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
Sep
30
 
 
Already this week, Stephen Colbert has railed against this week’s Senate hearings with unexpected seriousness, Trevor Noah with incisive irony, and Bill Maher with cautionary warnings of things to come. And now, tonight, comes the last, and often the best, current-events comic voice of the week. Don’t miss John Oliver.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Sep
29
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: Each fall, on broadcast TV, is a mixture of new shows hoping to elbow their way into the prime-time lineup and returning shows determined to prove they still have life and legs.  Today’s TV schedule features two very old dogs who have survived not only for years, but for decades. For the CBS newsmagazine 48 Hours, which premiered in 1988, tonight’s program marks its Season 32 premiere, making it one of the oldest current shows on broadcast TV. The granddaddy rem
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Sep
29
 
 
This movie, from 2017, is the latest from director Paul Thomas Anderson, and reportedly the last from the incomparable actor Daniel Day-Lewis. Set in postwar London in the Fifties, the decade before England went Mod, Phantom Thread is the story of Reynolds Woodcock (played by Day-Lewis) who is a fashion design star of the era, making standout designer outfits for movie stars and British royalty alike. Vicky Krieps plays the woman who enters his life unexpectedly to become both his inspiration an
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Sep
29
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE:  Tonight’s show – as always, “Live, from New York” – marks the Season 44 premiere. Amazing. Adam Driver is the season-opening guest host, and Kanye West is the musical guest, stepping in at the last minute for the previously scheduled Ariana Grande, who has bowed out after the death, last month, of her ex-boyfriend.  And gosh: I wonder if tonight’s cold opening will have anything to do with this week’s Senate Confirmation Heari
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Sep
28
 
 
The Cool Kids starts off only lukewarm...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Sep
28
 
 
MOVIE PREMIERE: Anthony Hopkins simmers, sizzles and burns in the title role of this new made-for-TV adaptation of William Shakespeare’s classic drama. Richard Eyre both directs and edits it, cutting out sometimes hefty portions while keeping the main story – about an aging ruler and the unfairly different treatment of his daughters – in the forefront at all times. Eyre’s Lear is set in present-day London, which is a sharp and sometimes subtly resonant move: Lear leads hi
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Sep
28
 
 
Back in June, I had the true honor of interviewing Stephen Sondheim on stage at a writers’ conference event at Rutgers University, and asked him about a lot of things, including his early scriptwriting stint on the TV sitcom Topper. But I didn’t have the time, in 90 minutes, to cover every aspect of his long and amazing career – including this 1973 murder-mystery movie, which he co-wrote with Psycho star Anthony Perkins. Stars include Richard Benjamin, Dyan Cannon, Raquel Welch
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Sep
28
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: This new Fox series is co-created by Charlie Day, co-star and co-creator of FX’s long-running, long-raunchy It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The pilot of this new series, though, is almost shockingly tame by comparison, and plays as a sitcom that could have been set in, and even written in, the era of The Golden Girls. This series is about a group of senior citizens at a retirement home, and to the extent that The Cool Kids is watchable, it’s because of the v
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Sep
28
 
 
After this week of Senate hearings, Bill Maher’s scheduled guests include… Steve Bannon (pictured), Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Max Brooks.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Sep
28
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: For her Season 3 premiere, the astounding, chameleonic Tracey Ullman portrays several powerful world leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel (pictured) and British Prime Minister Theresa May.