I’ve been providing daily Best Bets for almost 10 years now, give or take a hospital stay or two – and never, in all that time, have I done what I’m doing today. Not only is the entire evening devoted to the movies by a single director, but the entirety of Best Bets is provided by a single network. Much of Best Bets this month has tracked TCM’s month-long Wednesday/Friday salute to 50 Years of Hitchcock – but tonight, in the network’s chronological film tour o

2017

Jul

NORTH BY NORTHWEST By David Bianculli

In 1959, Alfred Hitchcock followed Vertigo with another solid classic: North by Northwest, in which Cary Grant becomes the victim of a case of mistaken identity, and is both pursued and pursuer in a deadly chase that takes him across the country in a very particular direction. The action ends up, memorably, at Mount Rushmore – which at this writing still has four giant heads, not five. Eva Marie Saint co-stars.

2017

Jul

PSYCHO By David Bianculli

In 1958, Alfred Hitchcock made Vertigo. In 1959, he made North by Northwest. And in 1960, using most of the crew from his TV series, he made Psycho. That’s an annual output of masterpieces that’s nothing less than astounding – and by the time that troika had hit the marketplace, Hitch was the Master of Suspense, then and forever. Janet Leigh dominates the beginning of Psycho, Anthony Perkins the ending, and what happens in between remains as fresh and frightening as it was more

2017

Jul

THE BIRDS By David Bianculli

After Psycho wrapped in 1960, Alfred Hitchcock spent the next few years busying himself with his TV anthology series, and looking for suitable film ideas. In 1963, he settled on The Birds – and delivered his fourth indelible suspense film in a row. All of them are shown, unedited and uninterrupted and in chronological order, tonight on TCM. When I was young, I would have given almost anything to see these four films in one sitting, anywhere. Tonight, I don’t even have to get off my c

2017

Jul

POOR MAN, RICH MAN REFLECTS ON 'RICH MAN, POOR MAN' AND A 45-YEAR CAREER IN FILM AND TV By Alex Strachan

After just a few hours, the press conferences at the semi-annual meeting of the Television Critics Association take on the familiarity of a well-worn talk show...

2017

Jul

THE TCA PRESS TOUR: A DAY WITH LARRY DAVID...AND SERIAL KILLERS By Ed Bark

BEVERLY HILLS, CA -- The people at HBO aren't dummies. So they saved Larry David for last, Wednesday, during a three-hour cavalcade of panels...

2017

Jul

SOME THINGS GO HAND IN HAND By Eric Gould

Here’s the pirate version of The Daily Show video posted to twitter showing new White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci’s hand gestures, which veer very close to those of the President, when shown side by side. We presume the mimicry is a non-verbal way of emphasizing the commander in chief’s message, but a similar hairstyle will not be following. —Eric Gould

2017

Jul

'50S CAR CULTURE SALUTE By David Bianculli

This is one of TCM’s more playful and outrageous theme nights – the TV equivalent of a summer beach read. It’s an evening of movies devoted to ’50s Car Culture, and though it includes, in the morning hours, the most famous example of the genre (1955’s Rebel without a Cause, at 3 a.m. ET), this particular lineup is dominated by low-budget goofy movies that rarely see the light of day – much less the night of TCM. Take, for example, two entries from Roger Corman

2017

Jul

RARE -- CREATURES OF THE PHOTO ARK By David Bianculli

In this new episode, photographer Joel Sartore takes nature photography to a different level, and different venues, by photographing rare animals who are being held and preserved in zoos and preserves. Tonight, for example, he travels to Spain to photograph the rare Iberian lynx, one of the rarest big cats in captivity. You’ve heard of missing lynx? Here’s one that’s found. Check local listings.

2017

Jul

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN By David Bianculli

This new ABC summer series premiered last night, and moves to its regular Tuesday time slot beginning tonight. I didn’t mention it last night, because I don’t really consider this new 10-episode mystery series worth watching. I do, however, consider its source worth mentioning, because it may mark the start of a new trend at ABC. Like The Good Doctor, which premieres on ABC this fall, Somewhere Between is based on a TV series from South Korea – in this case, God’s Gift: 1

Posts 41-50 of 218

4 5 6 7 8

New From TVWW

PBS' 'Frontline’ Examines Pension Promises and — Spoiler Alert — Finds the Math Doesn’t Add Up

The Decadence of ‘Versailles’ Comes to Ovation

Prescribing Mamie Gummer in 'Emily Owens, M.D.'

Looking for a Free Ride? HBO Can Deliver

'Pass the Biscuits' Part of the Hatfield-McCoy Pop-Culture Legacy

Dispatches From TVWW

'Extinction: The Facts' is a Sobering Call to Action

How 'Mayans' Has Been Influenced by the Show's Creator Elgin James

For Whom the Bell Tolls: Ken Burns and Lynn Novick Take on Ernest Hemingway, the Man and the Myth

In the Final Season, Sutton Foster's Liza is Now the Genuine Version of Her 'Younger' Self

Season 2 of 'City on a Hill' Returns with Kevin Bacon, Aldis Hodge, and Boston Corruption