You can’t blame me for wondering why, earlier this same year, CBS didn’t note the 50th anniversary of another of its very memorable and entertaining variety series: The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. But Tom and Dick Smothers quickly courted controversy, while Carol Burnett and company pointedly avoided it. Both approaches led to moments of comic brilliance – but where the Smothers Brothers were fired after three seasons, The Carol Burnett Show thrived for a dozen years. A lot

2017

Dec

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL By David Bianculli

This game ought to be hugely popular. The Seattle Seahawks, at 7-4, are second in the NFC West, while the Philadelphia Eagles, at 10-1 in the NFC East, have the best record in football. The Seahawks have home-field advantage – which, given the match-ups on the field, might be the only advantage they have.

2017

Dec

THE WALKING DEAD By David Bianculli

The season is fast coming to a close, and the battle, which has taken all season to get to a rolling boil, is doing just that, with Rick convincing his compatriots to take up arms and finish the fight. Well, most of them, but not all. And when he asks that of some of the others, they strip him naked and lock him up. Nobody said being a post-apocalyptic leader was easy. Just ask the King.

2017

Dec

CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM By David Bianculli

SEASON FINALE: Say it ain’t so, Joe! I was just feeling merry, Larry! But tonight is, indeed, the finale for this long-awaited return season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Will it end with a full-blown musical production of “Fatwa!,” with Lin-Manuel Miranda as the star? With Larry’s ex-wife, Cheryl, riding off into the sunset with Ted Danson? Or, as usual with Larry David’s superbly constructed comedies, with an ending that only he can see coming?

2017

Dec

MICHELLE WOLF: NICE LADY By David Bianculli

Netflix has scarfed up most of the standup comedy specials of late, but HBO isn’t giving up the fight entirely. And tonight, it’s done a great job by giving Daily Show correspondent Michelle Wolf her first solo special. If you’ve seen any of the promos, you know how funny she can be, and how quickly, and how memorably. If not, tune in, and hang on…

2017

Dec

A 50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION OF ‘60 MINUTES’ By David Hinckley

Fifty Years of 60 Minutes simply doesn’t have enough time to explain why, at its best, the show has been so good or built such a loyal audience...

2017

Dec

‘JEREMIAH TOWER: THE LAST MAGNIFICENT,’ A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CHEF WHOSE NAME YOU MAY HAVE NEVER HEARD By David Hinckley

Revered chef Jeremiah Tower may seem at first like an icon from a world – upscale food – that most of us do not live in and rarely visit...

2017

Dec

BEETLEJUICE By David Bianculli

Other people wrote the story and screenplay for this 1988 fantasy comedy, but director Tim Burton and actor Michael Keaton basically made it all theirs – Burton with his wild visuals, Keaton with his equally wild energy. There are plenty of reasons to revisit this film, starting with the set piece in which the new family moving into a haunted house has a dinner party disrupted by an involuntary rendition of Harry Belafonte’s “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song).” But there&rsquo

2017

Dec

THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN By David Bianculli

Tonight’s entry in TCM’s The Essentials is a whale of a film. James Whale, that is. He directed this 1935 instant sequel to Frankenstein, and it’s this version, not the original, that includes some of the most iconic scenes associated with Boris Karloff’s creature features. (And, therefore, some of the very best scenes lampooned in Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein.) Give special mention and attention, too, to Elsa Lanchester, who does double duty as Frankenstein

2017

Dec

DIRK GENTLY'S HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY By David Bianculli

I’ve given up trying to make sense out of this season’s story line. But I don’t feel bad, because so have most of the characters, and they’re experiencing it.

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