Wednesday: ‘Looming Tower’ Stands Tall
I’m such fan of Alex Gibney’s many documentaries, it’s no surprise that his adaptation of Lawrence Wright’s “The Looming Tower” (Hulu, streaming) would have a similar, immediate impact. It tells…
Tuesday TV: Biggie-Tupac Series Starts
The latest in the spate of true crime stories turned into scripted miniseries has a hip hop beat. “Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G.” (USA, 10 p.m.)…
Monday TV: Sudden Glut of New Shows
With the Winter Games over, a glut of new and returning shows suddenly appear; late night is back up to full strength, and recording star switches talent competition affiliation. Of…
Sunday TV: The Big Closing Ceremonies
The closing ceremonies of the Olympics (NBC, 7 p.m.) are usually not as lavish as the openers, but enhanced reality and K-pop may make it so, if not Ivanka Trump…
Saturday TV: Anna Deavere Smith’s Insight
Anna Deavere Smith practically invented a form of journalistic one-woman theater in her works in which she interviews key subjects, deeply absorbs their messages and delivery, and relives them on…
Other Things I’ve Written Lately
Here are some recent pieces I've written elsewhere: A feature for the Washington Post on the mighty all-female drum crew Batalá. A report for Smithsonian Magazine on the unveiling of…
Comic Nimesh Patel Keeps Topical
The comedian Nimesh Patel was in town this week, playing the Improv. His first D.C. show, he says, came in opening for Michael Che at the old LivingSocial on H…
Friday TV: Strong ‘Seven Seconds’
The sheer number of shows that continue to premiere on streaming services — and Netflix in particular — can be daunting to the point of surrender. But the new “Seven…
Thursday TV: ‘Bachelor Winter Games’ End
It was a stupid way to divert people who got snow-blind by all the skiing and skating, but “The Bachelor Winter Games” (ABC, 8 p.m.) has been sort of entertaining,…
Wednesday TV: Students Demand Action
A town hall event that may be worthy of the countdown clock they’ve been using for it, is “Stand Up: The Students of Stonemason Douglas Demand Action” (CNN, 9 p.m.)…