Look, we don’t claim to understand how TV networks get the rights to movies–the Weather Channel’s movie series stymied us once and for all–but we will just note that BBC America, your go-to for classy Anglophile, is showing not The Queen, or whatever, but Batman Returns tonight. Perhaps the presence of the butler piqued the Read More
Sure, 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation suck up all the critics’ ink and The Office (somehow, still) gets the most viewers. But the youngest show on the lineup, Up All Night, has distinguished itself too this season, if only as a program worthy of joining the most beloved comedies on the air. It had Read More
In a TV landscapes where stratospheric hits tend to burn quickly and brightly before burning out, the metamorphosis of Survivor from national obsession to blue-chip has been something to behold. After about a year of Survivor mania, America moved on–and rather than die off, Survivor kept chugging along for the die-hards. It mirrors nothing more Read More
Stop everything, Alien is on IFC tonight! And we’re aware it’s Valentine’s Day–so what if our take on love privileges enormous man-eating aliens over schmoopy special episodes on broadcast TV? This is Sigourney Weaver’s kickoff to a series that started great, got great, then–whatever, who cares… It’s characterized by lady-fighting action that Angelina Jolie can Read More
It’s so weird that Smash is still on after every entertainment journalist, in the culture dearth of early February, discussed it to death before the premiere (we were hardly immune). Guess what? It wasn’t a one-time event! Like Celine Dion’s heart, it will go on–at least until the end of the season and then Read More
No secret that we’re Jeopardy! partisans, and no secret, too, that tonight’s continuation of the annual college tournament is the last, best chance to form your prejudices about the contestants before the finals next week. Take a drink every time Alex gets overruled by the judges! (It’s happening more and more! What’s going on, A.T.?) Read More
January’s over now–meaning that the movies will slowly get a little better until summer. (April’s a really underrated moviegoing month.) But the quintessential January movies–schlocky, cheap in every sense, poorly acted by stars either slowly rising or rapidly falling–live on year-round on premium cable. Tonight, enjoy watching two television actresses torment one another in The Read More
Sure, last weekend’s Voice-tacular went fine. Fine! It got much-better-than-decent ratings. But for true Super Bowl-evening sensationalism, we feel a certain nostalgia for Friends‘s 1996 blowout, which featured guests ranging from Julia Roberts and Brooke Shields to, uh, the voice of Homer Simpson and Jean-Claude Van Damme. It’s the moment the show went from preoccupation Read More
Tonight on ABC Family brings another installment of girl-of-a-certain-moment and makeup spokesmodel Andie MacDowell’s latest reinvention. Hard to remember now, but Ms. MacDowell was once the go-to gal for quality motion picture entertainment. Have any of your favorite–have any legitimately talented?–actresses ever starred in five movies as good as sex, lies, and videotape; Green Card; Short Read More
Remember Six Feet Under? At the time of its airing, the show was one of the holy trinity of HBO’s ascent, alongside the equally loved Sex and the City and The Sopranos. After a shaky last couple of years, Six Feet Under has been relegated to the bottom of the memory bin, with revisionists claiming Read More
