Wednesday TV: ‘Mr. Mercedes’ Returns
It’s not a bad time on TV for stocky UK actors of a certain age. In addition to Scottish actor Brian Cox, the patriarch on HBO’s “Succession,” there is Ireland’s…
John Hiatt’s ‘Slow Turning’ 30 Years On
John Hiatt became eligible for Medicaid Monday, marking his 65th birthday at the first of two sold out shows at the Birchmere Music Hall in Alexandria, Va. But there was…
Tuesday TV: Betty White’s Long Life in TV
Betty White may have become the queen of television through sheer longevity — from her own live talk shows and sitcoms to her work on game shows and beloved sitcoms…
Monday TV: MTV Awards, McCartney
Perhaps a commentary on contemporary music as well, what was once a pop cultural touchstone is now, in its 35th iteration, a bypassing footnote. The 2018 MTV Video Music Awards…
Sunday TV: Season End of ‘The Affair’
“The Affair” (Showtime, 9 p.m.) has been especially good this season, getting back to its roots about infidelities and consequences, which by now has spread to beyond its four central…
Saturday TV: Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Story
I was never a big fan of Lynyrd Skynyrd — too many nights of people yelling “Freebird”; too many oversized Confederate Flags, the single line “Watergate doesn’t bother me” in…
Two Rascals Rock (with Carmine Appice)
One of the great underrated American bands of the 1960s is the Rascals, purveyors of a soulful brand of East Coast that provided a few hits that everybody knows and…
Aretha Franklin’s ‘Amazing Grace’
Here's something I wrote in May, 1999, upon the reissue of the 1972 "Amazing Grace" album by Aretha Franklin, who died Thursday at 76. It should have been the…
Friday TV: Groenig’s New ‘Disenchantment’
As father of the longest running scripted prime time TV show, ’The Simpsons,” Matt Groenig has also lent his sensibility to “Futurama,” which lasted seven seasons all told. Now he…
Remembering Aretha Franklin, 1942-2018
The decline and hospice of Aretha Franklin over the past days still didn’t prepare for the loss of her death Thursday at 76. For decades the undisputed Queen of Soul,…