Both episodes of Homeland this season have delivered a shocker of sorts, getting this season off to one of the strongest starts in years. At the end of the season premiere, one of the program’s antagonists, who was part of the plot to kill the President-elect, was himself killed – poisoned by a nefarious and highly toxic substance sneakily administered to him by a prison guard. Then last week, Carrie (Claire Danes) fell victim, too, but to a different type of secret attack. She was t

2018

Feb

A.P. BIO By David Bianculli

SERIES PREMIERE: The premiere episode A.P. Bio actually was televised on NBC just as the Olympics were starting, in what the network billed a “sneak preview.” Now that the Olympics are ending, NBC brings it back with another “sneak preview,” this time of Episode 2 – and shows it right after the always highly viewed Closing Ceremonies. (According to NBC, the show premieres officially on March 1, one month exactly after its first “sneak.”) Glenn Howerton s

2018

Feb

CRASHING By David Bianculli

SEASON FINALE: From the very start, this series has mirrored, and played with, the real-life history of comic Pete Holmes, starting with his wife being caught having an affair and leaving him, and with Pete struggling to find his way as a fledgling, squeaky-clean standup comic. Tonight, in the Season 2 finale called “NACA,” Pete is talked into seeking a slot at a college comedy festival, where the acts are much less mainstream – and where Pete, to even his own surprise, may hav

2018

Feb

LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER By David Bianculli

Last week, John Oliver returned, with Episode 1 of Season 5. That was the week that was dominated by the Florida school shootings – and tonight, I can’t wait to hear what he has to say about the student survivors who have taken up the issue of gun safety and gun control, and, to this point, not let it go.

2018

Feb

NETFLIX'S 'SEVEN SECONDS': ACCENTUATING THE GRIM FROM A STORYTELLER WHO SEEMS TO KNOW NO OTHER WAY By Ed Bark

Whether misery loves company is debatable. Whether Veena Sud loves misery is not...

2018

Feb

2018 WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES By David Bianculli

I wrote about this in yesterday’s Best Bets, to give you guys fair warning – but if you watched or recorded today’s early-morning coverage on NBCSN of the gold model game in men’s curling, good for you. And good for me, because any abuse that’s come my way about loving and supporting Olympics curling is now drowned out by my last laugh. The USA men’s curling team just won gold, ladies and gentlemen. Gold. Prior to this morning’s victory, the highest our

2018

Feb

2018 WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES By David Bianculli

The figure skating gala, the four-men bobsled gold medal final runs, and the men’s hockey gold medal game are the events scheduled to be covered live tonight on NBC, in the prime-time block beginning at 8 p.m. ET.

2018

Feb

NOTES FROM THE FIELD By David Bianculli

SPECIAL PREMIERE: This is a filmed version of Anna Deavere Smith’s one-man play about what she calls the school-to-prison pipeline, which she also wrote. I probably should write “one-woman” play, to be gender-specific – but since among the many characters she portrays here, several are men, I’m letting it slide. But Smith, like Hal Holbrook in his one-man portrayals of Mark Twain in Mark Twain Tonight!, is equally impressive in terms of performance and research. In

2018

Feb

CAT BALLOU By David Bianculli

TCM is saluting Best Actor Winners tonight in its ongoing “31 Days of Oscar” TV fest, and the fun leads off with 1965’s Cat Ballou, for which Lee Marvin won the Best Actor Academy Award that year. Never mind that his performance, as a drunken former gunslinger, actually was a supporting rather than leading role – it was so good, he deserved to win. And this, to me, is the movie where Jane Fonda really proved she was a carry-the-film movie star in her own right – thr

2018

Feb

PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II By David Bianculli

Tonight’s penultimate installment of Blue Planet II is “Coasts,” and it’s devoted to the places where the sea meets the land. And, as always, the photography is nothing less than stunning. To hear or read my new review on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, visit the Fresh Air website.

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