Saturday TV: Mel Brooks Alone
At 88, he's amassed an awful lot of stories to tell, so in his special "Mel Brooks Live at the Geffen" (HBO, 9 p.m.) from the Geffen Playhouse in Los…
Playlist 1-30-15
A cold night in the studio warmed with a big set for Buddy Holly, who died 56 years ago this week. It fit in fine with some new music by…
Friday TV: Shakespeare and Super Bowls
One of the best series yet of explicating and celebrating the work of the Bard, "Shakespeare Uncovered" (PBS, 9 and 10 p.m., check local listings) returns for a second season,…
It Will Pay to Find ‘Fortitude’
Every fledging network needs that one show to give people a reason to find it, and for Pivot it's the new drama "Fortitude" (Pivot, 10 p.m.), an original and visually…
Also on Thursday: An End to ‘Parenthood’
Predictably, they're packing a lot into the series finale of Jason Katims' "Parenthood" (NBC, 10 p.m.). Somebody dies (and Craig T. Nelson's grandpa character hasn't been doing that well); Lauren…
Wednesday TV: ‘The Americans’ Return
I'm warming to the 1980s spy yarn "The Americans" (FX, 10 p.m.), partly in contrast to next week's very similar network series "Alliegience." There is still the question of why…
Tuesday TV: All About Edison
Would you even have a television without Thomas Edison? Well, maybe. But he's the guy who invented sound recording, the incandescent bulb, and kinescopes that led to early film, so…
The Megastorm That Wasn’t
The East Coast tilt of national news operations is never so obvious as when there’s something like weather occurring there. The possibility of snow, not so long ago considered part…
Nick Kristof’s ‘A Path Appears’ Appears
For all of the great intent of "Half the Sky," the last big effort for public television by Nicholas Kristof, based on the work by he and his wife Sheryl…
Also on Monday: Witnessing the Holocaust
To mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auchwitz this week, the documentary "Night Will Fall" (HBO, 9 p.m.) concentrates on an unfinished film made by a new team…