Category: Programming Reviews

(Dec 7) Often at parties and other social functions people ask about current shows, ‘What should I be watching?’ is the question usually.

Fewer inquire about favorite shows of the past. Thank goodness. The memory banks sometimes seem crammed to capacity …

(Nov 29) In television, as in other businesses, nothing succeeds like success. And mysteries have been and are hot on television. In the television-movie business, network executives often make safe bets by returning to films that were hits in theaters.

Such is …

(Sept 15) There are few if any revelations in NFL Films’ year-long tracking of Bill Belichick.

On the other hand, the result, Bill Belichick: A Football Life (premieres Sept 15, NFL Network, 9pm ET), provides viewers with an intimate look at …

(August 23, 2011) When asked to name cable channels that represent a personal touch, you might think immediately of OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network, which claims to be Oprah’s personal take on programming.

When it comes to channels that concentrate on …

The nerve of Starz Encore–how dare it interrupt cable’s longest-running programming stunt, Discovery’s Shark Week, with another fish tale?

Oh, but it’s a very large fish. One whose liver is as long as two horse-drawn carts, we’re told in Starz …

It’s nearly 11 minutes into Ralph Kiner: 50 Amazin’ Years before viewers are reminded that Kiner, who’s known chiefly for having spent half a century behind the microphone with the NY Mets, was an extraordinary power hitter decades ago.

In 10 …

May 10, 2011

Here’s fair warning. Tonight’s special 2-hour edition of Dan Rather Reports (HDNet, 8pm ET; the program can be seen again Sat and Sun, 11am ET), describing the pitiful state of the Detroit Public Schools (DPS), is one of …

It’s difficult to describe all the wonderful touches, myriad layers and complexities that make up HBO’s post-Katrina drama Treme, now in its second season (Sundays, 10pm).

Named for a musicians’ village in New Orleans, the series shows how the Crescent …

We couldn’t let April 1 slide past without wishing a fond farewell to former NCTA chief Kyle McSlarrow.

McSlarrow tried to slip out the door unnoticed last week; he arrived at NCTA the same way, quietly. His influence on cable was …

Sometimes the irony of life and death is extraordinary.

Earlier this month, as I was writing a review of Smithsonian Channel’s fine film Nature’s Matchmaker, something moved me to research its protagonist, a Veterinarian specializing in reproduction, known technically as …