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
Aug
8
 
 
Among the events NBC is showcasing tonight in prime time is the gold-medal match in women’s beach volleyball, and that’s because the USA will win. And there’s no spoiler alert necessary: the two two-person teams that have made it all the way to this final match are both from the United States. The game, broadcast time-delayed in prime time, has Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor on one side of the net, and April Ross and Jennifer Kessy on the other. Go USA!
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Aug
8
 
 
The plot last week required way too much suspension of disbelief, with both Patty (Glenn Close) and Ellen (Rose Byrne) being way too eager and cavalier regarding making identical $500,000 payments to a hacker offering information about their case. The hacker paid, too, for playing both sides against each other – which adds to the body count in a series that, between its flash-forwards and dream sequences, is drenched with blood and death this final season. And we’re not through yet&h
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Aug
8
 
 
SEASON FINALE: The good news for fans of this series reboot: It’s coming back for a Season 2. Other good news: Though there is a cliffhanger of sorts to end this season, it has nothing to do with Larry Hagman’s J.R. Ewing getting shot. Not this time.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Aug
8
 
 
Blood and death plays into this series on a regular basis, too – and last week’s episode ended with a bedroom, a potential victim and her brutal attacker all covered in blood, and Chloe Sevigny’s assassin arriving just in time to witness the carnage. This week, as this limited series nears its conclusion, she deals with it.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Aug
8
 
 
SNEAK PREVIEW: After the Olympics are over in prime time tonight, NBC is offering a sneak preview of Matthew Perry’s new comedy, Go On. He plays a sport radio talk-show host who’s ordered to attend therapy sessions after the death of his wife, in a comedy that strives to be part Community quirky, and part The Bob Newhart Show mainstream. It doesn’t start with a consistent or convincing tone – almost immediately, Perry’s Ryan King comes on like Jack Nicholson in One
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Aug
8
 
 
Robert Hughes, art critic for Time magazine, passed away on Monday. He authored the definitive documentary on modern art, Shock of the New, for the BBC and PBS in 1980...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Aug
7
 
 
This is the final night of gymnastics, with four individual medals awarded – on a day of competition that also includes more track and field, semifinals in beach volleyball, and other events. But gymnastics, showcased in prime time, is the big draw, with all-around Olympics gold medalist, USA’s Gabby Douglas, appearing in her grand finale – and hoping to make it more grand than her performance in Monday’s uneven parallel bars, where she finished in last place.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Aug
7
 
 
This 1978 Oscar-winning war drama includes some scenes that are about as intense as cinema can get, and you have young Christopher Walken to thank for some of those. Robert de Niro, quickly building his stellar reputation, is amazing here as well, as are two co-stars whose backstage drama was just as potent. Meryl Streep was in love with John Cazale, who, they both knew, was dying of cancer. Cazale’s scenes were filmed first, and it was the last movie he made before he died.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Aug
7
 
 
Episode 5 in Terence Wrong’s eight-part medical documentary series runs a wide emotional gauntlet. On one end, there’s the touching drama of a brother who sacrifices half of his healthy liver to try and save his brother (putting both their lives at risk in the process). On the other, there’s Ben van Boxtel (left), an E.R. doctor who handles incoming emergencies with seeming aplomb – but drops his cool façade when victimized by a prank from co-workers.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Aug
7
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: After preseason visits with the Kansas City Chiefs and the Dallas Cowboys, NFL Films takes its cameras down to Florida, the same year Showtime’s The Franchise trained its cameras on baseball’s Miami Marlins. But Hard Knocks is focusing on the Miami Dolphins, who have logged three straight losing seasons, and who have ripped out my heart more times than the women I’ve known. But the Dolphins, when I was young, also gave me that perfect season, so they’ve g