises a tearjerker, or at least a potential tear-inducer…

2017

Nov

2017 VICTORIA'S SECRET FASHION SHOW By David Bianculli

We’re a very complicated society. At the same time the headlines are full of allegations by women about male abuse of power, and sexual molestation, in Hollywood and politics, and women throughout the media are clamoring for a reexamination of how women are perceived and treated in and out of the workplace, a network special such as this continues to be produced, and scheduled, and watched. And, come to think of it, written about. Hey, I guess I’m a bit complicated, too…

2017

Nov

DRUNK HISTORY CHRISTMAS SPECIAL By David Bianculli

This holiday Drunk History special may explain many things about Christmas, including what makes Santa Claus so jolly, and whether that belly actually is a beer belly. Personally, I ho ho hope not.

2017

Nov

THE VOICE By David Bianculli

The live shows have begun, and the talent pool remains very strong. Jon Mero (pictured) was the first of the Top 12 to fall after last Tuesday’s “instant save” battle for survival, which leaves the show’s Top 11 from this cycle in 2017 to strut their stuff again this week. All but one will move on, very shortly, to the Top 10, where the air, and the competition, gets even more rarified.

2017

Nov

SUPERGIRL By David Bianculli

Tonight’s episode of Supergirl launches the first salvo in a four-show, two-day crossover story linking all four CW superhero action series from the DC Comics universe. The overall story is called “Crisis on Earth-X,” and it has heroes from the TV universe of DC adventures meeting up with counterparts from an alternate, twisted-mirror universe – kind of like the one several iterations of Star Trek would visit from time to time, where doppelgangers were, by and large, evil

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