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

 
 
2015
Jul
21
 
 
Do not miss this. Jon Stewart has said, several times, he didn’t want to load his final shows with special guests, but tonight’s show clearly is an exception. His guest is Barack Obama, making his seventh and final appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart – and his third appearance as the sitting President of the United States. Obama first appeared on the show in 2005, before he even ran for the Oval Office. As President, he visted Stewart in 2010, and again in 2012.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jul
21
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: Knock Knock, who’s there? Ryan. Ryan who? Ryan Seacrest – who is smart enough, I guess, to see the writing on the wall and start thinking about life after American Idol. The concept of this summer series is a bit like that opening-month James Corden experiment on CBS’s Late Show, when he took his entire show on the road one night – surprising a local homeowner by asking to host his show from their house. In Knock Knock, Seacrest stays put, in the studio,
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jul
21
 
 
This documentary, released theatrically last year, is about Joaquin Guzman Loera, the Mexican drug lord known as “El Chapo.” If that name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s the drug lord who vowed to escape from his high-security prison – and just did. The documentary is updated with a new prologue reflecting the latest, but the main story is about the filmmakers, who set out to find and interview “El Chapo” prior to his 2014 capture. Check local listing
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jul
21
 
 
In shaping history, perspective is everything. This new PBS documentary looks at the evolution of human history, and looks at it from the perspective from outside our planet. This allows for some interesting computer work, and also some very egocentric thinking: Man may be the dominant global species, but the best one for the planet? Arguments could be made for the bees. Or, as both Douglas Adams and Kurt Vonnegut have suggested, the dolphin. Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jul
20
 
 
For anyone who ever has guessed the exact number of jellybeans in a jar, correctly picked a 40-to-one long shot to win a horse race or accurately predicted what Donald Trump would say next, Antiques Roadshow's summer reruns should be a natural viewing choice...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jul
20
 
 
I’d never heard of this artist before, much less her story, but wow. In the early 20th century, the family of Massachusetts painter Edith Lake Wilkinson committed her to an asylum – and her story ends there. Or at least it did, until these filmmakers began examining her artwork for clues, and intent upon retracing her steps, and her relationship with both her family and her canvases.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jul
20
 
 
Part 2. In Ed Bark’s full review on Uncle Barky’s Bytes, he expresses a bit of amazement that the miniseries Tut is better than he expected – given that it’s presented by the Spike network, hardly known as a bastion of scripted TV drama. I agree completely, and context is everything. On PBS – and even on TBS – this would seem like a much less impressive effort. Ben Kingsley stars, but not as Tut.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jul
20
 
 
This documentary won the 2014 World Cinema Grand Jury Prize for Documentary, and follows 19-year-old Basset Saroot, whose recent drastic changes in life direction include going from star goalie for the Syrian soccer team to protestor during the so-called Arab Spring to armed insurgent. Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jul
20
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: This isn’t a recommendation, really, because I have no memory of watching this series last summer – or, for that matter, even being aware that it’s on. But here it is again, for another summer season, with survivalist Gryllis taking individual celebrities on some outdoor experiences that are very much out of their usual comfort zones. Tonight, he takes Jesse Tyler Ferguson, from ABC’s Modern Family, on a 6,000-foot hike down an Italian mountain peak.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jul
20
 
 
Jon Stewart returns from his last break before calling it quits, and starts off with a guest with whom Stewart clearly enjoys conversing: Paul Rudd, visiting the show to promote his new Marvel Ant-Man movie – and, at the same time, bid Stewart a fond farewell to The Daily Show.