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

 
 
2012
Jul
18
 
 
These days, cable's got the comedy mojo, with sitcoms such as Sullivan & Son, Baby Daddy and The Soul Man...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Jul
17
 
 
The opening of the newest Batman movie is just around the corner, with director Christopher Nolan completing his Dark Knight trilogy.  Here’s where this particular reboot started, in 2005, with Christian Bale as Batman, Michael Caine as Bruce Wayne’s loyal manservant – and Katie Holmes, now in the news anew, as the female lead.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Jul
17
 
 
So is this Bob Dylan’s guitar, from the night he “went electric,” or isn’t it? It’d be nice to say this was an electrifying hour of History Detectives – but as Tom Brinkmoeller points out in his incisive Raised on MTM report, there are a few dots that don’t quite connect, at least not on camera. Read his full story, and his interview with the show’s producer, HERE. Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Jul
17
 
 
This show, hosted by the warm and lovable Fred Willard, tries very hard to be a modern equivalent of Whose Line Is It Anyway – with improv comedy performed for very low stakes, other than just for the fun of it. The difference here is that they’re improvising around the true-life details of guest celebrities, who have to sit and watch the comics go through their paces. In the 9:30 p.m. ET installment, the guest is Ricky Gervais, who lends his raucous laugh to some of the routines &nd
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Jul
17
 
 
When I previewed this installment of Terence Wrong’s new medical documentary series, this particular hour made me cry – in the segment about a father (Jon Kuhfeldt, at left) struggling to live long enough to walk his grown daughter down the aisle. And that was before more hospital drama entered my own life, and my daughter’s. So fair warning: I won’t be watching tonight. But you should be.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Jul
17
 
 
This usually light USA Network series has begun Season 3 trying to darken the mood a bit, adding more credible danger to the mix, and complicating CIA agent Annie Walker’s relationships within the agency as well as in the field. Piper Perabo (pictured) stars – but has many scenes stolen by supporting cast members (Christopher Gorham, Kari Matchett, and now new arrival Sarah Clarke, for starters), so watch for that. It’s not treachery. Just talent.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Jul
16
 
 
Birders are bird hunters – armed not with shotguns, but with binoculars, notebooks and cell phones. Their goal is to find and identify the hundreds of varieties of birds who either nest or visit in New York’s Central Park, and the best attribute of director Jeffrey Kimball is the same one necessary for a good birder: patience. He films his subjects, human and avian, over all four seasons, giving his story a sense of regeneration, variety and wonder.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Jul
16
 
 
SERIES FINALE: “Just Another Day” is the title of this week’s episode, but it’s anything but. In fact, this is the last day for Eureka, and this final hour is a wrap-up that was written and filmed quite quickly, because the cancellation by Syfy was somewhat unexpected. So along with the anything-goes atmosphere, enjoy the jokes that are not-so-subtle allusions to the show’s treatment by the network. As Eureka the series is shut down, so is Eureka the town…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Jul
16
 
 
Tonight’s episode of The Closer focuses on Provenza, played by G.W. Bailey, who provides much of the comic relief on the show. Fans of the show will be relieved, no doubt, that Provenza and Bailey will be featured prominently in the forthcoming Closer spin-off, which explains the focus on this character at this particular time, as the series with Kyra Sedgwick as star begins to wind down.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Jul
16
 
 
After the tsunami devastated portions of coastal Japan in 2010, there were questions about how, even if, those lands would come back. This 2011 documentary, filmed and released a year later, finds some encouraging signs, and finds them in one of the country’s most iconic beauties of nature: the cherry blossom.