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

 
 
2020
Sep
12
 
 
PREMIERE: Coastal Elites was originally intended, by playwright Paul Rudnick and director Jay Roach, to be presented as a theatrical work on stage – but the pandemic changed all that. The result might have helped when it came to casting, because by having its characters communicate remotely in Zoom-like monologues, converting the drama to TV allows for cast members to literally phone it in. Hence, this HBO version lands Better Midler, Sarah Paulson, Issa Rae, and others, deliveri
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Sep
12
 
 
DOCUMENTARY PREMIERE: This new documentary salutes Lucille Ball, one of the pioneers and moguls of television. Next year will mark the 70th anniversary of I Love Lucy, the groundbreaking sitcom starring Ball and her husband, Desi Arnaz, who co-founded Desilu Studios and changed the way, and the place, most TV sitcoms were made. I teach this stuff, and Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s importance to TV history – and am interested to see how Reelz covers the same ground.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Sep
12
 
 
On this day in 1954, CBS introduced the series, Lassie...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Sep
11
 
 
On this day in 1967, CBS introduced the popular variety/sketch series, The Carol Burnett Show...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Sep
11
 
 
Today is, of course, the 19th anniversary of the destructive tragedies of 9/11. Next year, on the 20th anniversary, expect a much more prominent display of remembrance than TV provided this morning and is providing tonight. (Television and journalists love round numbers.) But ABC, at least, is devoting prime time to a special offering perspective about what happened, in three different locations, that day in September in 2001.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Sep
11
 
 
Three movies featuring Ursula Andress are shown by TCM tonight. The first is somewhat iconic, the second forgettable save for its special effects – and the third is a personal favorite. Starting the triple feature at 8 p.m. ET is 1965’s She, in which the actress sports a headdress, and costume (pictured), rivaling anything Elizabeth Taylor wore two years earlier in Cleopatra. At 10 p.m. ET comes 1981’s Clash of the Titans, memorable for Ray Harryha
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Sep
11
 
 
After the Bob Woodward interview revelations with President Trump, it’s easy to imagine Bill Maher pacing impatiently backstage to get out there and deliver this week’s monologue. A president whose true thoughts, and true nature, are captured on audiotape. A president whose time in the White House may end up cut short, in part due to the dogged reporting of Bob Woodward. A nation divided by so many issues, with its leader pushing a fearful law-and-order platform. It’s such old
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Sep
11
 
 
After three Ursula Andress films, TCM presents three cult classics. Well, two cult classics and a relatively rare cult “sequel.” First up: at 2:45 a.m. ET, 1957’s Plan 9 from Outer Space, the low-budget sci-fi messterpiece featuring Maila Nurmi, a.k.a. Vampira (pictured), and Tor Johnson. It was directed by Edward D. Wood Jr., immortalized by Johnny Depp in the wonderful movie Ed Wood. At 4:15 a.m. ET comes 1936’s infamous anti-drug film Reefer Ma
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Sep
10
 
 
DOCUMENTARY PREMIERE: For an entire week in February 1968, Johnny Carson turned over the reins of his NBC Tonight Show, the dominant late-night program in the country, to entertainer and civil-rights activist Harry Belafonte. Carson knew exactly what he was doing, and probably had a better idea of what Belafonte would do as guest host than most of the millions of viewers who tuned in. At a time when people of color still were relative rarities on TV, and examinations of civil rights is
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Sep
10
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: For football fans, this is a season unlike any other – but it appears it will begin on schedule, at least regarding tonight’s season-opening Thursday night game, the first official contest of the 2020 NFL pro season. The Houston Texans and the Kansas City Chiefs take the field at Arrowhead Stadium, where the audience capacity in that Kansas City venue will be limited to 20 percent. I wonder how they set up and enforce six-feet-distancing at the food vendor stalls, wh