Last week’s third episode of Dietland, while still very, very early in the narrative voyage for this series, established without question just how weird, unpredictable and provocative it was willing to be. The series caught and held my interest, initially, because of the hilariously icy portrayal by The Good Wife favorite Julianna Margulies as a Devil Wears Prada-type fashion media editrix. But it’s the journey of the show’s eager-to-change protagonist, Joy Nash’s Plum, t

2018

Jun

2018 MTV MOVIE AND TV AWARDS By David Bianculli

SPECIAL: Taped Saturday night at Santa Monica, this year’s MTV Movie and Awards Show is hosted by Tiffany Haddish (pictured), with musical performances by, among others, such pairings as Nick Jonas and Mustard (I merely report; these acts name themselves) and Chloe x Halle (ditto). Chris Pratt is given a special award because, well, the latest Jurassic Park movie is imminent – and I list this fluffy, meaningless MTV special at all because I find it instructive to note which TV

2018

Jun

POV: "QUEST" By David Bianculli

Tonight marks the TV premiere of Quest, the 2017 documentary by Jonathan Olshefski about a North Philadelphia family, shot over a decade that included and outlasted the years of the Obama administration. The passage of time, and the quiet, unobtrusive focus of the camera’s focus, takes Quest and Christine’a Rainey and family on a voyage neither they nor the viewer could have predicted. Quest is a program likely to make you laugh and gasp, smile and cry – and ponder long after y

2018

Jun

2018 FIFA WORLD CUP By David Bianculli

Fox gets to televise one game today before shifting its focus to U.S. Open golf. At 8 a.m. ET, Costa Rica faces Serbia in a Group E contest. Then Fox Sports 1 takes over for the day’s remaining, and more high-profile, two games. In the first, Group F leaders Germany and Mexico duel at 11 a.m. ET. Following that, the leaders of Group E, Brazil and Switzerland, take to the pitch, and attack and defend one another.

2018

Jun

2018 U.S. OPEN MEN'S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP By David Bianculli

The course this year at Shinnecock Hills has proven so unforgiving that not only Tiger Woods, but Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy, failed to make the cut for weekend play. Dustin Johnson, the world’s top-ranked golfer, led the field for the first half of the tournament – but, as always with pro golfers who take and maintain an early lead, the equally tricky part is to finish with the lead still intact. If that’s going to happen, it’ll be during today’s final round.

2018

Jun

DEATH OF A SALESMAN By David Bianculli

Here’s something tricky, and uncomfortable, to contemplate. This 1985 made-for-TV filmed adaptation of the Arthur Miller classic, starring Dustin Hoffman as iconic past-his-prime traveling salesman Willy Loman, is a brilliant piece of work. Not only is the play itself heart-wrenching and important – attention must be paid – but the core performances, by Hoffman and by Kate Reid, John Malkovich and Stephen Lang, who play his wife and sons, respectively, are flawless. Yet this is

2018

Jun

WESTWORLD By David Bianculli

Tonight’s new episode is the penultimate one of Season 2, and spends some time outside of the increasingly bloody theme parks. Specifically, it flashes back in the life of the Man in Black, the Ed Harris character, to a time when he was more like the Man in Black Tux – and when his wife, played by the always impressive Sela Ward, was still alive.

2018

Jun

THE AFFAIR By David Bianculli

SEASON PREMIERE: It’s Season 4, and the principal characters of this Rashomon-style love story continue to intersect and interact. It’s no longer a love triangle, or even a pentagon, and new sides are being added all the time. But as the new season begins, a year has passed in the show’s narrative, and things are notably different. Alison (Ruth Wilson) has remained in New York, as a crisis counselor. Noah (Dominic West), with whom she had one of this show’s titular affair

2018

Jun

SUCCESSION By David Bianculli

The intrigue continues as the power in this very wealthy family shifts suddenly and substantially, like a financial tectonic plate. And when the ground settles, there are new faces standing at the top.

2018

Jun

LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER By David Bianculli

I wrote this last week, but it still applies: There may never be a slow news week again. But in the meantime, on many weeks such as this one, at least we have John Oliver to make sense of it all. And nonsense, too.

Posts 941-950 of 2056

94 95 96 97 98

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