SEASON PREMIERE: This is the 10th season for this competition reality series, which used to be one of the most inspirational and satisfying of the bunch – but even with a lackluster “all-star” round last year, has generated little excitement since moving to Lifetime. Part of it is the natural aging process of a series whose gimmicks have become repetitive, but part is that the contestants, of late, have shown less creativity as designers than narcissism as would-be TV divas. Pe

2012

Jul

BURN NOTICE By David Bianculli

This series certainly is being egalitarian this season. Two weeks ago, the focus was on Fiona. Last week, it was on Sam. And tonight, it’s on Michael, who’s on a mission that puts him squarely against a tough mob guy. And for help, he goes to a familiar corner, but an unexpected one.

2012

Jul

LOUIE By David Bianculli

Part 1 of 2. Parker Posey guest stars as a new woman in Louie’s life – and boy, is she interesting. Louie (Louie C.K.) finds her all sorts of strange, and unsettling, and unpredictable. And somehow, finds that combination more than a little attractive…

2012

Jul

1990: THE ZAPPA SIBLINGS' 'NORMAL LIFE' COMES TO AN END By Christy Slewinski

This day in 1990 marked the last telecast of the short-lived CBS sitcom, Normal Life...

2012

Jul

FIGHT CLUB By David Bianculli

This 1999 movie, moodily directed by David Fincher, is an odd film to have risen to the status of cult classic, but it certainly has. Brad Pitt and Edward Norton stars – and so does Helena Bonham Carter, proving that she doesn’t need Tim Burton to cast her in movies to make some very lasting cinematic impressions.

2012

Jul

A FACE IN THE CROWD By David Bianculli

Tonight, TCM presents a four-movie salute to the late Andy Griffith, starting with his 1957 electrifying role as a prickly drifter who rides an unexpected ticket to fame and fortune – only to risk both because of his horrid treatment of those around him. This movie, written by Budd Schulberg and directed by Elia Kazan, doesn’t present the Griffith we know from Mayberry – but a vain, snarling, libidinous, greedy bastard. It’s a great role, a great performance, and a movie

2012

Jul

DAMAGES By David Bianculli

Well, the first episode of this final season of Damages certainly set the stage for one wild last ride. It’s going to be Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) vs. Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) in court – and three months later, thanks to a flash-forward glimpse, it’s going to be Patty in handcuffs, and Ellen on the ground, looking all the worse for wear, in an alley (pictured). Whets the appetite for more? Absolutely. And what happened to the whistleblower played by Jenna Elfman in the premie

2012

Jul

HIT & MISS By David Bianculli

Chloe Sevigny won me over by the time last week’s premiere episode was through. Now there are five more installments in this miniseries (which may or may not continue into a second season) in which Sevigny, as a transgender assassin, tackles one of the most unusual and unprecedented TV roles of the season. And the scene that won me over? The scene where she taught her young son, whom she’s only recently learned existed, to box. This series import is much more into character than cari

2012

Jul

NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS By David Bianculli

This 1958 movie is the second of four Andy Griffith movies shown tonight, and shows him in the role in which he starred – on stage and TV as well as film. In fact, TV came first: a 1955 U.S. Steel Hour production, televised live, with a script written by Ira Levin, later of Rosemary’s Baby fame. Griffith stars as a drawling, smiling, good ole country boy drafted into the Air Force, and bedeviling his sergeant – an early prototype for the Andy Griffith Show spinoff, Gomer Pyle,

2012

Jul

BEFORE WILL MCAVOY... By Eric Gould

...there was Bill Moyers. If the idea of journalism as a critical part of democracy is important to you, the HBO series The Newsroom, and the Jeff Daniels character Will McAvoy, are going deep into that subject each week. And Bill Moyers has been doing it for real, for decades...

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