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

 
 
2016
Dec
8
 
 
Made in 2007, this Shrek small-screen spinoff presents a holiday gathering, hosted by Shrek and Fiona, turning into a predictably manic Christmas celebration. Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas and Eddie Murphy all reprise their large-screen animated roles.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Dec
8
 
 
Tonight’s installment is all about bread. If you have a sweet tooth, it may not be exactly what you’re looking for in this particular reality competition series – but expect the show, and its bakers, to rise to the occasion. Besides, you can’t always get what you want – but if you try sometimes, you just might find… you get what you knead.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Dec
7
 
 
Among its several other breakthroughs, Fox’s hit drama Empire has positioned a gay artist as an R&B star and built several storylines about the homophobia he faces – including from his own father...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Dec
7
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: The newest Hulu drama series, streaming beginning today, is a very slick little TV production: looking sunny, presented glibly, and with a subject matter, about scheming psychics, that’s ripe for picking in the right hands. And the right hands, at the center of this new show, is Jeffrey Donovan, whose laid-back swagger was on view for several successful seasons on USA’s Burn Notice. This new series introduces him as a likable rogue, but one who’s under the thum
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Dec
7
 
 
Michael Cimino wrote and directed this infamous 1980 Western, which stars Kris Kristofferson and Christopher Walken, and was mocked at the time for being a huge box-office and artistic failure. Box-office failure, sure – but watch this restored cut of Cimino’s original vision, and both the images and the story line will deliver much more resonance.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Dec
7
 
 
LIVE SPECIAL: NBC’s latest live musical completes John Waters’ trip from pop-culture rebel and outlier to total mainstream artist, as his 1988 movie Hairspray, turned years ago into a hit, Tony Award-winning Broadway musical (which itself was turned into another movie, a la Mel Brooks’ The Producers), is performed tonight on live broadcast network television. Harvey Fierstein reclaims his stage role of Edna Turnblad, newcomer Maddie Baillio stars as wannabe featured TV dancer T
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Dec
7
 
 
SEASON FINALE: All season long, South Park has presented a continuing story line, which managed to comment on the nation’s presidential election while also laying the groundwork for a brilliant satirical concept: the idea of a threat, from a foreign country targeting and hacking the U.S., to reveal the complete Internet histories of individual citizens. It’s the email hacking threats writ very large, with the idea that if people’s private computer searches and other anonymous a
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Dec
7
 
 
SPECIAL: In his latest travel special, taking him to a foreign country where he ends up being the butt of almost all the jokes, Conan O’Brien goes to Germany. Specifically, to Berlin, where he visits, among other places, a beer hall, a nude beach, and a dominatrix.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Dec
6
 
 
SPECIAL PREMIERE: Netflix continues its December explosion of new programming, by today presenting a predictably quirky special from Reggie Watts, whose strange sense of humor, and eclectic tastes in music, have been established on TV in both Comedy Bang! Bang! on IFC and The Late Late Show with James Corden on CBS. In his first TV special as a headliner, he steps into the main spotlight, offering songs, biographical segments, and even a pretend sitcom.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Dec
6
 
 
Last night, the Top 8 sang twice each – and there was a lot on the line. Tonight, the voting results from viewers are in, and four of those eight singers will be heading home. It’s a big cut, and at this point will be more than a little painful. With the finals arriving next week, though, such accelerated ruthlessness is unavoidable.