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
Sep
19
 
 
This is the third episode of this newest iteration of American Horror Story, and the killer clowns continue to arrive and attack. It’s in the zeitgeist, apparently, because Stephen King’s It is back with murderous clowns, too. To quote Stephen Sondheim: “Send in the clowns? Don’t bother… they’re here.”
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Sep
19
 
 
Conan O’Brien is at his best when he’s playing an away game, visiting other countries and reveling in their and his differences. Tonight he goes to Israel, where he visits Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other sites – the latest in his comedy passport series, which in the past has taken him on very amusing voyages to Cuba, South Korea, Mexico and, lest we forget, Finland.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Sep
19
 
 
SPECIAL: TV history meets TV promotion – but in this case, it’s a comfortable fit. The Paley Center for Media looks back on this 1998-2006 NBC sitcom, which NBC is reviving Sept. 28, by presenting some of its most memorable and amusing moments. For Will & Grace, that’s a lot of moments. And since the folks at the Paley Center both know and respect their TV history, it’s likely to include a clip from the Will & Grace finale – a finale (pictured) that the new
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Sep
19
 
 
There are 16,000 American advisors in Vietnam when The Vietnam War returns tonight with Episode Three...Those advisors’ fate — and the fate of the embattled country of Vietnam — will rest with a new U.S. president...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Sep
18
 
 
National Geographic’s two-night miniseries on four British Muslims who join ISIS raises more questions than it answers about what we Westerners pretty much all wonder, which is, “Why would anyone do that?”...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Sep
18
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: This is not a recommendation. This is cycle number 25 for this competition reality show – and really, weren’t two dozen iterations enough? (Especially since the producers of this show keep snubbing Dick Smothers, who’s taken dancing lessons and, for years, has wanted to appear.) But look at the list of this year’s “stars” on Stars, starting with Nick and Vanessa Lachey, and Drew Scott of Property Brothers, and tell me how far ABC is stretching
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Sep
18
 
 
Episode 2. Tonight’s installment of this outstanding new series from Ken Burns and Lynn Novick is called “Riding the Tiger,” and focuses on Vietnam during the JFK years, when it was downplayed as a military action of sorts. Last night’s opening installment set the stage for the dangerous quicksand trap that was Vietnam – no bottom, few ways out – and tonight, we see President John F. Kennedy allow his military advisers and others to drag him right into it. Thi
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Sep
18
 
 
Director Cecil B. DeMille had staged one massive biblical epic in 1923, with The Ten Commandments. But after a few years, that was old news, or at least Old Testament. In 1927, DeMille returned with The King of Kings, a silent-movie retelling of the New Testament story of the last days of Jesus Christ. H.B. Warner portrays Christ, and DeMille outdoes himself by going for visual scale and spectacle. In other words, don't expect this particular biblical silent movie to be a run-of-DeMille kind of
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Sep
18
 
 
SERIES FINALE: This is not a recommendation. This is the Season 1 finale for this summer supernatural series from the original author of the book series that gave life to HBO’s True Blood. This new series is much less enjoyable, watchable, well-acted and commendable – so much so that I wouldn’t be surprised if this show’s biological clock expires at Midnight, and never gets to Season 2.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Sep
18
 
 
Let’s first dispense with the night’s biggest winners before turning to the real headline-maker from Sunday’s 69th annual Prime-Time Emmy Awards on CBS...