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

 
 
2013
Apr
16
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: This new edition was totally mapped out with other stories before yesterday’s bombing at the Boston Marathon – but it’s a good bet that Bryant Gumbel, with all his news instincts, will use the time to address, if not update, the tragic act of terrorism.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
16
 
 
In addition to his short films, French comic filmmaker Pierre Etaix made only five movies – and three of them, along with a pair of shorts, are presented tonight in this generous introduction to the works of one of France’s most acclaimed, and least known, cinematic clown princes. Yo Yo, from 1965, opens this TCM retrospective at 8 p.m. ET, telling the story of a wealthy man who has everything but love. In 1968’s Le Grand Amour, at 10 p.m. ET, Etaix stars as a happily married m
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
16
 
 
Boy, this was fast: Nathan Fielder, star of Comedy Central’s Nathan for You, has only been around as a “celebrity” for a short while with his twisted new series – but already, he’s scored a guest spot opposite Craig Ferguson on tonight’s show.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
15
 
 

The Central Park Five, the newest Ken Burns documentary to hit PBS, addresses his familiar, favored themes of race and place. But this time, making the movie was a family affair…

 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
15
 
 
Acting legends Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi star in a new British sitcom, Vicious...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
15
 
 
After presenting as many audition shows as it could get away with, The Voice now shifts to phase two – a less satisfying phase, the battle stage, when two singers enter a boxing-type “ring” and perform duets. They’re trying to stand out more than blend, though, so it’s always an odd dynamic. But here we go…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
15
 
 
I’ve stayed with this series, trying to find enough reasons to justify my continued loyalty. And so far, the scripts have let me down, and only a few performances – by Kevin Bacon as the haunted ex-FBI agent Ryan Hardy, Natalie Zea as the cult leader’s ex-wife, and Valorie Curry (pictured) as cult follower Emma. But last week, the show finally served up a genuine surprise: a flashback in which young Hardy was shown forcing the drugged-out killer of his father to inject himself
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
15
 
 
MINISERIES FINALE: Elisabeth Moss, who’s back as Peggy on Mad Men, concludes her run in this imported miniseries, playing a detective who returns home to New Zealand and ends up pursuing a missing-persons case. The miniseries’ final two episodes are shown back to back tonight, so watch or record accordingly.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
15
 
 
This new documentary is fairly lightweight, like a comic book – but, like a comic, there’s plenty of subtext and symbolism to be found if you look for it. Interview subjects discussing the role of Wonder Woman, and other female heroines, through pop-culture history include Lynda Carter, who played the Amazon on TV in the 1970s, and Gloria Steinem, who selected the comic-version Wonder Woman as the cover of the first issue of Ms. magazine that same decade. Trace the lineage, from the
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
15
 
 
SEASON FINALE: Even though this is a talk series about comedy, David Steinberg saved the most serious installment for last. It’s an interview with Robert Schimmel, a standup comic who endured and survived, and drew comic material from, his bouts with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. But shortly after recording this interview with Steinberg, Schimmel died in a car crash in 2010, making this a sort of salute, retrospective, and last laugh, all in one.