CYCLE FINALE: I’ve given up on this series as being too repetitive over the years, a common curse of even the most watchable tenured reality competition series. But one of our TVWW contributors insists, quite persuasively, that The Amazing Race still matters. For his take, see Alex Strachan’s TV That Matters. And for the show itself, tune in CBS tonight at 8 p.m. ET for the finale to this latest global race.

2015

Dec

TAXI DRIVER By David Bianculli

Martin Scorsese’s 1976 film, written by Paul Schrader, really is one of the key movies from the Seventies – a moody masterpiece that contains some indelible performances, and some even more unforgettable set pieces and sequences. Robert De Niro, as loner Travis Bickle, captures with frightening credibility the ramp-up of a societal outcast to acts of violence – which is even more pertinent, and frightening, today than it was four decades ago. And watch for the supporting perfor

2015

Dec

THE WHO LIVE IN HYDE PARK By David Bianculli

As part of its 50th anniversary tour, surviving members of The Who literally banded together for a concert in London’s Hyde Park, transmitted live to select cinemas worldwide in October. That’s the concert event shown here tonight, complete with a Tommy medley and, no avoiding it, the anthemic “My Generation” and its immortal line, “Hope I die before I get old.”

2015

Dec

THE KNICK By David Bianculli

Thackery (Clive Owen) is very busy tonight. He introduces a new "cure" to patients in his inebriation ward -- and also, at long last, gets to perform plastic surgery on poor Abby (Jennifer Ferrin).

2015

Dec

NETFLIX WISHES YOU 'A VERY MURRAY CHRISTMAS' By David Bianculli

You might expect a Christmas special by Bill Murray to be an entertaining mixture of songs, comedy and special guests – and his new Netflix special is precisely that. But his A Very Murray Christmas is unexpected in at least one respect: It’s irony-free…

2015

Dec

GOOD WILL HUNTING By David Bianculli

This 1997 drama is worth revisiting, for many different reasons. It catches both Ben Affleck and Matt Damon at the start of their careers, when on screen, they look like, and play, the very young men they are. And since they co-wrote the original screenplay, and were awarded an Oscar for their efforts, it’s a great lesson in one very unorthodox way to launch a career – by writing your own roles. And finally, it provided a strong dramatic (and also Oscar-winning) role for Robin Willia

2015

Dec

THE WIZ LIVE! By David Bianculli

Those veteran producers of televised musical specials, Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, revived the live-TV musical genre with 2013’s The Sound of Music, then went one step backward with the much lower-rated, and less satisfying, Peter Pan last year. Tonight, they’re back to try,try again, this time with a revamped production, even with some new music, of the Tony-winning 1975 The Wiz. This new television adaptation of the colorful take on The Wizard of Oz stars a newcomer, 19-year-old Sh

2015

Dec

TOY STORY THAT TIME FORGOT By David Bianculli

This 2014 Toy Story special features the gang, including Tom Hanks as Woody, Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear and Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head, bundled up for a play date after Christmas – and forced to deal with a very different type of toys. In a word: dinosaurs…

2015

Dec

LURED By David Bianculli

This 1947 movie, starring George Sanders, is the first of tonight’s TCM salute to the actor – but this particular film is more interesting because of the drama’s female lead. Playing a woman who hopes to lure a serial killer out into the open, and into the hands of the police, is a young actress named Lucille Ball – just a few years before turning to TV in I Love Lucy. Boris Karloff co-stars.

2015

Dec

THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL By David Bianculli

CBS gets another Thursday game – and this time it’s featuring two teams on opposite trajectories, the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions. The Packers has a record of 7-4, the Lions 4-7.

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