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
Aug
11
 
 
Sometimes, or maybe more than sometimes, you want to scream at every character in a sitcom, "Stop! Just stop!"...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Aug
11
 
 
On this day in 1991, Nickelodeon introduced the animated series, Rugrats...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Aug
10
 
 
On this day in 1948, ABC introduced the hidden-camera reality show, Candid Camera...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Aug
10
 
 
Some of the most satisfying days in TCM’s annual “Summer Under the Stars” month come when they set aside 24 hours for a deep dive into some of the careers whose films have been less celebrated, or at least available, in recent decades. Today’s subject, Norma Shearer, certainly remains celebrated – the prime-time anchor of her salute today, 1939’s The Women, is an acknowledged and still widely repeated classic. But there are many of her movies that do
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Aug
10
 
 
I was really touched by this 2019 film, in which Tom Hanks plays children’s TV host Fred Rogers, and I recommend it highly. It’s based on one specific chunk of time in Rogers’ life, when he assented to be profiled for a 1998 Esquire magazine by writer Tom Junod. Matthew Rhys, whose Perry Mason HBO miniseries just wrapped for the season yesterday, plays the journalist – who, in this film, is renamed Lloyd Vogel, a fictional character. And therein lies m
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Aug
9
 
 
Akashinga and Savage Kingdom — two National Geographic programs, two variations on the nature theme...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Aug
9
 
 
Inspector Morse just won’t quit being on television, long after the TV odds say he should have eased into retirement...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Aug
9
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: This six-part British TV series is imported by Showtime as a Sunday night summer feature – and get used to it, because during the pandemic, a lot of networks and streaming services will be dipping deeply into available resources and inventories to fill schedules. This one is about Freddy, an alluring woman played by Hermoine Corfield (pictured), who has two primary jobs: phone-sex operator and killer. She’s pursued by a pair of cops, played by Eve Myles and Babou Cee
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Aug
9
 
 
Shark Week, on Discovery, is one of those annual cable TV traditions that demand a visit each year – if only for a momentary check-in and pop-in, as with Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl. Shark Week began back in 1988, when Ronald Reagan was in the White House – and is still going, presenting a yearly summer week of programs that run the gamut from informative nature documentaries to absurd TV stunts. Guess which category Tyson vs. Jaws falls into? Don’t exp
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Aug
9
 
 
SEASON FINALE: I love that HBO is calling tonight’s conclusion to this eight-part miniseries a season finale, rather than a series finale. That means there will be more of Matthew Rhys as Perry, which is good news indeed. And speaking of good, tonight’s final episode of Perry Mason, for now, certainly is that.