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

 
 
2016
Feb
15
 
 
One of the oldest rules of the tabloid newspaper game is that “if it bleeds, it leads,” meaning a violent, bloody death automatically becomes the top story... But the death Sunday in the seventh episode of the final Downton Abbey season was not the big story...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Feb
15
 
 
MINISERIES PREMIERE: Stephen King’s novel about time travel and the John F. Kennedy assassination is turned into an eight-part miniseries by Hulu, with episodes streaming weekly each Monday – beginning today, on Presidents Day. J.J. Abrams is an executive producer, and James Franco stars as Maine high school teacher Jake Epping, who is introduced to a secret, mysterious method of time travel. It’s a portal through the closet of a local diner, and, once he accepts the mission to
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Feb
15
 
 
SERIES RETURN: New episodes of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood show up this week, beginning with today’s back-to-back installments about, respectively, mistakes and play. If you haven’t seen the video of my six-month-old granddaughter, Reina, enjoying this show’s opening credits with unrestrained glee, see Video Worth Watching. It only takes a minute – but you, like Reina, are bound to smile widely at the end. Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Feb
15
 
 
This is the penultimate episode of the 2016 reboot of The X-Files, and it has a clever way of presenting what might be an alternate future – for the series itself. In this story about a bombing, Scully and Mulder (Gillian Anderson, David Duchovny) are joined and observed during their investigation by a pair of younger lookalikes and sometimes act-alikes, played by Lauren Ambrose and Robbie Amiel. Could they be the nucleus of a new spinoff version of The X-Files? Or is there an even deeper
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Feb
15
 
 
Performances always dominate this well-run awards show, and this year’s program is scheduled to open with Taylor Swift, include Lady Gaga paying tribute to David Bowie and the remaining Eagles saluting their late bandmate Glenn Frey, and so, so much more. Oh, and the opening number from the Broadway smash Hamilton will be performed, live from the dark-on-Mondays theater where it’s the year’s biggest sold-out show. Also set to perform: Kendrick Lamar, Nicki Minaj, Justin Bieber,
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Feb
15
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: The show that topped my Best TV of 2015 list returns for Season Two, with an energy, and an unpredictability, that’s anything but diminished. Welcome back, Jimmy McGill. Bob Odenkirk stars – and, once again, is fabulous. For full reviews, see Ed Bark’s Uncle Barky’s Bytes and David Hinckley’s All Along the Watchtower.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Feb
15
 
 
I wasn’t aware, until last week, that Samantha Bee’s late-night show was a weekly, not nightly, affair. That makes tonight’s episode her second attempt – and a better sense of the show overall, because she and her staff had days, not months, to prepare. Good luck, Samantha. At least the politicians, on both sides of the aisle, helped by generating plenty of ridicule-worthy material.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Feb
15
 
 
A handsome, divorced high school English teacher seeks to stop the assassination of President John F. Kennedy by time-traveling through a mysterious, secret portal in a retro Lisbon, Maine diner...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Feb
14
 
 
Who said you can’t get smarter by watching TV? Or if not smarter exactly, certainly more knowledgeable...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Feb
14
 
 
Two very verbal, slow-cooked episodes open Season 2 of AMC’s Better Call Saul. Depending on your tolerance for extended dialogues, they’re either deliciously chewy or perhaps in need of a little pick-me-up...