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

 
 
2018
Jan
24
 
 
I wonder if Samantha Bee will ever experience a tough day in the writers’ room, where she gathers her staff and says, “How in the world are we going to turn this slow news week into an interesting satirical take on the headlines?” So far, that hasn’t exactly been her problem. And this week, again, is a newsy doozy…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Jan
23
 
 
The new PBS series We’ll Meet Again takes us on a heartwarming journey to happy endings...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Jan
23
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: The song “We’ll Meet Again,” popularized by British singer Vera Lynn when it was released at the start of her nation’s involvement in what would become WWII, has since been utilized to conclude two of the best pieces of entertainment ever made: Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 film, Dr. Strangelove…or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, and Dennis Potter’s 1986 TV miniseries, The Singing Detective. (“We’ll meet again / D
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Jan
23
 
 
Part 2. Last night’s opening installment of Mosaic proved two things. One, Sharon Stone still can play a mercurial and self-confident leading role with ease and charisma. Two, director Steven Soderbergh, in filming this six-part mystery about the murder (told in show flashbacks) of a famous and successful children’s author (Stone), was caught up equally in framing his leading lady and the snow-resort architecture and scenery around her. Tonight, the narrative, the mystery, and the Ar
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Jan
23
 
 
Last week’s series premiere of this newest CW superhero series based on a DC Comics character had more resonance and relevance than expected. Tonight, with the introduction of its characters and premise out of the show, Black Lightning will reveal whether it continues or abandons that commendably topical approach as regards to the racial divide in the U.S.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Jan
23
 
 
Tonight’s episode is called “That’ll Be the Day,” and the advance promo by NBC is full of noting but happy moments, suggesting this will be a bright, cheery episode of This Is Us, with nothing sad befalling any of its characters. On this series, that’ll be the day…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Jan
23
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: Season 5 of this intoxicating (or at least intoxicated) comedy history series begins by getting three female storytellers inebriated, then getting them to tell the stories of three heroines: Revolutionary War soldier Deborah Sampson (who joined the Army disguised as a man), art preserver Rose Valland (who rescued stolen art from the Nazis), and nurse Clara Barton (who founded the American Red Cross). Those drunken narratives are then re-enacted, digressions and belches and all&h
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Jan
23
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: This isn’t the first rodeo for Chip Baskets (Zach Galifianakis) – he started on this series taking a demeaning job as a rodeo clown. But as Season 3 begins tonight on FX, it’s the first rodeo Chip has managed to manage. Along with his twin brother Dale (also played, of course, by the delightfully deadpan Galifianakis) and their doting yet irritating mom (played, Emmy-winningly, by Louie Anderson), they’re now reviving and running the Bakersfield rodeo tha
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Jan
23
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: In this new series, Bellevue isn’t the name of a famous insane asylum. It’s the name of a small town – and like many small towns on TV, is the site of a particularly grisly and haunting murder. In this case, literally, it’s about a high school hockey star with gender issues, whose death echoes that of a case from 20 years before. Tackling the mystery, and her own memories of decades before, is detective Annie Ryder – played by Anna Paquin, the forme
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Jan
23
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: Season 3 of this bawdy little Comedy Central period series begins with Natasha Leggero and Riki Lindhome, as pampered citizens of the early American era, continuing to tackle old norms with idiotic and self-absorbed approaches. Today, the episode is called “Congress,” and the Bellacourt sisters fight for suffrage. Or set it back.