Consider this 1942 swashbuckling classic an early precursor of Pirates of the Caribbean. The setting is 17th-century Jamaica, and the most charismatic pirate in this Caribbean movie is played by Tyrone Power – with Maureen O’Hara playing an abducted noblewoman who becomes an initially reluctant piece of his pirate booty. So to speak.

2014

Jul

MATADOR By David Bianculli

SERIES PREMIERE: Here comes El Rey’s second original series – and this one is a modern take, and spin, on the old I Spy concept of having a globally competing athlete working undercover as a spy. That Sixties classic used the world of tennis as a cover, but Matador uses football. Not American football – world football, what we in the U.S. commonly call soccer. Gabriel Luna stars as Tony Bravo, a gifted athlete who’s drafted by CIA operative Annie Mason (Nicky Whelan, of S

2014

Jul

FRONTLINE: "SEPARATE AND UNEQUAL" By David Bianculli

Just like last night’s POV, tonight’s Frontline finds itself in Louisiana, and looking closely at racially tinged local politics. In the case of Separate and Unequal, it’s the efforts of some residents of the East Baton Rouge Parish to create a new city and school system – a new school district that would segregate from the status quo by being largely affluent, and white, while lower-income, mostly black families would remain in the existing district. How can this happen,

2014

Jul

TYRANT By David Bianculli

In tonight’s episode, an anniversary is imminent – but it’s neither romantic nor cause for celebration. It’s the 20th anniversary of the date on which Barry’s father, President Khaled Al-Fayeed, ordered a chemical weapon attack, and the date remains so burned in local history that protests and reprisals are feared. And probable.

2014

Jul

MEL BROOKS: THE TV WORTH WATCHING INTERVIEW, TAKE 3 By David Bianculli

Mel Brooks recently turned 88, but still juggles as many ongoing projects as Ken Burns. This month alone, he’s popping up on TCM, appearing at a Hollywood salute to Sid Caesar, and hatching plans for… well, you have to read it to believe it… [CLICK TO READ IMPORTANT UPDATE]

2014

Jul

MOM By David Bianculli

If you watched last night’s Season 2 premiere of Showtime’s Masters of Sex, you saw some amazingly haunting dramatic work by Allison Janney as Margaret Scully, concerned wife of closeted homosexual played by Beau Bridges. That was last night. Tonight she’s featured opposite Anna Faris in a repeat of this CBS sitcom, portraying the playfully broad comic character of Bonnie Plunkett, an outrageous recovering-alcoholic mom – and recent grandmother. Two very, very different r

2014

Jul

BACKPACKERS By David Bianculli

This is not a recommendation – just a note. As summer series go, this new CW effort at least reflects what a lot of its young viewers may actually be doing this summer in real life. Noah Reid plays Ryan, and Dillon Casey portrays Brandon, two young men who find themselves backpacking across Europe (in tonight’s pilot, it’s to try and find Ryan’s fiancé). Produced on location in various cities overseas, this modern road-trip series (a sort of I Spy with tennis, or i

2014

Jul

24: LIVE ANOTHER DAY By David Bianculli

SERIES FINALE: Technically, this may be the season finale, because 24 has presented its series finale once before – only to come back from the TV dead to, as its subtitle proclaims, Live Another Day. But tonight’s culminating episode of this 2014 story line differs from all others in the 24 canon in that it includes at least one non-consecutive time shift, jumping to another point in time as in most other dramas. Even the episode’s title reflects this: “Day 9: 10:00

2014

Jul

UNDER THE DOME By David Bianculli

Last week’s episode featured lots and lots of butterflies, as well as lots of close shaves. There’s a close shave in tonight’s episode as well – when Big Jim (Dean Norris) goes to the barber shop. Though there are many cutthroat characters imprisoned under the dome, don’t expect a cut throat to be the result of this particular encounter. The character played by Norris, who moved here straight from Breaking Bad, means too much to this town – and, specifica

2014

Jul

POV: "GETTING BACK TO ABNORMAL" By David Bianculli

The subject of this documentary is New Orleans, and this program might as well be an unofficial episode of HBO’s Treme. It’s about local politics, racial tensions and corruption in that city, three of David Simon’s favorite topics, in Treme as well as in his previous TV series, the classic The Wire. In this case, in real life, tonight’s POV is about the re-election campaign of Stacy Head, who’s already served in her city council seat, but is finding opposition to he

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