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

 
 
2012
Aug
17
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: This series has turned out to be the biggest original Cinemax hit in years – not that it has that much prime-time competition, but still. And this year, this high-action drama about special forces working abroad on secret missions has a new operative: Rhona Mitra, who was wasted in ABC’s The Gates but unforgettably good in ABC’s The Practice and Boston Legal.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Aug
17
 
 
SERIES RETURN: Bill Maher is back from his summer hiatus, and it’s too bad he picked such a slow news week on which to make his return, and to welcome such guests as Chelsea Handler. Aside from, say, Mitt Romney announcing the vice presidential spot on his Republican ticket, not much has happened…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Aug
17
 
 
MINISERIES FINALE: This Alan Spencer cop and action-movie spoof presented its first three episodes last night, and presents the final three tonight. This is the night when guest villains Eddie Izzard and Eric Roberts get most of their good scenes, and when Max Williams as Gunter Vogler, a bad guy given a good guy’s face, gets to share screen time with them. But keep your eye on Kate Kelton as the femme fatale brunette – and the femme fatale redhead as well. She has, and generates, th
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Aug
16
 
 
Elvis Presley was 42 years old when he died at Graceland on this date in 1977 – and the date, not the age, is what’s being noted this evening by TCM, which is devoting the day to Elvis movies. The retrospective begins at 6 a.m. ET with 1963’s It Happened at the World’s Fair, which also features future Batman Batgirl Yvonne Craig. But the prime-time action begins with this 1973 documentary account of Presley’s 1972 U.S. tour. Then come two of the rock idol’s mo
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Aug
16
 
 
It takes a thief: In this new episode, the CIA assigns a mission to its latest asset, Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar). She’s told to use her safecracking skills to extract something from a heavily guarded safe – and soon experiences the “heavily guarded” part.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Aug
16
 
 
It’s a countdown list of highlights, reducing Shark Week into fittingly digestive tiny chunks: bite-sized helpings of great sights, great bites, and great whites. Open wide…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Aug
16
 
 
MINISERIES PREMIERE: Alan Spencer of Sledge Hammer! fame returns, after a long period of satirical TV dormancy, with another short burst of genre humor poking fun at cop-show conventions and, this time, Tarantino-style action excesses. This one is six half-hour episodes, doled out over two nights, with each night a brisk triple feature. The recognizable stars are the featured villains, opposing crime lords played by Eddie Izzard and Eric Roberts. But the major roles go to Max Williams as the two
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Aug
16
 
 
“Any new stress?” the doctor acts Louie (Louis C.K.) in this week’s episode, trying to get to the root cause of his patient’s sudden ailments. “Well, no,” Louie tells him. “The kids and the work, it’s hard sometimes – but boilerplate misery….” Question of the day: Does this show make me laugh so hard simply because I enjoy it, or because I so strongly relate to it?
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Aug
16
 
 
IFC's new miniseries, Bullet in the Face revolves around Gunter Vogler, a criminal sociopath who assumes the identity of a cop he shot to take down the city’s crime lords. Suffice to say that nuts-and-bolts summary doesn't come close to describing this mash-up...We're thinking Police Squad meets Reservoir Dogs...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Aug
16
 
 
The Kelsey Grammer-paced saga of a corrupt Chicago mayor with a terminal hallucinatory brain disease returns with its at times loopy gravitas also intact...