When radio threatened the young phonograph record industry in American cities in the 1920s, it sent out talent scouts to rural corners of the country, seeking to find local musicians who’d appeal to regional audiences where there still was no radio. They’d find local musicians by asking in town newspapers if they’d like to hear [...]
Discovery Channel’s ambitious “Racing Extinction”(Discovery, 9 p.m.) flits all over the globe with stories of endangered species and mankind’s vast acceleration of the process. But it seems guided by the notion of one guy in L.A. who was outraged that a tony sushi restaurant was caught illegally serving up whale to customers and there were [...]
She may be 82, but Broadway legend Chita Rivera is still dancing and singing, most recently in “The Visit” for which she’s won another Tony nomination. She’s won two already, for “The Rink” in 1984 and “Kiss of the Spider Woman” in 1993. Her first nomination dates back to 1961 in “Bye Bye Birdie.” With [...]
Aziz Ansari couldn’t find quite the right people to play his parents in his new series “Master of None” (Netflix, online), which drops its entire 10-episode season today. So he used his own parents. “There are not a ton of old Indian guys that are actors, and I feel my dad is uniquely funny,” he [...]
Normally you wouldn’t expect a 35-year-old movie intended to be a drive-in B movie slasher to engender the kind of fans that warranted two sequels and now, a full fledged TV series, “Ash vs. Evil Dead” (Starz, 9 p.m.). But that was before “The Walking Dead.” And though the popularity of that zombie saga comes [...]
Comic book heroes have already taken over movie houses and have been slowly proliferating on TV, mostly due to a couple of successful superhero shows on The CW, “Arrow” and “The Flash.” Now it’s moving to the august confines of the Viacom flagship CBS as well with the long-awaited fall debut of “Supergirl” (CBS, 8:30 [...]
Following a splendid first season, the anthology-like “Fargo” (FX, 10 p.m.) starts a second season even more assured, surprising, funny, out there, brutal and addictive. With only a thread’s connection to last season (Molly Solverson, age 6, is seen being raised by her dad, Lou, a Minnesota State Trooper played by Patrick Wilson. Rural law [...]
The oddest performance of the fall TV season might come from David Krumholtz, who you know as the bright young man in the series “Numb3rs.” Starting tonight, he stars, completely unrecognizably, as a 76 year old woman in the comedy “Gigi Does It” (IFC, 10:30 p.m.). In the role, where he does Caitlyn Jenner one [...]
Walt Disney has cast a long shadow on cultural life, particularly of the young. So his life likely warrants a long look, too, which it gets this week on “American Experience” (PBS, 9 p.m., check local listings), a four-hour, two night biography that begins tonight. “We want to give Walt Disney a presidential treatment because we think [...]
Although he looks like he came from a cartoon, Donald Trump won’t be part of “The Simpsons” this season, executive producer Al Jean says. Though the ever-busy “Simpsons” studio turned out this little bit last June when Trump made his announcement after a descent on the Trump Tower escalator, Jean says they generally try to [...]