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

 
 
2019
Dec
31
 
 
Today and tomorrow, to end one year and begin another, Syfy is venturing back into The Twilight Zone. Take advantage, and share with the next generation. There are scandalously few shows from TV’s Golden Age, or thereabouts, that are given wide exposure to a younger audience. In my college classes, even The Twilight Zone, despite its annual exposure in these marathons, has been seen by fewer than half the class – and it’s one of the older shows most familiar
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Dec
31
 
 
SPECIAL: The traditional New Year’s Eve specials are available in the usual places, with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen on CNN, Ryan Seacrest on ABC, and whoever’s on NBC – probably Carson Daly. But the special I’d like to recommend for tonight is this Live from Lincoln Center offering, Celebrating Sondheim, which gathers singers and musicians to perform from the canon of Broadway’s best living composer. (And that praise is too faint. When he die
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Dec
31
 
 
As background, or foreground, this compilation of the best scenes from Hollywood’s classic MGM musicals actually is a compilation of compilations. It begins at 8 p.m. ET with 1974’s That’s Entertainment!, then continues with 1976’s That’s Entertainment Part 2!, showcasing everyone from Judy Garland and Gene Kelly to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. And by the time this dazzling showcase is over, so is 2019. Happy New Year!
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Dec
30
 
 
This documentary on Luciano Pavarotti looks at the life and career of the famously talented and popular, and often unreliable and controversial, opera tenor, using family videos as well as concert performance clips and newsreels. It’s directed by Ron Howard, who in 2016 crafted a fine documentary about another international phenomenon of a musical act: The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years. Roll over, Beethoven, and tell Tchaikovsky the news…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Dec
30
 
 
It’s the last Monday of December, which means it’s the last time, at least this year, for a smartly archived compare-and-contrast double feature. Tonight, as a pre-New Year’s Eve treat, we’re served two heaping helpings of A Star Is Born. Not Streisand and Gaga – but earlier incarnations, played by Gaynor and Garland.  The evening starts at 8 p.m. ET with 1937’s A Star Is Born, starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March (pictured). T
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Dec
30
 
 
No, not Game of Thrones. Not Chernobyl, though both had moments of real, genuine quality. And certainly not Survivor in its ‘Me Too’ season...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Dec
30
 
 
At first, the music world wasn’t sure what to do with Linda Ronstadt. Was she folk? Or country? Or rock? Then people realized she was all of that and more...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Dec
29
 
 
Cheerleaders often serve as incidental characters in TV and film dramas. They’re the girlfriends or the mean girls or, in the slasher film world, convenient prey for deranged serial killers...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Dec
29
 
 
Sundays on TV never will be as quiet as this one: Television critics call it “dead week” for a reason. Most weekly shows between Christmas and New Year’s Day are in repeats or on hiatus. Ray Donovan is one of the few shows stubbornly plowing on with an original episode: and tonight, here it is.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Dec
29
 
 
The NBC West title, and some major playoff implications, hang in the balance, as the 11-3 San Francisco 49ers face the 11-4 Seattle Seahawks. There are other games played today, but the Seahawks and the 49ers – tonight, in a game that ought to be a good one, they’re the Ready for Prime Time Players.