SERIES PREMIERE: As television history goes, this is fascinating. Norman Lear, the TV producer whose politically volatile, topic-heavy sitcoms such as All in the Family dominated and altered TV in the 1970s, is still at it at age 94, and has worked with other TV writers and producers to update one of his Seventies comedy hits, One Day At a Time, for a 21st-century audience. It’s still an old-fashioned, Lear-like sitcom, with the same central theme: a divorced mom raising kids and having an

2017

Jan

GRIMM By David Bianculli

SEASON PREMIERE: This series has two things in common with the new show Emerald City, which follows it on NBC. It invests more in its visuals than it any coherency of plot – and it doesn’t seem to have enough energy to sustain itself, much less sustain much viewer loyalty. But if you’ve been with these shift-changing soul-poachers from the beginning, here they are again.

2017

Jan

CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND By David Bianculli

Tonight this series presents a double feature of original episodes: a mini-mini-marathon of often manic behavior and music.

2017

Jan

EMERALD CITY By David Bianculli

SERIES PREMIERE: I was looking forward to this lavish new NBC series very much. Then I saw it. The best I can say is that it looks dazzling, and has plenty of images to pack into a powerful TV promo. The series has a few recognizable players, including Vincent D’Onofrio as the Wizard of Oz, but not many – and the script, drawing for inspiration on many of the L. Frank Baum Oz books, goes down more unwelcome detours than shimmering brick roads. What’s impressive, at first, are t

2017

Jan

SLEEPY HOLLOW By David Bianculli

SEASON PREMIERE: This show is being touted, this season, as having a new season, new partner, and new life. Don’t buy the new life part. Like tonight’s other fantasy offerings, it’s devolved into more of a disappointment. These days, more than ever, both halves of the title apply.

2017

Jan

'EMERALD CITY' IS A DARKER VERSION OF THE BAUM CLASSIC -- LITERALLY By David Hinckley

If you plan to watch NBC’s Emerald City, the latest Wizard of Oz adaptation, forget the green glasses. Bring a flashlight...

2017

Jan

COMEDIANS IN CARS GETTING COFFEE By David Bianculli

SEASON PREMIERE: It’s the Season 9 premiere for one of the oldest, best and most original website series ever made: Jerry Seinfeld’s distilled-to-the-basics mobile talk show, in which he selects a comic, a car, and a place to catch a cup of coffee or a meal. Brilliant concept, perfectly executed. Tonight’s guest passenger and conversationalist: Saturday Night Live graduate Kristen Wiig.

2017

Jan

THE BIG BANG THEORY By David Bianculli

In this first new episode of 2017, Sheldon (Jim Parsons) reveals his motivations for intentionally acting weird. Upon that revelation, Bernadette (Melissa Rauch), with perfect comic timing, asks incredulously, “You can control it?”

2017

Jan

THE GOOD PLACE By David Bianculli

SERIES RETURN: After a winter hiatus, The Good Place returns for the last batch of this season’s serialized episodes. Tonight’s return, for example, is episode 10 of the show’s 13-episode run. If it gets renewed – which it should, because this was one of broadcast TV’s few bright spots last season – it won’t show up until next season, with another 13-episode run, also serialized. Think of The Good Place as a miniseries – as a funny Fargo, the secon

2017

Jan

MOM By David Bianculli

The last time this show’s star, Allison Janney, teamed with former The West Wing co-star Bradley Whitford, it was to perform in a fun walk-and-talk sketch on CBS’s The Late Late Show with James Corden (pictured). But tonight, in the first new Mom of the new year, he shows up as a special guest star, along with former MADtv and King of Queens star Nicole Sullivan.

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