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

 
 
 
 
 
THE SPOILS OF BABYLON
January 9, 2014  | By David Bianculli

IFC, 10:00 p.m. ET

 

MINISERIES PREMIERE: This multi-part, bite-sized miniseries spoof is intended to lampoon such Golden Age of Miniseries epics as The Thorn Birds and Scruples, which covered decades, featured different costumes and hairstyles in almost every scene, and focused on doomed romances that percolated constantly but seldom reached a boil. It’s directed and co-written by Matt Piedmont, whose co-writer is fellow Saturday Night Live writer alumnus Andrew Steele, prominent contributors to Will Ferrell’s Funny or Die website. Ferrell is here, too, pretending to be the “real” auteur of The Spoils of Babylon, a bloated-ego, Orson Welles caricature named Eric Jonrosh. He’s my favorite thing about this spoof – but I also love watching Tim Robbins and Kristen Wiig, among others, taking this silliness so seriously. Co-stars include Tobey Maguire, Jessica Alba and Haley Joel Osment. Listen and/or read my Spoils review on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross website -- and for a full review here on TVWW, see Bianculli’s Blog.

 
 
 
 
 
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