What's left to be said about The Simpsons as it approaches its milestone 500th episode on Sunday, Feb. 19, at 8 p.m. ET? Well, we could talk about its literary kinship to the works of William Faulkner....Is not Homer Simpson, with his abiding fondness for beer, deep-fried everything a certain sort of Southern man?...

2012

Feb

WAIT UNTIL DARK By David Bianculli

New York is the location highlighted in tonight’s “31 Days of Oscar” tribute on TCM. It begins with this 1967 thriller, starring Audrey Hepburn as a blind woman terrorized, in and around her walk-down city apartment, by a sadistic thug (Alan Arkin). Great, still-scary, still-clever movie. And it’s followed by four others, including 1960’s The Apartment at 10 p.m. ET and 1975’s Three Days of the Condor at 12:15 a.m.

2012

Feb

SMASH By David Bianculli

SERIES PREMIERE: If you missed Monday’s premiere episode of this entertaining and ambitious new drama series, starring Katharine McPhee as a talented hopeful auditioning for a Broadway play about Marilyn Monroe, you can see it here, in this same-week repeat. And you can read my full review HERE, in what amounts to another same-week repeat.

2012

Feb

AN IDIOT ABROAD 2: THE BUCKET LIST By David Bianculli

Tonight’s new program itinerary sends Karl Pilkington to Alaska, in search of whales. Sounds lovely – but instead of booking him on an excursion tour on a chartered boat, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant send him on a fishing boat – and make him earn his keep, cutting octopus tentacles and other duties, until he’s sick of them. Literally sick of them.

2012

Feb

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE By David Bianculli

Zooey Deschanel is the guest host, appearing for the first time – and she’s a guest who can both act funny and sing well, so there’s a lot of possibility here. And the musical guest is Karmin, the YouTube sensation (well, one of them) that came to the fore by doing very clever covers of the songs of others.

2012

Feb

KRAMER VS. KRAMER By David Bianculli

Here’s the final New York movie of the night on TCM – and this 1979 movie, starring Dustin Hoffman as a young father trying to deal with unexpected single parenthood, is worth watching (or setting your recorder to catch) for plenty of reasons other than the Manhattan scenery. It features terrific performances by Hoffman, and by Meryl Streep as the mostly absent mother who asks for a divorce. Streep won an Oscar for her role here, and another for Sophie’s Choice in 1982. But sin

2012

Feb

JULIANNE MOORE'S SARAH PALIN IN HBO'S MARCH 10 ORIGINAL MOVIE GAME CHANGE By Diane Werts

Here's a peek at Julianne Moore's Sarah Palin in HBO's March 10 original movie Game Change (from the team behind the pay cabler's Emmy-winning Recount). Its dramatization of 2008's Republican presidential run co-stars Ed Harris as John McCain, with Woody Harrelson as a campaign strategist. - DW

2012

Feb

TUBE-TIED: NONSTOP 'SIMPSONS'! By Diane Werts

Could you watch 500 episodes of The Simpsons in a row? As in 24/7 nonstop? That's what hardcore fans are doing in Hollywood, trying to beat the Guinness world record for TV viewing. The Simpsons Ultimate Fan Marathon Challenge started Wednesday (Feb. 8) at 5 p.m. ET with 100 contenders, and two nights later, just 29 diehards were still in the mix watching episodes from Season 7. They'll need to keep going two more days to beat the record -- and they still won't be anywhere near 500. (Do the

2012

Feb

GRIMM By David Bianculli

It’s an evening in which, by coincidence, some of the Friday night genre shows earn special mention for one reason or another. On this show, it’s because the guest star is Amy Acker, playing a woman who dons various disguises to go out on the prowl in search for male victims. (Where do I sign?) And her appearance here is a reunion of sorts: She co-starred on Angel, a series co-created by David Greenwalt, one of the executive producers of Grimm.

2012

Feb

FRINGE By David Bianculli

Yeah, like this is something this show needs more of: an episode in which something weird happens, and the characters find themselves in an unusual place from which there is no apparent escape. Except this time, it’s a town, and Walter, Peter and Olivia are all stuck there.

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