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

 
 
2017
May
29
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: This durable, truly amusing improv series begins Season 13 tonight, with Aisha Tyler as host, and with regular class clowns Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie, and Wayne Brady having fun with props, suggestions, and each other. One thing that’s laudable about this series, especially on a holiday evening: It’s a perfect show to watch with the entire family. And these days, there are fewer and fewer of those all the time.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
29
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: This is not a recommendation, but it is an observation. This series, based on the Young Adult novel by Melinda Taub using the deaths of Romeo & Juliet as a starting point for this unofficial Shakespearean “sequel,” is created by Heather Mitchell, a writer for Shonda Rhimes’ Scandal, and has Rhimes as one of its producers. It was announced as a show in the mix for last season, but missed the cut, and was passed over at midseason as well. The fact that it&rsq
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
29
 
 
The Memorial Day film feature on PBS Monday night started as an upbeat documentary on how some military veterans find farming can be valuable therapy for PTSD...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
28
 
 
The completion of President Trump’s first overseas tour created many discussions and controversies...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
28
 
 
SPECIAL: This is the 28th annual concert of this type, dedicated to military personnel and performed live from the Mall in Washington. D.C. Notably, in addition to PBS presenting the telecast for U.S. viewers, the American Forces Network broadcasts the whole thing live globally. And of all the special events on TV this weekend, this is the one that salutes the military literally, as well as figuratively. This year’s festivities, for example, include a tribute to the last surviving member o
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
28
 
 
This is the penultimate episode for this season, and for this series. Next Sunday, The Leftovers ends – whether or not it provides a satisfactory conclusion. (I’ve always felt that answering questions is not exactly what this series prizes the most.) But tonight, the next-to-last episode provides some sort of potential answers in its episode’s title alone. It’s called “The Most Powerful Man in the World (And His Identical Twin Brother).” And in addition to bei
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
28
 
 
These are hours three and four of the new Twin Peaks series – the hours that Showtime has made available to watch On Demand since last Sunday at midnight. I watched them then, to write my review for last Monday’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross on NPR. And I’m still not sure what to think about them, except that despite so much use of Kyle McLachlan, the star of the original Twin Peaks back in 1990-91, they still haven’t used him very well, four hours in. We’ve seen him
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
28
 
 
Last Sunday, the two-hour premiere of Showtime’s Twin Peaks, despite all its advance hype and its defiant lack of advance screenings and information, drew fewer viewers than even this first-season Starz series – which, as it rolls out, may indeed be giving Twin Peaks: The Return competition not only in audience levels, but in levels of surrealistic unpredictability. Tonight, for example, the modern god known as Media, played by Gillian Anderson, adopts another of her high-profile gui
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
28
 
 
Ken Burns and Lynn Novick have a new documentary series coming out this fall on PBS: The Vietnam War. And tonight, for Memorial Day weekend, PBS is offering a special, perfectly timed sneak preview, to be televised right after tonight’s live Memorial Day concert on PBS. Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
28
 
 
In tonight’s episode, Selina (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) tries to complete her book manuscript, while planning for the unveiling of her official portrait – the one painted by the woman who slept with Selina’s ex-husband just as Selina was rekindling a romantic relationship with him.