For years, I’ve called the week between Christmas and New Year’s a “dead week” for television – but I didn’t expect AMC to take the concept so literally. It's not as full a marathon as I reported originally, but at least we get the first half of season three. Don't kill me.

2012

Dec

NEW YEAR'S ROCKIN' EVE CELEBRATES DICK CLARK By David Bianculli

Last year, ABC prefaced its New Year’s Eve show with a prime-time special devoted to 40 years of New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. Dick Clark, the host from the start, was around to enjoy that – but since Clark died in 2012, ABC is prefacing this year’s countdown to the new year with a two-hour prime-time celebration of Clark himself.

2012

Dec

LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER: “ONE SINGULAR SENSATION: CELEBRATING MARVIN HAMLISCH” By David Bianculli

Dick Clark isn’t the only celebrity who died in 2012 who is getting a prime-time salute on the last day of the year. Also being honored, in a new Live from Lincoln Center concert tribute, is composer Marvin Hamlisch, who, among other impressive artistic achievements, wrote the music for Broadway’s A Chorus Line, cinema’s The Way We Were, and rekindled Scott Joplin’s legacy by using his ragtime music to score The Sting. And check out the lineup of performers gathering to h

2012

Dec

DICK CLARK’S PRIMETIME NEW YEAR’S ROCKIN’ EVE WITH RYAN SEACREST 2013 By David Bianculli

After a two-hour salute to the late Dick Clark, ABC turns over prime-time hosting duties entirely to Ryan Seacrest. Scheduled to perform are Taylor Swift, Flo Rida and, just in case you needed to hear “Call Me Maybe” one more time in 2012, Carly Rae Jepsen. At 11:30 p.m. ET, after a break for local news, Seacrest returns to count down, for the first time, to the New Year – and the dropping of a ball that, for the first time, will have Dick Clark’s name engraved on it.

2012

Dec

NEW YEAR'S EVE WITH CARSON DALY By David Bianculli

Arguably, Carson Daly’s star has risen significantly since the late-late-late-night star has hopped aboard the Voice train. So it’s significant, if otherwise coincidental, that Daly’s NBC New Year’s Eve party – which, like Ryan Seacrest’s, broadcast live from Times Square – includes performances by the group Train, and by the most recent winner of The Voice, Cassadee Pope.

2012

Dec

1963: 'LET'S MAKE A DEAL' MAKES ITS DEBUT By Christy Slewinski

On this day in 1963, NBC introduced the game show, Let's Make a Deal...

2012

Dec

STAR WARS MINI-MARATHON By David Bianculli

The mini-marathon continues today with three more films in the Star Wars canon – including the newest, and the oldest. First up, at 3:53 p.m. ET, is 2005’s Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, the final film in the modern-era prequel trilogy. Next, at 7 p.m. ET, comes the retitled Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, the 1977 George Lucas film that launched the entire Star Wars enterprise (as opposed to the Star Trek Enterprise, another subject entirely). Finally,

2012

Dec

THE YEARLING By David Bianculli

In this 1946 tearjerker, Jane Wyman and Gregory Peck play parents, living in the Florida backwoods in the post-Civil War era, who permit their son (played by Claude Jarman Jr.) to adopt a young deer as a pet. Maybe because it was set in rural Florida, maybe because the kid had a deer as a pet, and more probably because of its raw emotional story, this movie had quite a pull on me when I was young. Now that I’m not, I’m eager to revisit it – and I expect the climax will have the

2012

Dec

CALL THE MIDWIFE HOLIDAY SPECIAL By David Bianculli

This new holiday TV special is the best bet of the night. It’s a self-contained Call the Midwife telemovie, set at Christmas time, and will delight fans of the series while serving as a perfect entry point for newcomers. Either way, know this going in: This isn’t your sort of generic, treacly, syrupy holiday special. Even though it has a Nativity play, and a birth or two, not every ending is happy. But with Call the Midwife, every scene, and every character, is memorable. Check local

2012

Dec

MASTERPIECE CLASSIC: "DOWNTON ABBEY" By David Bianculli

Catch tonight’s conclusion of Season 2, and get ready – because a week from tonight, on the first Sunday of the New Year, Downton Abbey rises again, with Season 3. Check local listings.

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