TV Reviews
Funny and trying, "Maron," which premieres Friday on IFC, stars the comedian and podcaster Marc Maron as comedian and podcaster Marc Maron.
How many films about the search for and killing of Osama bin Laden can the market bear? The answer appears to be three — a bad one,...
If "House of Cards" were an actual television show, this would be the day after its finale — a time to analyze the cultural impact...
Sundance Channel's "Rectify" is the first and possibly only television show one can imagine Flannery O'Connor blogging about.
"All the President's Men Revisited," which premieres Sunday on Discovery Channel, returns us to those thrilling days of yesteryear when...
Thanks to Sherlock Holmes and his Doctor Watson, we are used to detectives coming in asymmetrical pairs: Your Batman and Robin (superheroes,...
Back when I was young and the world was new and only one kid we knew had a (very small, black-and-white) TV in his room, my cousins, my...
It is heartening in a way that perhaps the biggest comic in America — in a sense of cultural import if not necessarily in income,...
If you are under 30, male and interested in sex, drugs or anything paired with the word "extreme," you are likely to be familiar with Vice...
It was "rock week" on "American Idol" as the top 7 took on rock 'n' roll classics, with varying results.
It's a big week on BBC America for fans of "Doctor Who." Saturday brought the return of the series itself and Wednesday sees David Tennant,...
The recent explosion of scripted dramas from outlets as disparate as History and Netflix has created such a surfeit of fine television...
Some fine actors have contracted to appear in "How to Live With Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life)," a multi-generational family...
David Sutherland is the director of three remarkable documentary films — I should say at least three, having seen only the last...
From the nation that brought you "Are You Being Served?" comes "Mr. Selfridge," a loose dramatization of the founding of a British retail...
"Top of the Lake" is the first miniseries from filmmaker Jane Campion of New Zealand ("The Piano," "Bright Star"). I have seen only the...
When, in her famous essay "A Room of One's Own," Virginia Woolf conjured the tragically compelling possibility of Shakespeare's sister, a...
My father always told me to beware a man with no regrets. Even a life lived wisely with the best intentions, he said, is inevitably pocked...
To create a successful antihero, a writer must pull off a narrative sleight of hand, convincing the audience that black is white, or at...
Before you watch HBO's new miniseries "Parade's End," here's a little advice.
Honestly, “Home” threatened to be a bit of a bore for me until its well-nigh transcendent final 10 minutes. But those final 10...
On networks with historical bents, there is always a fair amount of Lincoln-mania this time of year — PBS' "American Experience"...
On Sunday, Beyoncé scored her 17th Grammy, which puts her just one trophy behind the second most awarded female singer, Aretha...
From Geoffrey of Monmouth to Dan Brown, when it comes to driving narrative, it's hard to beat a good heroic quest. Whether it's the Holy...
"The Job," which premieres Friday on CBS, puts a reality-show spin on the hiring process — which is to say, it does explicitly what...
For those who follow the Gospel According to Netflix, Friday is the day the world changes, instantly and forever. The day when viewers,...
Premiering Friday night for a modest six-episode run on TV One, the black-oriented basic cable network that is not BET, is "Belle's," a...
Loving Shakespeare with a love so immoderate it would take a Shakespeare to describe it, I was pretty well pre-sold on "Shakespeare...
"Ripper Street," the Victorian-era police procedural debuting on BBC America on Saturday, opens with chilling promise and on a decidedly...
Australian comic Jim Jefferies, who worked for years out of England and is known in the U.S. for some HBO comedy specials and whatever...
Kevin Hart's amiable, loose-limbed "Real Husbands of Hollywood," which premieres Tuesday on BET, is not so much a parody of the Bravo...
Poor Seth MacFarlane. Until Sunday night, hosting the Oscars must have seemed so easy. What did he have to do, really, to shine? Avoid...
The second season of "Girls" premieres Sunday on HBO and one can only hope that it will be allowed to do so without too much obsessive...
In 1982, Sarah Jessica Parker, who 16 years later would play Carrie Bradshaw on "Sex and the City," played a smart, suburban teenage...
Even as he helped orchestrate the American Revolution and the creation of modern democracy, John Adams worried that the framers of history,...
Roll up, America; step right this way. Here comes the Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour," getting a big night on domestic television, 45...
For a nation bewitched by period dramas in which men wear hats and sip whiskey while making eyes at crimson-lipped women who smoke an...
An epic love story, like a good horror movie, relies more on possibility than actuality. Surprise and anticipation, of what is to come and...
Susan Lacy's "Inventing David Geffen," which premieres Tuesday as part of the PBS series "American Masters," takes a long look at the agent-...
Ken Burns, public television's signature chronicler of great American moments, pastimes and inventions, has turned his Ken Burns Effect...
In "Wedding Band," which premieres Saturday on TBS, Brian Austin Green, who was on "Beverly Hills 90210" for a decade, plays Tommy, the lead...
In what I suppose we could call a tradition, if twice in four years a tradition makes, Comedy Central's "South Park" has again offered a...
Some fuss was recently made over the role President Obama plays in "SEAL Team Six: The Raid on Osama bin Laden," a docu-drama premiering...
Through a fortuitous series of events, because someone knew someone who knew someone, I watched Friday's remarkable opening ceremony of...
During the long and glorious reign of the variety show, it was fairly common to see the stars of popular Broadway musicals singing and...
There is something essentially likable about Kelsey Grammer as a performer. That broad scholar-like forehead, the strong jaw and mild blue...
"George Harrison: Living in the Material World," which premieres Wednesday and Thursday on HBO, is a long, lovely meditation on the Beatle...
It's fall on PBS, when the big documentary blockbusters heave into view; and nobody builds them bigger than Ken Burns, whose name always...
"Too Big to Fail," which premieres Monday on HBO, is the latest of that network's high-toned original films ("Recount," "The Late Shift,"...
Without making any too great claims on its behalf, I would like to direct your attention, in a good way, to the Nickelodeon TV movie "Best...
"Troubadours: Carole King, James Taylor and the Rise of the Singer-Songwriter," a presentation of "American Masters" that airs Wednesday...
It's like "The Apprentice" meets "The Amazing Race." On wheels. With lots and lots of food.
The plot also gives new meaning to avant-garde, spinning off its axis before getting to the 10-minute mark.
Well, it could have been worse. It could have all been a dream.
Two years ago, HBO took 8 1/2 hours to chronicle the life of John Adams; starting Sunday, History will take us from the colonizing of...
This should have been Wilhelmina Josephine's first clue that she was a bad cook: Her husband would routinely call the Aliso Viejo stay-at-...
Her future boyfriend and sometime musical partner Bob Dylan was still in high school in Minnesota when Joan Baez first played Club 47 in...
There was reason enough to expect something special from “Sit Down, Shut Up,”...
You can tell how much Stacey Anderson likes you from the angle of her head.
“Pedro,” which premieres tonight on MTV (and simultaneously...
Rob Thomas, the man behind "Veronica Mars" and "Cupid" (the old "Cupid," with Jeremy...
“Ashes to Ashes,” which premieres tonight on BBC America, is a...
While most crime series today rely on some sort of technical or psychological twist -- the wonders of forensics, the special knowledge...
If you want to understand the over-cited concept of the electronic hearth or see proof of the power and significance of television as a...
“Mistresses,” which premieres tonight, takes itself pretty seriously considering...
"The Diplomat," which premieres tonight on Ion, is one of those character-driven, complicated...
Forget boy meets girl, boy loses girl, etc. Knight finds holy relic, knight hides holy relic, modern archaeologist/art historian/guy on...
"Wuthering Heights": A Victorian novel with a name (and plot points) fit for a 1980s prime-...
The family comedy has undergone some transformations of late, thanks mostly to cable television and its restless search for buttons and/or...
The Sherlock Holmes template has worked so well on “House" that really it was only a matter of...
SOMEONE at ABC should just cut Ricky Gervais a check. For 35 minutes the 2008 Emmys seemed well on the way to being the Worst Awards Show in...
The title of "The Locator,” which premieres on WE TV tonight, is a bit misleading.
As the name suggests, a sandhog does not live a life of quiet refinement and delicacy.
It has been a summer of awe-inspiring, thought-provoking spectacle on television. First the Summer Olympics, then the Democratic and...
“Architecture School,” which begins tonight on the Sundance...
Helen Thomas, longtime member of the White House press corps, certainly qualifies for national icon status. For many Americans, she has been...
In simplest terms, “The American Mall,” which premieres tonight on MTV, is MTV...
“Heidi Fleiss: The Would-Be Madam of Crystal,”...
It's not often a show about modern "dating" brings to mind the quiz-show scandals of the 1950s, but watching Bravo's new reality series...
THERE ARE 13,000 cabs in New York City. Only one has a game show inside.
When "Weeds" premiered on Showtime, it seemed the quintessential suburban satire: Widowed stay-at-home mom accidentally becomes pot dealer...