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
26
 
 
Last week, American Masters presented a new profile of famous chef James Beard, one that explained his importance to the pantheon of international culinary masters. Today, it tries to do the same with a slightly lesser, but still shining, star in that same firmament: Jacques Pepin. Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
25
 
 
The Golden State Warriors are in the Finals again, for the third straight year – and the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers want to get there, too, but first they have to win their final Eastern Conference series. The Boston Celtics are the team to beat, and right now the Cavs are ahead in the series 3-1 – and can clinch the series, and move on to the Finals, with a win tonight.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
25
 
 
I love the TV series Fargo. Adore it. And last night’s episode was spectacular, surprising, funny, and moving. All those elements are present in the original Fargo as well, and the 1996 Coen Brothers movie is shown tonight on Encore. Watch it, and see, so obviously, how this 21-year-old movie inspired the current TV season of Fargo, especially its leading characters. Frances McDormand, William H. Macy star.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
25
 
 
Tonight’s episode of The Amazing Race is one I might tune in to watch, even though the weekly appeal of this series faded for me a few races ago. But tonight, the global competition takes the contestants to Seoul, South Korea. And these days, with Korea in the headlines, who couldn’t be bolstered by a little bit of Seoul?
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
25
 
 
SNEAK PREVIEW: Rashida Jones, who stars in the very funny and loony TBS comedy Angie Tribeca, is one of the executive producers behind this new comedy-drama on sister network TNT. Claws is being given a sneak preview tonight, after Game 5 of the NBA Playoffs, before premiering officially June 10.  It’s set in a nail salon in South Florida, which sounds unusual enough to sample right there. But add that the regular cast includes Niecy Nash from Reno 911 and Carrie Preston from The Good
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
24
 
 
It’s been a relief but no surprise to fans of FXX’s Archer this season that our hero Sterling Archer has been as offensive and insensitive in 1947 as he always used to be in the 2010s...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
24
 
 
Hulu keeps rolling out episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale on a weekly basis – and so far, they’ve proven to be well worth the wait. Tonight’s episode goes back to the very first scene from the opening episode, when Offred (Elisabeth Moss), then still in her married life as Luke’s wife, June, is hunted down, knocked out, and dragged away, to her mandated new existence as a “handmaid.” But tonight, instead of following June from that flashback moment, we foll
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
24
 
 
TELEMOVIE PREMIERE: This new three-hour ABC telemovie is a musical remake of the 1987 movie, which remains a romantic favorite among certain cinema fans 30 years later. Abigail Breslin and Colt Prattes star in the roles played in the original by Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze. And if you want me to review this new version glowingly, or even positively, give it up. You can't make me do it. Nobody puts Davy in a corner…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
24
 
 
Part 2 of 3. Tonight’s installment, “A Matter of Taste,” explains how chemistry and biology combine to make foods interact, and more delicious, during various cooking processes. If they’d stressed this topic in high school, I might have done better in science class. (Or, at least, attended.)  The hour begins with Michael Mosley deconstructing a traditional Thai meal to explain why the flavors interact the way they do. In other words, he’s studying the science o
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
24
 
 
Last week, Ray Stussy (Ewan McGregor) returned home to find his loved one, Nikki Swango (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), curled up in the bathtub – fully clothed, and in agony from the severe beating she’d received at the hands of Varga’s goons. This week, Ray and Nikki regroup, and plan an attack for payback --  but against Varga (David Thewlis) and his goons, who already have established themselves as chillingly ruthless adversaries.