When one of the characters in this series nods off while watching an old movie on TV (been there, done that, ad infinitum), she and her friends find themselves catapulted into a film noir world – black and white, complete with vintage costumes and cars – while solving their own related-to-the-present mystery. Reason enough to watch, because shows aimed at young viewers seldom look in the rear-view mirror, at least in terms of pop culture.

2014

Feb

NEW GIRL By David Bianculli

Linda Cardellini, from ER, Mad Men and Freaks and Geeks, guest stars as the wilder older sister of Jess (series star Zooey Deschanel). Hmm. How, I wonder, did Zooey break this news to her own real-life older sister, Bones star Emily Deschanel? “Sorry, sis… but we just couldn’t see you in the part…”

2014

Feb

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: "BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID" By David Bianculli

Tonight’s installment is all about Robert Leroy Parker and Harry Alonzo Longabaugh. If those names aren’t familiar, maybe the name of their Wild West gang of outlaws might be: They were known as The Wild Bunch. Or, perhaps, Parker and Longabaugh are better known by their respective aliases, made famous by the classic movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Check local listings.

2014

Feb

JUSTIFIED By David Bianculli

Last week’s episode of Justified was great – one tense confrontation after another, with the lives of everyone involved in credible, exciting jeopardy. Most of the characters lived to thrill us another day – which arrives tonight. But, as those who are caught up on this series already know, some of them didn’t. And tonight, with Boyd (Walton Goggins) furious about what just happened to Ava (Joelle Carter), expect the body count to rise even higher.

2014

Feb

THE XXII OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES By David Bianculli

You can watch any of today’s Olympics events live on NBCOlyympics.com – but today, the TV networks present mostly tape-delayed coverage. Curling, for example, which starts its competition live at midnight ET, is shown on TV beginning at 3 a.m. ET on NBCSN, with taped coverage of Germany vs. Canada. Other taped curling events include women’s curling at 5 a.m. on USA Network, with U.S. vs. Switzerland, and men’s curling, also on tape delay, at 5 p.m. ET on CNBC, when the U.

2014

Feb

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS By David Bianculli

So many TV series in prime time right now owe their existence to this 1991 serial-killer thriller, from the direct descendent of NBC’s Hannibal to the spiritual twisted sisters of NBC’s The Blacklist and Fox’s The Following, that it makes sense to pay close attention to the original article. Anthony Hopkins kills it, in more ways than one, as Dr. Hannibal Lecter, the cannibalistic killer who manipulates new FBI profiler Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster). Hopkins and Foster won Os

2014

Feb

QUESTIONING DARWIN By David Bianculli

This new documentary is by Antony Thomas, who won a Peabody Award in 2011 for his sensitive, thoughtful, brave work in For Neda. In Questioning Darwin, he handles twin subjects, by recounting the life and works of beliefs of Charles Darwin himself, and also looking at those who teach the science of evolution in classrooms today. Or refuse to.

2014

Feb

THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY By David Bianculli

In 1980, two years after he starred in Dennis Potter’s brilliant British miniseries Pennies from Heaven, but eight years before he became a movie star thanks to Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Bob Hoskins starred as a tough British gangster in this modern film noir, whose requisite femme fatale is a real killer: Helen Mirren, in one of her early standout film roles as well. This drama, because of its toughness and its controversial ending, was shelved from distribution – until a young compa

2014

Feb

INSIDE COMEDY By David Bianculli

On tonight’s new installment, David Steinberg’s guests, there to discuss comedy, are comic actors from different generations – who, in other movies, also play serious roles. One is Jonah Hill, who’s gone from Superbad and Get Him to the Greek to Moneyball and The Wolf of Wall Street. The other is Alan Arkin, the Second City veteran whose movie career has encompassed everything from Wait Until Dark and Catch-22 to Little Miss Sunshine and Argo.

2014

Feb

ME-TV’S SVENGOOLIE BRINGS BACK HAPPY MEMORIES OF SATURDAY NIGHT HORRORS By Ed Martin

Those of us who were fortunate enough to grow up as members of the television generation fondly remember the monster movie shows run by our local independent stations... I grew up in the Tri-State area around New York...

Posts 101-110 of 165

10 11 12 13 14

New From TVWW

PBS' 'Frontline’ Examines Pension Promises and — Spoiler Alert — Finds the Math Doesn’t Add Up

The Decadence of ‘Versailles’ Comes to Ovation

Prescribing Mamie Gummer in 'Emily Owens, M.D.'

Looking for a Free Ride? HBO Can Deliver

'Pass the Biscuits' Part of the Hatfield-McCoy Pop-Culture Legacy

Dispatches From TVWW

'Extinction: The Facts' is a Sobering Call to Action

How 'Mayans' Has Been Influenced by the Show's Creator Elgin James

For Whom the Bell Tolls: Ken Burns and Lynn Novick Take on Ernest Hemingway, the Man and the Myth

In the Final Season, Sutton Foster's Liza is Now the Genuine Version of Her 'Younger' Self

Season 2 of 'City on a Hill' Returns with Kevin Bacon, Aldis Hodge, and Boston Corruption