SEASON FINALE: This series has done so well its first season, in introducing new characters and doing new things with established ones from Victorian-era literary ones, that this Season 1 finale is something to approach with great anticipation. That’s especially true since it’s titled, and set in the on-stage world of, “Grand Guignol” – the early theatrical equivalent of splatter films and horror movies. Meanwhile, the characters who have stood together up to now be

2014

Jun

LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER By David Bianculli

Just a reminder: Any show that features an interview with Stephen Hawking, in which the theoretical physicist jokes with its host by firing off computer-voice-aided one-liners, is a show not to miss. If you weren’t watching recently, you did miss it – but that’s the sort of unexpected treat to expect when John Oliver is recapping the week in news.

2014

Jun

HOW 'BEWITCHED' TACKLED TV VIOLENCE -- MORE THAN 40 YEARS AGO By Ed Martin

I’m noticing a significant uptick in concerned comments by television critics and bloggers about the rising tide of graphic ultra-violence in television programming. Television violence is certainly nothing new... but since when has bloodlust been so hot?...

2014

Jun

OPPENHEIMER By David Bianculli

Not that one is necessary, but there’s a timely reason to award this BBC-WGBH miniseries co-production, originally shown on PBS’s American Playhouse in 1982, a TV Worth Watching Seal of Approval. That’s because the central plot of this brilliant seven-part drama is being revisited yet again...

2014

Jun

2014 WORLD CUP By David Bianculli

We’re now into the knockout round of the World Cup: 16 teams playing eight games, with the winner advancing and the loser going home, forced to wait until 2018 to try, try again. The first two games are played today, and both are broadcast live by ABC. At noon ET, host country Brazil plays Chile – and at 4 p.m. ET, it’s Uruguay vs. Colombia. These games are easy to sink your teeth into: Not only are they high-stakes, single-elimination games, but the last time Uruguay played, o

2014

Jun

TO BE OR NOT TO BE By David Bianculli

Jack Benny is saluted tonight by TCM, and rightly so – more so than almost any other performer in show-biz history, Benny dominated first radio, then TV, for decades at a time, while also enjoying success in the cinema. Tonight, some of those movie successes are televised, beginning with this 1942 satire in which Benny plays an egotistical Polish actor who uses his thespian skills to confound the Nazis. Carole Lombard stars, in what turns out to be her final screen appearance, and this Ern

2014

Jun

ALMOST ROYAL By David Bianculli

In this new satirical “reality series,” Ed Gamble plays Georgie, and Amy Hoggart steals the spotlight as Poppy, playing clueless siblings who profess to be members of the extended British royal family. In this very funny series, Georgie and Poppy tour the United States (in this particular episode, Texas), asking bizarre questions and making absurd comments as the locals try to make sense of their nonsense.

2014

Jun

THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1937 By David Bianculli

It’s one of the oldest plots in show business: Hey, kids, let’s put on a show! In this 1936 movie, the cause they’re trying to benefit is a radio station that’s about to go bankrupt, and Jack Benny spearheads a “big broadcast” to save them. And what a broadcast: Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa play, George Burns and Gracie Allen play loosely disguised variations of themselves, and Benny himself ends up, as he should, on the business end of the mic. It’s a m

2014

Jun

THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW By David Bianculli

Tonight’s new show is heavy on the British guests – they include singer and reality show judge Cheryl Cole, Mrs. Brown’s Boys actor Brendan O’Carroll and British comic John Bishop. But these people almost always end up delighting you as you get to know them – and meanwhile, the other guests include Don Johnson and (not pictured) musical guest Chrissie Hynde.

2014

Jun

'VICIOUS': NEW COMEDY IMPORT FROM SIRS, WITH LOVE By Donna J. Plesh

When you have two “Sirs” starring in a television series, you know it might be something special, especially when the “Sirs” in question are British acting greats Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Derek Jacobi...

Posts 1101-1110 of 2162

110 111 112 113 114

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