DAVID BIANCULLI

Founder / Editor

ERIC GOULD

Associate Editor

LINDA DONOVAN

Assistant Editor

Contributors

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MIKE HUGHES

KIM AKASS

MONIQUE NAZARETH

ROGER CATLIN

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TOM BRINKMOELLER

GERALD JORDAN

NOEL HOLSTON

 
 
2013
Mar
25
 
 
SERIES RETURN: NBC, with the dismal stretch it’s been having the past few months, probably was counting the days until this popular show returned. But there’s a catch. After so many weeks in hibernation, will this series attract the same number of fans as when the Revolution was first televised? Hard to say. But if you need a reminder, the last thing this series about a “powerless” future society showed us, lo those many months ago, was a helicopter in flight.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Mar
25
 
 
Episode two of this series gives a stronger idea of where this new series plans to go: both inside the head of young Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore, pictured), and outside the town where he and his feisty mom (Vera Farmiga) have set up the newly named “Bates Motel.” Norman goes into the woods near this small town, and finds some creepy goings-on that have nothing to do with Norman or his mother.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Mar
25
 
 
Episode two of this miniseries gives a stronger idea of where it’s headed as well – and as one body appears and another disappears, the plot thickens in both directions. And no matter where it goes, two performances shine and dominate: Elisabeth Moss from Mad Men as a New Zealand detective (pictured) with a troubled past, and Peter Mullan as a suspect who’s giving her reasons to have a troubled present.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Mar
25
 
 
David Steinberg talks to two more comics this week, and this time they’re both comediennes: the great Carol Burnett, and the hilariously grating Susie Essman (pictured), who plays Susie Greene, Larry David’s very vocal nemesis, on Curb Your Enthusiasm – on which, by the way, Steinberg serves as a director.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Mar
24
 
 
Today's all-day action begins at 12:15 p.m. ET, on CBS, with West teams Ohio State (seeded No. 2) and Iowa State (seeded No. 10) taking the court. Two top-seeded teams play today, also on CBS, but they're not playing each other. Those perennial fan favorites, the Indiana Hoosiers (seeded No. 1 in the East), face No. 9 Temple at 2:45 p.m. ET, after which Kansas (No. 1 in the South) plays North Carolina (No. 5) at 5:15 pm. ET. Other games include two featuring scrappy underdogs. In the West, Old M
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Mar
24
 
 
Tonight’s Live from Lincoln Center outing has singer and actress Kristin Chenoweth taking on not only a bunch of songs, but trying on a bunch of different roles, as she digs deeply into her suitcase (literally) to affix herself with props and bits of costume (a shawl here, some eyeglasses there) to embody, as she explains, “the dames of Broadway… all of them!” Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Mar
24
 
 
Matthew Perry, who has a recurring role on this series, returns tonight, in an episode that also features other guest stars, including John Noble, late of Fringe. Perry’s character has risen through the ranks to play the most prominent political opponent for Peter (Chris Noth), whose estranged wife (well, not so estranged at all, these days), Alicia, is this series’ central role, played so well by Julianna Margulies.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Mar
24
 
 
Last week’s episode ended with Andrea (Laurie Holden) recaptured by the Governor just before reaching safety and rejoining her old gang at the prison. That show’s final image was of Andrea in the Governor’s home-made torture chamber, bound and gagged. This is the penultimate episode of Season 3, so the tension is high, the plots are boiling – and almost every character on this show really is at risk. So, in essence: Not to be missed.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Mar
24
 
 
Al Pacino and Helen Mirren star in this compelling, if slippery, HBO Films production, which uses the impending trial of Phil Spector (accused of murdering an actress in his home by putting a gun in her mouth; he pled not guilty) as a launching point for an intense, and intimate, character study. Pacino goes from rant to rant, and wig to wig, as the former “wall of sound” music producer, while Mirren matches his fury with her calm as his attorney. For full reviews of this telemovie,
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Mar
23
 
 
HBO's Phil Spector succeeds on the strength of its two marquee thespians, Helen Mirren and Al Pacino...