Years ago on Chuck Lorre’s Two and a Half Men, Jon Cryer’s Alan had a beautiful, blonde, not very bright significant other named April (played entertainingly by April Bowlby), an aspiring actress who got a job on a TV pilot very much like CSI: Miami. Tonight on The Big Bang Theory, Kaley Cuoco, as Penny, gets a similar acting opportunity – on another CBS TV institution, NCIS.

2014

Jan

MASTERPIECE MYSTERY!: "SHERLOCK" By David Bianculli

This Season 2 opener of Sherlock introduced an adapted version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s memorable character of Irene Adler, embodied on television by Lara Pulver. And I do mean embodied, since Irene introduces herself to Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) in a way that’s intended to rattle him: totally nude. Oh, and it works. It’s elementary, my dear Watson. Check local listings.

2014

Jan

ELEMENTARY By David Bianculli

On the same day a Sherlock repeat featuring the character of Irene Adler shows up on PBS, a new episode of Elementary is presented, featuring the same character. But here, she’s played by Natalie Dormer, who also plays Margaery on HBO’s Game of Thrones – and she’s not only Irene Adler, but Adler herself also has been revealed to be Sherlock Holmes’ greatest adversary, Moriarty. Which means, in this CBS reboot of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle classic, that of the three

2014

Jan

PARENTHOOD By David Bianculli

Parenthood begins 2014 with an episode that slowly even sneakily, takes your breath away, with a character revelation that has been years in the making – and which, I’m equally thrilled and ashamed to say, I never saw coming. But whether or not you see it coming in advance, make sure to see it. Once again, by the opening credits, Parenthood had me shedding a tear, simply by watching the tender, intelligent depiction of the closest thing TV gives us, right now, to everyday life. Oh, a

2014

Jan

JOANNE FROGGETT: "THE BEATING HEART" OF 'DOWNTON ABBEY' By Donna J. Plesh

Froggett returns for he fourth season as Downton Abbey maid Anna Bates, much to the delight of her international audience and producers. She talks with TVWW's Donna J. Plesh...

2014

Jan

OUT OF SIGHT By David Bianculli

I’m starting the New Year with a roundup of some of what I call “spider-web movies” – films that ensnare me into watching them when they turn up on TV, no matter how many times I’ve seen them. The evening’s web cast, dedicated to Charlotte, begins with this 1998 movie, which gave us very early looks at the cinematic potential of Jennifer Lopez and, especially, George Clooney. She plays a federal marshal on the trail of a bank robber, he plays the robber, and t

2014

Jan

THE BIG LEBOWSKI By David Bianculli

Almost every film the Coen brothers make qualifies, for me, as a spider-web movie. And this 1994 one, which has achieved a cult status of amazing proportions, certainly is no exception. I once saw a Museum of Moving Image exhibit in which someone had collected all the different times the word “dude” is uttered in this film. I’m not sure that’s art, but it was funny to watch. This film is even funnier: Jeff Bridges’ laid-back performance as The Dude is one of his car

2014

Jan

THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION By David Bianculli

With a story by Stephen King, adapted for the screen and directed by Frank Darabont, this 1994 prison drama is another film that has achieved cult status, and emerged as one of the most important movies of its era. Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, as prisoners who develop a slow but steady alliance, are two major reasons for it. A third: the music over the loudspeaker scene. Classic, brilliant cinema.

2014

Jan

SCOOP By David Bianculli

In the last 20 years – the most recent chunk of a film career almost 30 years longer than that – Woody Allen, as writer and director, has enjoyed a late-career surge that has upped his already considerable batting average of entertaining films. Start with Mighty Aphrodite in 1995 as one obvious high point, and look what he’s done since: just a partial list of smart, impressive movies includes Deconstructing Harry, Sweet and Lowdown, Match Point, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Midnig

2014

Jan

INTOLERABLE CRUELTY By David Bianculli

Another Coen brothers film – and another film starring George Clooney. This one, from 2003, has Clooney going out on a limb to play an ultra-vain divorce attorney with more confidence than scruples – and Catherine Zeta-Jones as an adversary, in and out of court, who may well be his match. Even more than The Hudsucker Proxy, this is a movie that successfully emulates the fast-talking romantic comedies of the Thirties and Forties. Clooney and Zeta-Jones are a fine pair, whether sparrin

Posts 2151-2160 of 2162

213 214 215 216 217

New From TVWW

PBS' 'Frontline’ Examines Pension Promises and — Spoiler Alert — Finds the Math Doesn’t Add Up

The Decadence of ‘Versailles’ Comes to Ovation

Prescribing Mamie Gummer in 'Emily Owens, M.D.'

Looking for a Free Ride? HBO Can Deliver

'Pass the Biscuits' Part of the Hatfield-McCoy Pop-Culture Legacy

Dispatches From TVWW

'Extinction: The Facts' is a Sobering Call to Action

How 'Mayans' Has Been Influenced by the Show's Creator Elgin James

For Whom the Bell Tolls: Ken Burns and Lynn Novick Take on Ernest Hemingway, the Man and the Myth

In the Final Season, Sutton Foster's Liza is Now the Genuine Version of Her 'Younger' Self

Season 2 of 'City on a Hill' Returns with Kevin Bacon, Aldis Hodge, and Boston Corruption