Last night, we finally got our first live edition of this year’s Idol incarnation, and left with several first impressions. First, the women challengers are not the overwhelmingly impressive batch of singers the judges have claimed them to be. As for the judges this year: Keith Urban is a nice-guy singer in the Adam Levine mold, Mariah Carey loves the sound of her own voice whether she’s singing or talking, Nicki Minaj is the most blunt judge of the group (but also the Steven Tyler-t

2013

Mar

KIM NOVAK: LIVE FROM THE TCM CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL By David Bianculli

Last year, TCM host Robert Osborne, at the third annual TCM film festival event, had a special sit-down interview with the reclusive Kim Novak. Tonight, that interview is televised, followed by a quartet of Kim Novak films. There’s no Vertigo, but the films do include 1955’s Picnic (at midnight ET) and the same year’s The Man With the Golden Arm (at 2 a.m. ET), as well as our next Wednesday Best Bet, Bell, Book & Candle.

2013

Mar

BELL, BOOK & CANDLE By David Bianculli

This 1959 comedy reteams James Stewart and Kim Novak, who had starred, the year before, in Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. In that movie, he played a man obsessed with her. In this movie, he plays a man who isn’t — not, that is, until she casts him under her spell. Literally, because she’s a witch. And when she casts a love spell, the look in her eyes sells it. Completely.

2013

Mar

THE AMERICANS By David Bianculli

This series has upped its game quickly and commendably, as it becomes more and more like a game of international chess. The Americans have recruited a Soviet informant by threatening to reveal that she’s stolen things from the Soviet embassy in the States, where she works. The Soviets, in turn, suspect that someone in their employ has been turned by the U.S. feds – and tonight, they try to ferret out the mole. Or mole out the ferret. And even Russian undercover agents Elizabeth and P

2013

Mar

HISTORY OF THE EAGLES By David Bianculli

This documentary on The Eagles - the musical ones, not the national-emblem ones - originally was televised in two parts, both of which surprised me by how thorough, interesting and entertaining they were. Now Showtime is showing both parts in one big three-hour gulp - and it's quite a feast. It's worth it just to see vintage footage of some future Eagles backing Linda Ronstadt on a small club tour.

2013

Mar

AMERICAN IDOL By David Bianculli

I’ve paid little attention to this series this season – but tonight’s the night to check in, in the first of three live editions this week. The first two are performance shows – 10 contestants tonight, 10 more tomorrow – and Thursday’s installment is an elimination show, where half of them are booted off the Idol island. And all three shows, this week, are the first live editions for Idol 2013, which makes them the first time to see both Mariah Carey and Nicki

2013

Mar

SMASH By David Bianculli

So Bombshell is back on – but tonight, rather than combining as a dedicated unit, the creative team begins to engage in some self-doubts, and especially doubts about some of the people around them.

2013

Mar

JUSTIFIED By David Bianculli

I feel like now’s a good time to offer a salute: to Gerald McRaney, who’s been burning up his few but substantial scenes as a guest on Justified, just as he did when he last appeared opposite Timothy Olyphant, on Deadwood. McRaney has been great the past few weeks – just like this series, in which the sudden violence and unexpected twists rival the biggest shockers in The Walking Dead.

2013

Mar

WHITE COLLAR By David Bianculli

SEASON FINALE: Treat Williams, as the father of Matt Bomer’s Neal, returns for another episode, in which Matt and company try to secure evidence that would exonerate his dad of murder. But the plot, to me, is less enticing this week than the setting, because White Collar got permission to film at the Empire State Building.

2013

Mar

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS By David Bianculli

This is the 2004 movie that led to the 2006 NBC series, and a few things are significantly different. The small Texas town is Odessa, not Dillon. The football team is called the Permian Panthers, and their head coach is named Gary Gaines, and played by Billy Bob Thornton. But there are some strong similarities, too — the movie's director is Peter Berg, who helped adapt Friday Night Lights as a weekly series. And the coach's wife, though a very small role in the film, is played by Conn

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