MOVIE DOCUMENTARY PREMIERE: In my estimation, there have been two astounding, can’t-miss documentaries made about movies that were started but, at the time, long abandoned. The first was 1965’s The Epic That Never Was, about the ill-fated attempt to film Charles Laughton in an early version of I, Claudius (the surviving outtakes from which are fabulous). The second was 2002’s Lost in La Mancha, chronicling Monty Python member Terry Gilliam’s

2020

Jun

AMERICAN MASTERS: “TONI MORRISON: THE PIECES I AM” By David Bianculli

Toni Morrison, the first Black American writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature (a feat she accomplished in 1993), is profiled in this new American Masters documentary. It spends as much time on her art and technique as it does her biographical background, and her opinions about both her craft and her audiences are amazingly resonant in this current undercurrent of social change. She says of her canon, “I didn’t want it to be a teaching tool for white people.” An

2020

Jun

REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL By David Bianculli

Even in a socially distanced format, I expect tonight’s new edition to include lots of new reporting, as well as heated opinions, about what’s going on in the world of sports these days. And what’s going on – and not going on – is equally newsworthy, and important.

2020

Jun

TONIGHT, PBS IS THE SITE OF POWERFUL DOCUMENTARIES By Mike Hughes

Two documentaries arrive Tuesday, with nothing in common – other than first-rate craftsmanship, that is...

2020

Jun

THE WEB OF DECEIT, BRIBERY, AND GREED IS BROUGHT TO LIGHT WITH 'OPIOIDS, INC.' ON PBS By David Hinckley

The COVID-19 pandemic has temporarily overshadowed what remains an even more lethal ongoing health crisis: the opioids epidemic that has claimed more than half a million lives in America since 1999...

2020

Jun

JAZZ ON A SUMMER'S DAY By David Bianculli

Start saving your jazz hands. As part of TCM’s twice-weekly June tribute to jazz in film, tonight’s prime-time lineup is populated by two seminal jazz documentaries. The first is this 1959 account of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival, which showcased all manner of old and new music. Included on the bill: jazz great Louis Armstrong, younger pioneer Thelonious Monk, singers Dinah Washington and Mahalia Jackson… and, sliding over from the then-new genre of rock ’n’ roll,

2020

Jun

THELONIOUS MONK: STRAIGHT, NO CHASER By David Bianculli

Straight, No Chaser is the name of a 1967 album by bebop pianist and composer Thelonious Monk, which both wowed and challenged listeners at the time. It’s also the name of this 1988 documentary biography about his life and music. Charlotte Zwerin directs, and the executive producer is Clint Eastwood, revealing his deep passion for jazz music quite early in his own career. And there’s a lot of John Coltrane in here, too…

2020

Jun

HOW COVID-19 MIGHT OR — MORE LIKELY — MIGHT NOT CHANGE THE TV WE WATCH AT HOME By Alex Strachan

The times, they are changing — but it may be a while before TV changes with them...

2020

Jun

1957: NBC DEBUTS 'THE GEORGE SANDERS MYSTERY THEATER' By TV WW

This day in 1957 marked the debut of The George Sanders Mystery Theater on NBC...

2020

Jun

2005: STEVEN BOCHCO'S 'BLIND JUSTICE' ENDS By TV WW

This day in 2005 marked the final telecast of Steven Bochco's short-lived series, Blind Justice...

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