A Look Back at the 2016 TV Upfronts
It’s been a week since the 2016 TV upfronts drew to a close and the music — and the spoofs — of “Hamilton” are still ringing in our ears. The smash hit Broadway show was omnipresent during the week of…
Open Mic
A Treasure Trove of Previously Unpublished Works: More Than 50 Movie Posters and Ads Designed by Saul Bass and Illustrated by Al Kallis. Devilishly Fun
It was love at first sight. The first time I saw the work of Saul Bass I fell madly in love with it. What I saw that first time was the title sequence of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo.” It was 1973,…
WGN America Goes ‘Underground’ to Examine a Troubled Period in U.S. History
With the pulse-pounding pace of its very first episode, WGN America’s “Underground” transported viewers to the antebellum world of 1857 Georgia, a dangerous and desperate place where slaves on plantations plotted their escapes via the Underground Railroad from their existences…
With the Recent Death of Prince, the ‘American Masters’ Broadcast of ‘Janis: Little Girl Blue’ Has Added Resonance
The recent death of Prince sparked a revelation for director Amy Berg, who just spent eight years immersed in the life of another musical legend, Janis Joplin, culminating in the feature documentary “Janis: Little Girl Blue” which she also wrote…
Hallmark and the Uproar Over Not Showing ‘Hear My Song,’ Originally Titled ‘Boychoir’: If Hallmark Really Cares Enough, Here’s What It Should Do
When we broke the story last week about why Hallmark pulled the airing of “Hear My Song,” starring Dustin Hoffman and Kathy Bates, as a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation that was to air on CBS last Saturday night, Hallmark…
New HBO Doc, Premiering Tonight, Takes an Uncensored Look at Robert Mapplethorpe
Even as HBO’s “Vinyl” presents a fictionalized look at the music and drug scene in New York in the 1970s, the pay-cable channel’s new feature documentary “Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures” presents the real-world art and drug scene of the…
‘The People v. O.J. Simpson’ Producer-Director Opens Up About ‘Getting It Right’ — and Making It Human
Just as it was more than 20 years ago during the so-called Trial of the Century, the nation appears to still be riveted by the case of O.J. Simpson and the accusations that he murdered his former wife Nicole Brown…
Two Artists, One You’ve Heard Of, the Other You Haven’t — Bruce Springsteen and Al Kallis — Implore Us: In the Time of Your Life, Live!
The first time I saw Bruce Springsteen, he was in a coffin. OK, that’s a lie. By the time I saw Springsteen in a coffin I had already seen him perform concerts about half a dozen times. The time I…
Another Duggar Series Is Soon to Premiere on Discovery’s TLC. It Used to Be Said of Discovery Communications Programming That ‘Nothing Is Better.’ How, Too Often, That’s Become ‘Nothing Is Worse’
Though it hasn’t received a lot of attention in the mainstream press, in just under two weeks, on Tuesday, March 15, Discovery Communications’ TLC will be back with another series featuring members of the Duggar family. This one is called…
A-Listers Share the Spotlight at 18th Costume Designers Guild Awards
It was another winning night for TV favorites “Game of Thrones,” “American Horror Story: Hotel” and “The Knick” as their respective costume designers Michele Clapton, Lou Eyrich and Ellen Mirojnick took home trophies presented at the 18th Costume Designers Guild…