SERIES PREMIERE: Clive Owen stars in this new Cinemax drama series, set in the year 1900 at the Knickerbocker Hospital in New York. The state of the state of the art, back then, will have you watching some of the operating-room scenes through your fingers, but stay with this show. It grows on you, and the characters and conflicts grow exponentially. Steven Soderbergh is an executive producer, and directed all of this first season’s 10 episodes. For a full review, hear or read my report on

2014

Aug

JONAH FROM TONGA By David Bianculli

SERIES PREMIERE: This is more of a warning than a recommendation. In his full review, Eric Gould’s Cold Light Reader explains why.

2014

Aug

THE SIXTIES: "SEX, DRUGS & ROCK N' ROLL" By David Bianculli

MINISERIES FINALE: This is the final installment of The Sixties, and this last installment includes, as it should, one of the defining, and last, iconic events of that decade: the August 1969 three-day music and arts festival known as Woodstock, which featured, at once, all three elements in tonight's title. “The New York State Thruway is closed, man!”

2014

Aug

NY MED By David Bianculli

I just spent several hours watching preview DVDs of Cinemax’s new medical drama, The Knick, which premieres tomorrow night, and dramatizes “cutting-edge” medicine as practiced circa 1900. How jarring, then, to return to the current century, in this excellent documentary series, and watch what we consider state-of-the-art medical procedures in 2014. Oh, and this week’s installment, it’s also Take Your Daughter to Work Day – at least for Dr. Mehmet Oz, whose hig

2014

Aug

GARFUNKEL AND OATES By David Bianculli

SERIES PREMIERE: IFC sent sample preview clips of some of the stuff “Garfunkel and Oates,” otherwise known as Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci, will be performing in tonight’s inaugural show. The first thing I saw was a musical number that sings about a particular sex act from a female point of view – a song that made me both uncomfortable with, and impressed by, how aggressively out there they were being. Like some of the best bits on Key and Peele and Inside Amy Schumer r

2014

Aug

THE HONORABLE WOMAN By David Bianculli

In tonight’s Episode 2 of this captivating and thoughtful eight-part miniseries, Nessa (Maggie Gyllenhaal) learns more about her obstacles in trying to broker some sort of peaceful prospects in the Gaza Strip – while some of the people investigating her find out more about her secret past. Much more.

2014

Aug

7 DEADLY SINS By David Bianculli

SERIES PREMIERE: Morgan Spurlock’s latest nonfiction series benefits greatly from its laser-like focus. The star of Super Size Me devotes his new show to a modern examination of the seven deadly sins, and begins with his personal specialty: gluttony. In one lengthy segment, he profiles the Las Vegas restaurant called the Heart Attack Grill, which features quarter-pound “Bypass Burgers” grilled in lard and covered with cheese, chili and bacon (the quadruple Bypass that’s p

2014

Aug

NEW AT NIGHT By Eric Gould

Actor, comedian and writer James Corden is reportedly getting the nod to replace Craig Ferguson as host of CBS’s The Late Late Show at the end of the year. Corden’s virtually unknown in the U.S. but here's a clip from his appearance on the latest season of The Graham Norton Show...

2014

Aug

ALTMAN By David Bianculli

I have a triple affinity for director Robert Altman. First, he was a fabulously influential and experimental director, pushing the boundaries regarding the way audiences would accept both sights and sounds – he was a true maverick (and a truly nice guy, when I interviewed him). Second, he directed some fabulous movies, from his well-regarded classics MASH and Nashville to such underappreciated cult classics as Brewster McCloud and my personal favorite, Images. And third, he came up from te

2014

Aug

I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG By David Bianculli

It’s Paul Muni night (and day) on TCM, and the evening part of the tribute begins with one of his most important starring roles. Made in 1932, it told the based-on-fact story of a man who was wrongly imprisoned, and, at the time the movie was released, still on the run from authorities, like a true-life Richard Kimble. And the reaction to this film, and Muni’s performance, was so potent that, as happened decades later with the subject of the sympathetic biopic Hurricane, its protagon

Posts 861-870 of 2162

86 87 88 89 90

New From TVWW

PBS' 'Frontline’ Examines Pension Promises and — Spoiler Alert — Finds the Math Doesn’t Add Up

The Decadence of ‘Versailles’ Comes to Ovation

Prescribing Mamie Gummer in 'Emily Owens, M.D.'

Looking for a Free Ride? HBO Can Deliver

'Pass the Biscuits' Part of the Hatfield-McCoy Pop-Culture Legacy

Dispatches From TVWW

'Extinction: The Facts' is a Sobering Call to Action

How 'Mayans' Has Been Influenced by the Show's Creator Elgin James

For Whom the Bell Tolls: Ken Burns and Lynn Novick Take on Ernest Hemingway, the Man and the Myth

In the Final Season, Sutton Foster's Liza is Now the Genuine Version of Her 'Younger' Self

Season 2 of 'City on a Hill' Returns with Kevin Bacon, Aldis Hodge, and Boston Corruption