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

 
 
2012
Dec
11
 
 
After tonight’s double-elimination episode, it’ll be down to the final two contestants. Next week: the finals. Funny thing: some of my college students are taking their finals today. Yet no one is facing elimination. Well, maybe one person. But I digress…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
11
 
 
Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai was Westernized, quite literally, in this 1960 Western about a group of rogue gunmen hired to protect a town from marauding bad guys. The original Japanese film is better, but this one is loaded with iconic tough guys: Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and Eli Wallach, and that’s just for starters.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
11
 
 
Jess (Zooey Deschanel) concocts a questionable plan for the holidays: to hit as many parties in one night as possible. The guys don’t want any of it – not, that is, until she volunteers to be the designated driver.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
11
 
 
The big day has arrived: James Van Der Beek faces premiere day on Dancing with the Stars. Yes, I know it’s meta, having the star of one ABC series, playing a playful version of himself, pretending to appear on another ABC series. But that’s part of what makes this sitcom so interesting – its disregard for convention, and its dislike of simplicity.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
11
 
 
MIDSEASON FINALE: I’m going to miss this series while it’s gone, after this emotional holiday episode that finds Kristina back in the ICU. Peter Krause and Monica Potter, as Adam and Kristina, have done stellar work this year – work that tugs at my heart every time, and reminds me, as the closing credits roll, how few TV series are dealing with issues to which we all can relate. Watching Parenthood isn’t easy, but it’s endlessly rewarding. Just like parenthood.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
11
 
 
Mel Brooks gives TVWW's David Bianculli a new exclusive interview this week on the release of his new HBO special, Mel Brooks Strikes Back...One highlight of Mel's new DVD, The Incredible Mel Brooks, is his 70's impression of Frank Sinatra doing "America the Beautiful"...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
10
 
 
On this day in 1990, NBC premiered the telefilm The Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum Story, starring John Ritter as the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
10
 
 

Last year, when Mel Brooks had a TV special on HBO, he spoke with me for an extended exclusive interview. This year he has a new HBO special, and we talked at length again…

 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
10
 
 
Robin (Cobie Smulders) can’t stop obsessing about ex-boyfriend Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) – and tonight, her obsession has her seeking out his revered “Playbook” and, at one point, sneaking into his apartment and hiding in the closet – just as in Blue Velvet.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
10
 
 
This year’s competition is down to the Final Four. Not the ones pictured – that Final Four happens to be the judges, who, this year, already are down to the Top Two. Christina Aguilera and Adam Levine have no team members left standing in the Final Four, and their fellow judges have two apiece: Blake Shelton’s team has Terry McDermott and Cassadee Pope, and Cee Lo Green’s team is represented by Trevin Hunte and Nicholas David.