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

 
 
2020
Feb
2
 
 
The most-viewed TV miniseries of all time, ABC’s 1977 adaptation of Alex Haley’s Roots, is televised today in its entirety by Sundance. Worth noting – and, in terms of TV history, worth seeing.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Feb
2
 
 
Animal Planet’s annual Puppy Bowl has been going for 16 years now – which means, in terms of television seasons, it’s already outlasted Dallas, Bonanza, and ER. This year, the teams are Ruff vs. Fluff. Ruff choice.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Feb
2
 
 
Watch for President Trump’s Super Bowl interview. Watch for Michael Bloomberg’s Super Bowl ad. Watch for the halftime show, with both Jennifer Lopez and Shakira. And, between all that, watch the game, with the Kansas City Chiefs battling the equally imposing San Francisco 49ers. And it all looks a bit more regal, wrapped up in Roman numerals. Imagine: That famed New York night club might still be thriving, had it been billed in lights as "Studio LIV."
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Feb
2
 
 
This week, Circus correspondents were split between Iowa and the Senate. The behind-the-scene footage and interviews from each ought to be especially enlightening this week, on the week the Senate voted not to hear new witnesses or view new evidence in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Feb
2
 
 
You may not want to watch this fifth installment of The Outsider instead of the Super Bowl – but you won’t want to miss it, either. So record it, or watch later this week during one of HBO’s many rerun opportunities.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Feb
2
 
 
SERIES RETURN: It’s always a big and revealing choice when the network televising that year’s Super Bowl chooses the show that will follow it. It’s either the premiere of a new series of which the network is especially proud, or expects to do very well (a gamut that ranges from ABC’s The Wonder Years and NBC’s Homicide: Life on the Street to NBC’s The A Team), or an existing show the network wants to reward, and promote, with a sp
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Feb
2
 
 
Already in this unflaggingly funny Season 10, Larry David has found new things against which to rail, including belated Happy New Year wishes and the appropriateness of restaurant “side sitting” at tables for two. Tonight, based on the show’s title, he takes at least one new pet peeve out for a walk: “Artificial Fruit.” Go, Larry!
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Feb
2
 
 
Fred Silverman molded a generation of television. It was the last, three-network generation, the final one totally dominated by CBS, ABC, and NBC. And Silverman...ran all three...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Feb
1
 
 
Now that the calendar has turned the page to February, the Academy Awards are approaching. And that means TCM, once again, is preceding the ceremony with its “31 Days of Oscar’’ lineup. That’s why the month, in prime time, begins with 1965’s Doctor Zhivago, David Lean’s epic retelling of the Boris Pasternak romance novel, set against the real-life political events of WWI and the Russian Revolution. Omar Sharif, Julie Christie and Geraldine Chaplin st
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Feb
1
 
 
This is the third episode of this superb nature documentary miniseries, and thus the third continent being highlighted. This time it’s South America, so expect some Amazon prime real estate…