Before David Simon was a TV writer and producer, creating such brilliant series as The Wire and Treme, he was a newspaper reporter – covering the police beat in Baltimore in an eye-opening experience that inspired Homicide: Life on the Street. In this new installment of Bill Moyers’ talk show, Simon applies the same skills he used so surgically and perceptively in all those TV series – taking the time to probe and explain, in human terms, the various institutions that shape pov

2014

Jan

GREAT PERFORMANCES: "BARRYMORE" By David Bianculli

This is one of the great things TV can do for us: import, into our living rooms, something that can enrich as well as entertain us, and treat us to something we might otherwise have missed. This is a Great Performances presentation of Christopher Plummer’s Broadway performance of Barrymore, for which he won a Tony. He plays John Barrymore in that famous actor’s twilight year of 1942, preparing to humble himself for a backer’s audition in hopes of raising funding for a revival o

2014

Jan

BILLY JOEL: A MATTER OF TRUST – THE BRIDGE TO RUSSIA By David Bianculli

In 1987, Billy Joel took his high-energy band, and act, to the U.S.S.R., making a significant and unprecedented visit to that Iron Curtain country as a very loud and spirited exercise in glasnost. At the time, the trip was captured in two works: the documentary A Matter of Trust, and the concert special Billy Joel: Live in Leningrad. More than 25 years later, here comes a new look at that trip, using additional as well as familiar footage, and conducting new interviews that put Joel’s trip

2014

Jan

JAY LENO: MR. COMEDY By David Bianculli

This new CNN special profiles Jay Leno, on the eve of his stepping down – for the second time – as host of NBC’s Tonight Show. Nischelle Turner is the interviewer.

2014

Jan

REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER By David Bianculli

Here’s hoping, for tonight’s show, Maher recycles one of his jokes that made me laugh out loud earlier this week. He was “live tweeting” for the Huffington Post during President Obama’s State of the Union Address, and noticed the same odd color disparity between the President and the two men seated behind him on TV. Maher tweeted: “Biden, Obama, Boehner – it’s like watching Neapolitan ice cream.”

2014

Jan

AMERICAN MASTERS: “PETE SEEGER: THE POWER OF SONG” By David Bianculli

To honor Pete Seeger, who died Monday at age 94, PBS is repeating its 2008 American Masters profile of the influential singer and songwriter. It’s an excellent documentary, and his TV return on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in the Sixties plays a prominent part. For my salute to Pete Seeger, see Bianculli’s Blog. Many local PBS member stations will make room for this special telecast, either sometime tonight or over the weekend. Even more than usual for a PBS offering, Check loca

2014

Jan

THE BIG BANG THEORY By David Bianculli

Geek fanboy alert: Tonight on this new Big Bang, the guest star, playing himself, is James Earl Jones. Forget what else he’s accomplished over a stunningly impressive lifetime on stage and screen: for Sheldon (Jim Parsons), Jones is known, and revered, for only one thing: providing the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars movies. That’s cause enough for celebration – and an excuse to celebrate more.

2014

Jan

PARKS AND RECREATION By David Bianculli

This series has been leading up to tonight’s episode for quite a while: Ann and Chris (Rashida Jones, Rob Lowe), future parents, take their union on the road – aiming for Michigan – and leave Pawnee. The actors themselves are leaving the show – but not without an on-air goodbye party, planned by Leslie (Amy Poehler).

2014

Jan

THE SIXTIES: THE BRITISH INVASION By David Bianculli

Hastily scheduled, this is another special preview installment of The Sixties, the forthcoming CNN documentary series by Tom Hanks’ production company. The first of these, back in November, was keyed to the golden anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Now, two months later, comes a much happier 50-years-later program: a salute to the Feb. 9, 1964 appearance by The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show.

2014

Jan

THE SPOILS OF BABYLON By David Bianculli

In tonight’s episode, Jessica Alba steps to the fore – and steps into a series of bitchslaps, traded with Kristen Wiig’s Cynthia in a very pointed homage to the Dynasty-era miniseries Spoils is so gleefully satirizing.

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