In tonight’s new episode, Brockmire (Hank Azaria) gets a visit from his long-estranged mother. And who has enough acting chops to play the woman who raised the foul-mouthed, antisocial, fast-talking substance abuser? How about former Alice sitcom star, Linda Lavin?

2019

Apr

1969 By David Bianculli

SERIES PREMIERE: I’m really pumped about this new nonfiction ABC series. It’s a six-part look at the year 1969 – and since I teach a TV History class on television in the 1960s and 1970s, I’m well aware of the richness of the vein ABC is about to tap. Tonight’s opener, for example, is called “Moon Shot,” and leads up to the most amazing, and most viewed, television event in the history of the medium: The live TV coverage, direct from the moon, of man&rsq

2019

Apr

FOSSE/VERDON By David Bianculli

Michelle Williams, as Gwen Verdon, not only stands up to Sam Rockwell’s Bob Fosse in this third episode – she puts him in his place with a remark so perfectly delivered, half smile and half stiletto, part purr and part bite, that Williams should get an Emmy nomination for her delivery of that line alone. And probably will. What line? You’ll know it when you hear it.

2019

Apr

IT'S ABOUT TIME WE MEET 'GENTLEMAN JACK,' AND HBO IS INTRODUCING HER By David Hinckley

Add Anne Lister to the roster of fascinating women you probably never heard of. It’s not your fault. Lister lived and died almost two centuries ago...

2019

Apr

CNN TOWN HALL EVENT By David Bianculli

Bernie Sanders became the first aspiring 2020 presidential hopeful to get attention by holding a televised town meeting on Fox. And though others already have appeared in similar arenas on the more sympathetic MSNBC, tonight’s Town Hall Event by CNN deserves special mention, because of its sheer size. From 7 p.m. ET until midnight, CNN is presenting a veritable miniseries of one-hour televised town halls from the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anaheim College, showcasing five

2019

Apr

A FEW GOOD MEN By David Bianculli

Aaron Sorkin’s powerful play led to this powerful movie, which led to Sorkin getting The West Wing, which eventually led to him returning to the stage with a stunning theatrical adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird. And his playwriting and dialogue muscles all start here, captured in amber by a 1992 film version directed by Rob Reiner, and starring Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, Kevin Pollak, and a blistering Jack Nicholson.

2019

Apr

THE YEARLING By David Bianculli

Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman stars in this 1946 adaptation of the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings novel, which may be one of the best films ever set in the state of Florida. I grew up in Florida, at a time when some rural patches still looked like this family’s remote farmland. And yes, I admit to having a soft spot for this emotional drama about a young boy and his deer friend. You might even say I’m awfully fawn of it…

2019

Apr

GENTLEMAN JACK By David Bianculli

MINISERIES PREMIERE: This new HBO limited series is a sort of Masterpiece Theatre with an HBO sense and sensibility. It stars Suranne Jones from Doctor Foster as Anne Lister, an accomplished, well-traveled, landowning woman in early 19th-century West Yorkshire. She’s given the name “Gentleman Jack” because she comports herself (and, in some ways, dresses) more like a man. She also has designs on the young woman who lives next door, an old romantic trope given a new spin with th

2019

Apr

'MOTOWN 60: A GRAMMY CELEBRATION' ON CBS SALUTES THE MAGNIFICENT LABEL By David Hinckley

A slick, glossy, and selective special on the 60^th anniversary of Motown Records doesn’t diminish the fact Motown deserves pretty much every superlative...

2019

Apr

MOTOWN 60: A GRAMMY CELEBRATION By David Bianculli

SPECIAL PREMIERE: Smokey Robinson and Cedric the Entertainer co-host this Grammy salute to Motown Records, honoring the 60th anniversary of the pioneering label from Detroit (which, in those days of US automotive production dominance, was known as Motor Town, a.k.a. Motown). Performers include some who, like Robinson, were there for the early glory days: Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross, for starters. Others include Fantasia, Thelma Houston, Boyz II Men, and such relatively unexpected guests as Litt

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