He had the loudest voice, the bulkiest body, the most relentless mind.
It shouldn’t surprise us, then, that Roger Ailes dominated television … then dominated American life.
Now a powerhouse Showtime mini-series — “The Loudest Voice” – captures that. Russell Crowe vividly depicts the late Ailes as a man of volume and venom and (when needed) subtlety. Read more…
If memory serves, TV is supposed to have summer doldrums.
Or not. On Tuesday (June 18), there’s a surprising burst of great moments. Read more…
The trouble with English cops – at least, the TV ones – is they’re so unrelentingly cooperative.
They work together, pay attention, stay flexible. That’s fine for some things – solving crimes, for instance – but not for making an American-style cop show
.Fortunately, “Endeavour” — the mystery series on PBS’ “Masterpiece” — has figured that out. The new season, which starts Sunday (June 16), stirs things up. Read more…
The Tony telecast had been on for, maybe, three seconds when James Corden reminded us why we were watching.Yes, TV is in a new golden age. Still, nothing matches the explosive fun of live entertainment.Corden managed to say this in full-scale song-and-dance. He had another number, mid-show, that again proved there are an awful lot of clever lyricists out there. Let’s start there: Read more…
As “Krypton” opens its second season, two reactions emerge — “wow!!” and “whaaa…?”
The first is a good thing. This series is visually impressive, giving us all the sci-fi splendor we expect from DC (which produced this) or Marvel.
The other is not as good. At times, “Krypton” simply tries too hard. It loads us up with time-travel and multiple dimensions … so many that we feel like we need an Encyclopedia of Geek to understand it all.. Read more…
On Sunday (June 9), James Corden will be back where he belongs – hosting the Tony Awards
.He did it in 2016, on one of the most memorable nights in TV history. But let me back up for a minute: Read more…
In “Saving Private Ryan” (shown here), D-Day filled 21 minutes; in “The Longest Day,” it filled three hours.Still, these movies – separated by 36 years and huge leaps in cinema – had the same effect: They showed the horror and triumph of the day that marked the beginning of the end of Europe’s nightmare.As Thursday’s milestone — the 75th anniversary of D-Day – nears, we can see both on cable. Here’s a sampling: Read more…
Let’s forget any notion of summertime silliness.
This weekend (May 31 to June 2) has some important chances to ponder the past and present, in non-fiction and fiction. And all of these will be around afterward; consider: Read more…
Earlier, I posted a quickie preview of the “Fosse/Verdon” finale. It didn’t say much, because almost everything was under embargo.
Now that the show has aired, I can start with the obvious: This was a fitting finish to a great mini-series. Sam Rockwell, Michelle Williams and director Tommy Kail did Emmy-worthy work, making us care deeply about a guy (Bob Fosse) we shouldn’t have even liked.Y
ou can catch reruns on FX on the next two Saturday nights — midnight this week, 2 a.m. next week. (Technically, that’s 12 a.m. on Sunday, June 2, 2 a.m. on Sunday, June 9.) Read more…
ABC has set an instant rerun of its “All in the Family”/”Jeffersons” special, re-enforcing a key lesson:
Sometimes, old-time TV can (with a slight twist) become a new hit. Read more…
