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

 
 
2014
Feb
20
 
 
It’s time to say that Jimmy Fallon has, indeed, had a strong opening week. And with tonight’s scheduled guest list featuring Will Ferrell, Arcade Fire and First Lady Michelle Obama, don’t expect things to let up tonight. And tomorrow, to round out week one? Justin Timberlake!  
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Feb
20
 
 
[Editor's note: Long-time close friend Jay Marmo, who recently moved to Australia, reports on watching Olympics coverage on TV there.  "Like much of Australia," he writes, "the Olympics coverage here has been a refreshing change..." - DB]
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Feb
19
 
 
As the Sochi Olympics winds down, we have just two days left of ice skating, with the ladies program Wednesday and Thursday.  However, the gold medal performance, in my estimation, already goes to NBCSN’s new skating commentators, Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Feb
19
 
 
With so few days left in the Sochi Olympics, things are getting serious. Today, beginning at 9 a.m. ET, you can watch taped coverage, on MSNBC, of the remaining semifinal in women’s curling, with Sweden vs. Switzerland (the other semifinal, Canada vs. Great Britain, was shown live earlier on USA Network). And starting at 10 a.m. ET, you can see hours of live coverage of ladies’ figure skating on NBCSN, and experience the impressive commentary duo of Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir. For
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Feb
19
 
 
Tonight’s new edition of Inside the Actors Studio profiles an actress who’s proven impressively chameleonic during her short but impressive career: Amy Adams, who’s played everything from a three-dimensional Disney princess in Enchanted to a feisty schemer in American Hustle. And when James Lipton asks her to identify her favorite swear word, chances are she’s already uttered it on screen, in American Hustle. 
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Feb
19
 
 
When I was young, watching the TV series Topper, I didn’t know a movie version had preceded it.  But here’s proof. In this enjoyable 1937 comedy, Constance Bennett and Cary Grant play the elegant ectoplasmic spirits who haunt the living, trying to spice up their lives a bit.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Feb
19
 
 
With the new disaster movie Pompeii premiering this weekend, National Geographic is presenting this new documentary, which visits the actual Italian site of history’s most famous volcanic disaster. I’ve toured Pompeii, and seen these frozen-in-the-moment body casts for myself. (I’ve also stared lengthily at the surviving painted-on-the-walls “menus” at the local Pompeii whorehouses, which listed available services in such matter-of-fact detail, it was like reading a
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Feb
19
 
 
MINISERIES FINALE: I wasn’t very impressed with this new miniseries account of James Bond author Ian Fleming’s early exploits. Staring Dominic Cooper, it’s a bit overdone, and left me neither shaken nor stirred. But for those who haven't followed it thus far, here comes the finale. However, on a scale of 1 to 10, I rank it far below 007.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Feb
18
 
 
The scheduled days and times for certain events in Sochi are being postponed because of fog – and other events are less compelling for U.S. audiences because its athletes have, with a few exciting exceptions, underperformed. And many of the events scheduled to be replayed in NBC’s prime-time coverage tonight are outdoors, so be prepared for the unexpected. On the schedule, among other things: women’s bobsled. To watch it packaged, tune in to NBC beginning at 8 p.m. ET; to see i
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Feb
18
 
 
A marvel of engineering that served as the central hub for connecting passenger trains along the Eastern corridor, Penn Station was a beautiful New York structure that was completed in 1910 – and demolished in 1963. That may come as news to visitors to, and even some residents of, the city, who travel in and out of Penn Station every weekday. But, as this documentary explains – with some breathtakingly gorgeous photographs and vintage film footage – there was another, previous