At least we'll still see the pages flying out of his typewriter for years to come. Producer Stephen J. Cannell, who died at age 69 Thursday night of complications from melanoma, leaves behind a body of TV shows that's right up there with prolific tube titans like Aaron Spelling...

2010

Oct

DO 'RUBICON' PICTURES TELL ALL? By Eric Gould

It's always clear when a show is at its top; the directing, acting, styling, lighting and film are all going effortlessly in the right direction. It's a true thing of beauty. And sometimes, editors and directors stay on a shot for a few extra seconds for us (and probably them), to take it all in. In the case of Rubicon (Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on AMC), those extra seconds may also be something more...

2010

Oct

PLAYING 'WHERE'S WALDO?,' AND 'PEACE TRAIN,' AT JON STEWART'S RALLY By Mark Bianculli

There I stood, tightly packed in a sea of people, watching some musical number or other in the opening hour of the "Rally to Restore Sanity And/or Fear," when suddenly, from behind, a man dressed as Waldo (as in "Where's Waldo?") came crowd-surfing slowly over my head. But that, believe it or not, was not the unusual part...

2010

Sep

TRIBUTES: TONY CURTIS, ARTHUR PENN By Diane Werts

Hollywood mourns, and Turner Classic Movies shuffles its schedule. Tributes to both movie/TV director Arthur Penn, who died Tuesday at 88, and golden-age star Tony Curtis, who died Wednesday at 85, have been inserted into TCM's October lineup...

2010

Sep

'30 ROCK' ROASTS TV CHEF By Tom Brinkmoeller

It was easy to wonder whether something of a gastronomic nor'easter was brewing last week in the exclusive East Hampton community in which Ina Garten lives, after "30 Rock" trained its parody rifle on The Barefoot Contessa herself and her husband...

2010

Sep

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO YOU! AND YOU, AND YOU... By David Bianculli

As we near the end of 2010, television certainly doesn't seem that interested in remembering its own past, much less celebrating it. But someone should... so here we are. Did you know, for example, that today -- Wednesday, Sept. 29 -- is the golden anniversary of the premiere of My Three Sons?... Or that, this weekend, The Andy Griffith Show also turns 50?...

2010

Sep

BUSY DAY: HOSTING 'FRESH AIR,' TEACHING FILM AND TV, PUBLISHING PAPERBACK AND WRITING FOR TVWW... AAAAND LOVING IT! By David Bianculli

Today's such a busy day, even by my standards, that I barely have time to type what's going on. But since I do, I will. Starting with the fact that today, I host NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and conduct two TV-related interviews. We start off with Terence Winter, creator of HBO's Boardwalk Empire, and conclude with Jim Parsons, Emmy-winning star of CBS's The Big Bang Theory...

2010

Sep

NBC'S 'UNDERCOVERS' SIGNALS CHANGE IN NETWORK "CREATIVE REASONING" By Gerald Jordan

The conversation still is vivid in my mind. CBS had just previewed Scarecrow and Mrs. King for television critics from across the country and the hour-long drama looked as though it would be popular...The time was 1983, and African American actors still were pushed to the margins when television networks looked to fill leading dramatic roles. The reasons, though, seemed flimsy...

2010

Sep

HOLY SMOKE AND MIRRORS By Tom Brinkmoeller

I can't figure this one out. A recent CBS news release announced the network was planning to broadcast a weekend daytime religious program called "Faith in Action: Young People Making a Difference." I didn't know such things still were being made...

2010

Sep

CANCELED: FOX'S 'LONE STAR' By Diane Werts

Wow. That didn't take long. Lone Star is dead. Not after a lone episode, but after just two. Fox plugged the plug Tuesday by scheduling Lie to Me for an early return next week in the Texas saga's Monday 9 p.m. ET time slot. Critics like me extolled Lone Star, but apparently we're the only ones who watched it...

Posts 91-100 of 363

9 10 11 12 13

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