Bob Schieffer, 78, is retiring after today’s edition of Face the Nation, capping a career covering 46 years of distinguished reporting of the best old-school style: a respected newsman who took his job very seriously, himself much less so. In a special edition of Ed Bark’s Uncle Barky’s Bytes, another venerable Texas reporter, our own long-time TVWW correspondent, reprints three of his vintage interview encounters with Schieffer. And to honor the occasion and say a fond farewel

2015

May

THE CRITICS' CHOICE TELEVISION AWARDS By David Bianculli

I’m a member of this organization, so it behooves me to point out that tonight, A&E presents a prime-time telecast of this year’s awards show. Honesty compels me to admit, though, that I prefer the lower-key Television Critics Association Awards – the ones that, for most of that organization’s history, have not been televised, and seem much more intimate as a result.

2015

May

DEEP WEB By David Bianculli

This documentary, written, produced and directed by Alex Winter, examines the case of Silk Road, the illegal drug trafficking site that lurked on the “Deep Web,” until the government shut down the site in 2013 and put its purported entrepreneur, Ross William Ulbricht, on trial. But as this documentary makes clear, nothing about the case, or the motives for the site, or even the identity of the Silk Road-running “Dread Pirate Roberts,” is as simple as it might appear. And

2015

May

GAME OF THRONES By David Bianculli

Last week’s episode was called “The Gift” – and midway through, we learned that the title referred to a presentation in court of Peter Dinklage’s Tyrion Lannister. And tonight, various family members from different clans begin to share screen time – and destinies.

2015

May

PENNY DREADFUL By David Bianculli

A few episodes ago, Patti LuPone, in an intense guest-star appearance, turned in one of those performances that deserve to be remembered at Emmy time. Whether it will be or not, though, it helped serve notice, once again, that this supernatural series is doing stuff at least as impressive as FX’s higher-profile American Horror Story – and poor Vanessa (Eva Green) is having a rough time of it.

2015

May

THREE FOR THE ROAD: REMEMBERING THE RETIRING BOB SCHIEFFER By Ed Bark

EDITOR'S NOTE: To mark the retirement of CBS's Bob Schieffer, Ed Bark offers up three of his past articles about the much-revered newsman...

2015

May

PSST, HERE COMES LIFETIME'S 'THE SECRET LIFE OF MARILYN MONROE' By Ed Bark

Inhabiting Marilyn Monroe requires the look, the curves, the vulnerability and the breathy little girl intonations, not necessarily in that order. Kelli Garner checks out on all four in Lifetime’s The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe...

2015

May

2015 ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME INDUCTION CEREMONY By David Bianculli

This induction ceremony, held earlier this month in Cleveland, isn’t necessarily the most star-studded event since the Hall began doing this 30 years ago – but if you’ve been waiting for The “5” Royales and Bill Withers to get their due, you’ve waited long enough. Ringo Starr becomes the last of the Beatles to be inducted individually, though, at the start of the Seventies, he started his solo career with a string of catchy hits, usually written by and featuri

2015

May

THE SECRET LIFE OF MARILYN MONROE By David Bianculli

MINISERIES PREMIERE: Part 1 of 2. Kelli Garner, star of the brief period series Pan Am, becomes the latest actress to stand in for perhaps the most famous cinematic sex symbol of them all. This two-part miniseries has Marilyn Monroe recounting her life, loves and traumas to her therapist, while we tag along watching the various flashbacks. Susan Sarandon co-stars as Norma Jean’s unstable mother, and other players include Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Joe DiMaggio and Stephen Bogaert as Arthur Mil

2015

May

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD By David Bianculli

Alicia Florrick and her daughter were watching this movie recently on an episode of The Good Wife. Her daughter asked her if she ever got to change people’s minds in the courtroom like Gregory Peck did, and deliver such impassioned, important speeches. “No,” she told her daughter. Her days in court mostly were about small pieces of evidence and key phrases in the rules of law – an answer that made me love her character all the more, but also love To Kill a Mockingbird all

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