Tonight’s new episode is a backdoor pilot for what could be – and, given CBS’s ongoing faith in its crime-procedural dramas, soon will be – the latest spinoff from an existing CBS franchise. The guest star is Patricia Arquette, whose years on NBC’s Medium have her well prepared to play a “cyberpsychologist,” a woman who uses her powers of perception and deduction to solve crimes on and from the Internet. Finally – someone equipped to catch that elu

2014

Apr

THE AMERICANS By David Bianculli

There’s plenty to praise, and pay close attention to, in this show’s superior second season – and something to watch, certainly, as Keri Russell’s Elizabeth dons a new wig to seduce a new targeted mark. But tonight, there’s something special to listen for as well. This episode includes a song on the soundtrack that was written especially for the show, and this episode, by Pete Townshend.

2014

Apr

THE COLBERT REPORT By David Bianculli

Stephen Colbert showed his love for Broadway, and his skill at musical comedy, by appearing in a concert version of Stephen Sondheim’s Company – at the composer’s request. Tonight, in character as his conservative blowhard, he plays host to one of the most talented performers in Broadway history: Audra McDonald, who’s just been nominated for a sixth Tony Award, for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play, for her harrowing, haunting impersonation of Billie Holiday

2014

Apr

MARVEL'S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. By David Bianculli

Now that How I Met Your Mother is over, Cobie Smulders, who played the eventual second wife of that show’s endlessly digressive narrator, is free to pop in on this Avengers spinoff series. She’s reprising the role of agent Maria Hill, which she’s played in the Avengers and Captain America movies, and in the pilot of this ABC series as well. And tonight, she tracks down the remaining S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, figuring they may be the only people left she can trust. And as we already

2014

Apr

PIONEERS OF TELEVISION By David Bianculli

Tonight’s installment is devoted to the advent of color TV – to, that is, the depiction of minorities on television. Previous installments of this series have been frustratingly superficial, but I’m holding out hope that this one will be more judicious about the choices of its clips, guests and narratives. One thing they did right, certainly: land Bill Cosby, who changed television with both I Spy in the Sixties and The Cosby Show in the Eighties, as an interview subject. Check

2014

Apr

FROM DUSK TILL DAWN: THE SERIES By David Bianculli

The most recent episode, number six out of 10, finally got us into the south-of-the-border vampire bar. But it ended just as Eiza Gonzalez, as Santanico Pandemonium, was about to take the stage – which is one of the main things I’ve waited seven TV hours now to see. But unless they devote tonight’s show entirely to flashbacks, we’ll finally get her hypnotic, vampiric snake dance. I’ll be there, and may as well express my gratitude in advance: Fangs for the memories.

2014

Apr

FARGO By David Bianculli

This is episode three of Fargo, and it’s an episode in which an already dense and delightful plot thickens considerably. Among other events: Billy Bob Thornton’s always opportunistic Lorne Malvo tracks down the blackmailers – and blackmails them instead.

2014

Apr

THE COLBERT REPORT By David Bianculli

Tonight’s scheduled guest is Robert Rodriguez, whose From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series currently runs on the El Rey network, which Rodriguez controls as well. So after watching tonight’s new episode on El Rey, tune to Comedy Central to see Rodriguez spar verbally, and amiably, with Stephen Colbert.

2014

Apr

WITH HBO'S 'LAST WEEK TONIGHT,' JOHN OLIVER MARCHES TO BEAT OF HIS OWN DRUMMING By Ed Bark

His material was mostly first-rate. John Oliver seemed to have no interest in savoring it, though...

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