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

 
 
2012
Apr
22
 
 
(1-9 p.m. ET) Any marathon of this nature series would be worth watching, but this one is TV Worth Hearing as well. For this special Earth Day showing, Discovery Channel is presenting this series with its original narration by Sir David Attenborough, not the swapped-out U.S. narration by Alec Baldwin. And it makes the series seamless, since tonight’s special finale – shown for the first time by Discovery – is hosted by Attenborough on-camera. It’s called On Thin Ice, and
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Apr
22
 
 
In the “real world” on this side of fairy tale land, Rumpelstiltskin is Mr. Gold, played by Robert Carlyle. In both worlds, he seems to hold sway over Lana Parilla’s fiery femme – a queen in that world, and a mayor in this one. Tonight, after what she considers a personal betrayal, Mayor Regina Mills confronts Mr. Gold with a fury, but not necessarily with a chance of defeating him.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Apr
22
 
 
Has it really been 25 years since Rupert Murdoch launched American TV’s first full-fledged fourth network since DuMont folded in the 1950s? Close enough – and this two-hour prime-time program is a celebration, and reunion, built around the little network that could, and did, thanks to such early successes as The Simpsons and The X-Files. For a very savvy recap of why Fox’s silver anniversary is worth celebrating, read Diane Werts’ just-posted For Better or Werts column HE
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Apr
22
 
 
This is the penultimate show of this season, so expect things to start happening a bit faster and more furiously. That’s saying something, too, because this excellent show is nothing if not briskly paced – and full of surprises. Tonight, one of those surprises involves Judge Cuesta (David Paymer), who is presiding over a case argued by Alicia (Julianna Margulies).
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Apr
22
 
 
Details, as always, are sketchy for this show – but we know that a pitch to a client goes very, very bad... and that Don (Jon Hamm), at some point during the workday, asks wife Megan (Jessica Pare) for a private word. 
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Apr
22
 
 
On April 22, 1976, news anchor Harry Reasoner announced that Barbara Walters would become his ABC Nightly News co-anchor that October. The move made Walters - a morning news anchor with NBC's Today - the first woman to anchor an evening news program. Her million-dollar salary ($500,000 to anchor the news and $500,000 to produce and appear in other ABC programs) also made her TV's highest-paid journalist. (Photo from Audition: A Memoir)
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Apr
21
 
 
Crazy like a Fox! It's impossible to overstate the influence this outrageous "fourth network" has had on TV since it stormed into prime time in April 1987 -- yes, 25 years ago, which accounts for Sunday night's clips-and-reunions salute, Fox's 25th Anniversary Special...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Apr
21
 
 
And now here is your weekend moment of zen . . . actually, a half-hour of zen: Comic innovator Ernie Kovacs' legendarily visual "Eugene" special, made just before his 1962 death. Today, we're used to all kinds of video tricks, but 50 years ago, Ernie was a pioneer, playfully expanding the TV medium with imaginative glee. Take a time trip that continues to delight . . . - DW
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Apr
21
 
 
(6 a.m. - 5:55 p.m. ET) Tomorrow, Discovery Channel presents a nature series marathon of its own, televising the entire Frozen Planet, a sequel to this series – which, like Frozen, was a co-production by the BBC and Discovery Channel. The two series have something else in common: while narrated by Sir David Attenborough in the U.K., both were televised in the U.S. by Discovery with substitute narrators: Sigourney Weaver for Planet Earth, and Alec Baldwin for the Frozen Planet, which just e
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Apr
21
 
 
This 2011 movie, based on a true story, stars Robin Pattinson as a former veterinary student who falls in love with a circus performer, played by Reese Witherspoon. It’s set in a circus, and the animals have no trouble stealing this show – but on a slow TV night, why not?