Lengthening the blind auditions has worked for this series, maintaining its popularity while giving viewers even more of the entertaining power shifts that result when judges hit their buttons, swivel their chairs, then beg to be chosen as mentors. And even after two weeks of shows so far this season, we still have quite a while to go before the four judges have filled their team quotas.

2012

Sep

SURVIVOR: PHILIPPINES By David Bianculli

SEASON PREMIERE: This is the start of the 25th cycle for this long-running, influential reality competition series – but 25, for me, is a few too many, and I’ve dropped this series from my regular viewing list. In case you haven’t, however, there remain some reasons to watch, including three castaways from previous editions, as well as one new celebrity contestant, Lisa Welchel (pictured) from The Facts of Life. That’s not compelling for me, either – but there you g

2012

Sep

SHOGUN By David Bianculli

Part 3. I hope you’re watching, and enjoying, this classic miniseries, starring Richard Chamberlain as a British sailor who learns and absorbs the customs of 17th-century Japan. They don’t make many miniseries like this one. But they should.

2012

Sep

HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE By David Bianculli

Another classic Marilyn Monroe comedy, this one from 1953, co-stars Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall as three savvy gold diggers setting traps for wealthy men, using themselves as very appealing bait.

2012

Sep

LOVE ACTUALLY By David Bianculli

This 2003 comedy, written and directed by Richard Curtis, interweaves the stories of eight different couples, in a way that makes you care about, and root for, each. And what a cast: the talented players here include High Grant, Bill Nighy, Liam Neeson, Emma Thompson, Keira Knightley, Martin Freeman, Laura Linney and Colin Firth.

2012

Sep

'I'M CAROLYN PARKER': A HOME IS NOT JUST A HOUSE By Eric Gould

Director Jonathan Demme takes a hand-held, low-fi look at how Hurricane Katrina affected one family in the Lower Ninth Ward, and shows how the courageous matriarch, Carolyn Parker, persevered...

2012

Sep

1965: 'I DREAM OF JEANNIE' BEGINS ON NBC By Christy Slewinski

This day in 1965 marked the debut of I Dream of Jeannie, NBC's answer to ABC's hit show, Bewitched...

2012

Sep

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE By David Bianculli

SEASON FINALE: The winning dancers — one male, one female — are selected tonight, as the ninth iteration of this high-energy, high-talent dance series comes to an end.

2012

Sep

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: “DEATH AND THE CIVIL WAR” By David Bianculli

Ric Burns finds a new story to tell about the Civil War – one that encompasses both the unprecedented scope of that war’s destruction and the equally unprecedented availability of battlefield photography to document the losses. Needless to say, there’s some tough viewing here, and some tough facts and figures to absorb. But that was true at the time, and it’s what makes this program work. For more on this documentary, read Eric Gould's The Cold Light Reader blog. Check lo

2012

Sep

SHOGUN By David Bianculli

Part 2. Blackthorne (Richard Chamberlain) begins to see his Japanese “hosts” as less barbaric than before — and recognizes some barbarism in his own English countrymen.

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