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

 
 
2020
Dec
6
 
 
Many TV shows vanish in an eyeblink. Moments after fading from the screen, they fade from our minds. Then there's Netflix's The Crown...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Dec
6
 
 
It's a basic challenge of fiction: Find a plausible way for an ordinary person to plunge into an extraordinary situation...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Dec
6
 
 
This double feature of Marilyn Monroe movies includes two of her most iconic cinematic scenes. From 1955’s The Seven Year Itch at 8 p.m. ET, there’s the scene where she stands over a New York subway grate as a train is passing underneath, billowing her skirt. Then, at 10 p.m. ET, in 1953’s Gentleman Prefer Blondes, she sings about diamonds being a girl’s best friend, while surrounded by jewelry – and men (pictured).
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Dec
6
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: This is the Season 11 premiere of this American version of the British show of the same name. The British original ran for nine years, so the child has outlived the parent – and with William H. Macy at its center, this U.S. Shameless has been entertaining throughout. And most of these cast members have grown up on the show, literally, and have matured into excellent actors. Emmy Rossum as Fiona left last year, but Jeremy Allen White as Lip, Cameron Monaghan as Ia
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Dec
6
 
 
MINISERIES PREMIERE: Bryan Cranston returns to series TV – well, to miniseries TV – in this new 10-part drama, based on an Israeli series. He plays a judge in New Orleans whose teen son has a vehicular accident in which he hits another teenager, and flees the scene. What happens from that point on upends the father’s judgments about morality, and what he’ll do to protect his own son. I’ve seen the first four episodes, and they’re excellent. For my full review
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Dec
6
 
 
On this day in 1964, one of television's most popular Christmas specials, Rankin/Bass' Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, made its debut...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Dec
5
 
 
On this day in 1999, ABC presented Oprah Winfrey Presents: Tuesdays with Morrie, a telefilm version of Mitch Albom's bestselling non-fiction novel...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Dec
5
 
 
SERIES MARATHON:  Beginning with the 1975 episode in which Louise and George Jefferson first were “Movin’ on Up,” The Jeffersons is showcased in a two-day marathon, courtesy of Decades. And this early All in the Family spinoff series, it should be noted, is courtesy of the Black Panthers, who visited Norman Lear’s offices after he had hit it big with All in the Family and Good Times, and complained that all the Black chara
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Dec
5
 
 
Humphrey Bogart is Sam Spade in this 1941 John Huston film, which is as good an adaptation of a Dashiell Hammett novel as you’ll get. Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre co-star, and all of them are worth their weight in lead-lined gold.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Dec
5
 
 
There hasn’t been a fresh SNL in a month, and I can’t wait for this one. Not only is Jason Bateman the host, but the writers have soooo many political stories and players to lampoon. And Donald Trump still hasn’t conceded the election…