SPECIAL PREMIERE: All year during the pandemic, any musical special that Disney has televised, whether streamed or on Disney Channel or even on ABC, has proven immensely popular with young children. So this new one for the Christmas season 2020, presented on ABC, should be especially appreciated. “Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way / Oh what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh”… because open sleighs are safe because of the air circulation, so long as you&r

2020

Nov

FILTHY RICH By David Bianculli

SERIES FINALE: Last night, we had the miniseries finale of HBO’s The Undoing and of the Season 4 cycle of FX’s Fargo, both excellent programs. Tonight, while not in the same creative class, we have the series finale of Fox’s Filthy Rich, starring Kim Cattrall and based on a series from New Zealand. That New Zealand show of the same name lasted for two seasons, not one – so if you want to see more Filthy Rich, and compare and contras

2020

Nov

THE UNDOING By David Bianculli

MINISERIES FINALE: This complicated story comes to an end tonight – and with only one episode to go, I’m still not convinced where, or with whom, my loyalties should lie. But the acting by Hugh Grant and Nicole Kidman has been a master class in inscrutability and subtlety.

2020

Nov

MY PSYCHEDELIC LOVE STORY By David Bianculli

DOCUMENTARY PREMIERE: Errol Morris directed his first documentary, about a California pet cemetery, in 1978. It was called Gates of Heaven, and I remember watching it at the time, amazed at the uniqueness of both the subject matter and the cinematic approach. Morris has marched to his own, very different drummer ever since, and broke into the big leagues a decade later with 1988’s A Thin Blue Line, which argued that a man had been wrongly convicted of murder – and

2020

Nov

FARGO By David Bianculli

MINISERIES FINALE: This is the final chapter of Season 4 of Noah Hawley’s Fargo, which stars Chris Rock and has built so much momentum and audacity as it nears its conclusion that it's fair, already, to consider it so artistically successful that Hawley, in doing his own stand-alone miniseries riffs on the original Coen Brothers Fargo film, has managed to go 4 for 4.

2020

Nov

TRIPPING THROUGH THE LIFE OF TIMOTHY LEARY WITH ONE OF HIS ROMANTIC PARTNERS: 'MY PSYCHEDELIC LOVE STORY' By David Hinckley

If you're the sort of reader who is fascinated by footnotes and the intriguing little side stories they sometimes promise, you might enjoy My Psychedelic Love Story...

2020

Nov

1980: ABC BROUGHT 'BREAKING AWAY' TO TV By TV WW

On this day in 1980, ABC debuted its adaptation of the Academy Award-winning coming-of-age film, Breaking Away...

2020

Nov

1982: NBC PRESENTS MAILER'S 'THE EXECUTIONER'S SONG' By TV WW

On this day in 1982, NBC presented a made-for-TV version of Norman Mailer's Pulitzer Prize-winning true-life novel, The Executioner's Song...

2020

Nov

ELF By David Bianculli

Hard to believe that TV networks already are throwing Christmas movies and specials onto their schedules, while Thanksgiving was just around the corner. It’s even harder to believe that Elf, the Will Ferrell comedy that’s one of the funnier films in the holiday genre, is now 17 years old – and soon to turn 18. But he’s great in these, and so are all the supporting players, including James Caan, Ed Asner, Peter Dinklage, Mary Steenburgen, and especially Zooey Des

2020

Nov

AN AMERICAN IN PARIS By David Bianculli

Tonight, TCM is presenting 1951’s movie musical An American in Paris as one of “The Essentials,” and of course it is. Gene Kelly managed to make an even more perfect movie musical the following year with 1952’s Singin’ in the Rain – but the extended ballet that ends An American in Paris, taking Kelly and the audience on a panoramic tour through a piece of art history, is breathtakingly imaginative. Leslie Caron co-stars. And co-da

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