Friday TV: Lurie’s ‘Painting with John’
John Lurie, the hangdog musician, artist and occasional actor (“Stranger Than Paradise”) has reached a kind of Zen plateau at 68, painstakingly working on paintings as he serves up philosophy…
Thursday TV: A New ‘Walker,’ Texas Ranger
With scarcely a break after “Supernatural” ended its 15-season run, Jared Padalecki returns to the grateful network as “Walker” (CW, 8 p.m.). He shares only the name with Chuck Norris’…
Other Things I’ve Written Lately
Here are some other things I've written lately: A long Q&A with Richard Hell for The Vinyl District.A story marking the 50th anniversary of TV's "All in the Family" for…
Wednesday TV: Celebrating the Inaugural
America’s course changes today on Inauguration Day (CNN, CSPAN, BBC World News, 7 a.m.; ABC, CBS, MSNBC, 9 a.m.; NBC, 10 p.m.; PBS, 10:30 a.m.; Fox News, 11 a.m.). Coverage…
Tuesday: The Crimes of Early ’60s Perth
It seems at first another true crime story. But the four-part “The Night Caller” (Sundance Now, streaming) is unusual because it takes place in Perth, Australia, and occurred nearly 60…
Film: ‘Donna: Stronger Than Pretty’
You can tell the title character of “Donna: Stronger Than Pretty” is making the wrong choice when she first lays eyes on Nick at the bar, fresh out of a…
Monday TV: The Black Experience on Film
Turner Classic Movies marks Martin Luther King Day with a slew of documentaries on the Black experience, starting with with “You Got to Move: Stories of Change in the South”…
Sunday TV: New Victorian Era Detective
A woman tries to establish herself as a detective in Victorian England in the new six-part series “Miss Scarlet & The Duke” (PBS, 8 p.m., check local listings), starring Kate…
Saturday TV: John Ford’s ‘The Searchers’
John Ford’s 1954 classic “The Searchers” (TCM, 8 p.m.) with John Wayne and Natalie Wood, is listed as one of the greatest American films that too few have seen. Turner…
Friday TV: Imagining a Memorable Night
Regina King’s new film recreates a memorable evening that took place in 1964, when after Cassius Clay’s defeat of Sonny Liston, he partied with his pals Malcolm X, Sam Cooke…