James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart in the same movie, about bootlegging in the twenties? Made in 1939, this caught both guys in top form – and Priscilla Lane, too. You’d expect the drama, and the tough-guy talk – but the music may come as a surprise.

2012

May

THE VOICE By David Bianculli

SEASON FINALE: The person with “the voice,” and the recording contract, is identified tonight. I’m rooting for Juliet Simms, but Jermaine Paul is pretty impressive, too. Whatever happens this season, The Voice itself already has won, and stolen much of the spotlight from American Idol.

2012

May

FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER By David Bianculli

With The Avengers cracking the $200 million U.S. box office mark its first weekend in release, that makes all Marvel-based movies newsworthy for one reason or another. This 2007 film, a disappointing sequel to the first Fantastic Four film, can be looked at now as a relative strikeout – the year before Marvel hit a home run, and started The Avengers franchise, with its first Iron Man movie. For my Bianculli’s Blog about previous Marvel missteps, click HERE.

2012

May

UNITED STATS OF AMERICA By David Bianculli

SERIES PREMIERE: Randy and Jason Sklar are identical twins, and stand-up comics, who host this irreverent look at the facts, and foibles, behind the figures – the strangeness behind the statistics. For example, the average male on Earth today is expected to live about 900 months, and is estimated to spend 198 of those months – or 22 percent, by my figuring – watching television. That’s an outrageous, unbelievable statistic! It seems so low…

2012

May

1988: ABC PRESENTS A TV VERSION OF 'BOURNE IDENTITY' By Christy Slewinski

Today in 1988, ABC kicked off the four-hour miniseries The Bourne Identity. Like the movie franchise starring Matt Damon, the telefilm was based on the Robert Ludlum novel of the same name - although the telemovie is considered by many to be more true to the novel than the big-budget theatrical version...

2012

May

SHOULD THE NFL BE UNDER FURTHER REVIEW? By Eric Gould

The death of Junior Seau, which comes on the heels of the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal, gives us one more reason to look at the sport that rules television...

2012

May

1989: THE INCREDIBLE HULK GOES TO TRIAL By Christy Slewinski

On this day in 1989, NBC presented The Trial of the Incredible Hulk, a telefilm featuring the key characters - and stars, Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno - from the CBS series, The Incredible Hulk. In the film, which was directed by Bill Bixby, mild-mannered David Banner is accused of a crime he didn't commit...

2012

May

BBC AMERICA'S "WHITE HEAT" PREMIERES By Eric Gould

The new BBC America miniseries White Heat kicks off on Wednesday, May 9 at 10/9c, as part of the Dramaville series. Taking up where The Big Chill left off, it's a retrospective story about seven diverse London flatmates who meet during the political heat of 1965, and return after word that one of them has passed away. Events of the late 20th century serve as the backdrops. --EG

2012

May

ABC IS TAKING A BITE FROM THE APPLE: GOOD IDEA? By David Bianculli

To promote its new summer musical competition series, Duets, ABC is taking a bite from the Apple – and echoing the iconic, Orwellian ad used by Apple to launch the Macintosh computer in 1984. I invite you to compare and contrast, and ask whether it’s a good idea…

2012

May

YOUNG PEOPLE'S CONCERTS By David Bianculli

Here’s a rarity: Nearly half of the music appreciation specials produced from 1958-72, with Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic and explaining classical music to a concert hall of crisply dressed kids and their parents, are preserved in this Kultur Video nine-disc DVD set,. Brilliant, inspirational, not at all condescending – and a show on the sonata form features a then-new composition by the Beatles. In 1964! – DB

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