Results tagged “davidbianculli”

Tonight at 9PM, The Sopranos will air its final episode on HBO. It marks six seasons over eight years where viewers got to know NJ mob boss Tony Soprano, his blood family and his mob family. Creator David Chase filled each episode with enough angst, passion, violence, and intensity to make pretty much anything else on TV seem half-hearted. As we approach the final hours before we say good bye to Tony, Carm, Paulie and everyone else who remains, we wonder what you think:

Last night, Katie Couric made her CBS Evening News debut. Overall, the newscast was perfectly fine - no banter, a long Lara Logan feature on going in Taliban-run Afghanistatn, an interview (sorta like The Daily Show, just without the humor) with the NY Times' Thomas L. Friedman, a segment from Morgan "30 Days" Spurlock, and what the public has really been waiting for, pictures of baby Suri Cruise (she has a crazy head of hair!). Sure, people tuned in for last night's broadcast, but will they tune in every day? Are you going to watch? And are you going to help Katie pick a sign-off?

Artie, who knew? Actor John Ventimiglia who plays tortured Vesuvio chef-owner Artie Bucco on The Sopranos was pulled over for a DWI and drug possession in Park Slope! The Post says the police pulled him over when they "spotted him with his headlights off and weaving in and out of the oncoming traffic lane on Seventh Avenue in Park Slope at around 1AM," and Ventimiglia admitted to having four glasses of wine in Manhattan before driving; later he claimed he had been drinking in LIC, and that he had been driving to find a parking spot. Oh, finding a parking spot in Park Slope sucks. But does that explain the Ziploc bag "with cocaine residue" found in his pocket? Ouch! Ventimiglia was arraigned on Monday; he was featured prominently in the second most recent episode, where he managed to put the hurt on Benny (who would have guessed that?) and show off his poor employee-relations skills. We've liked his understated narration in Personal Velocity.

Tonight is the last episode of NYPD Blue. Once upon a time, NYPD Blue was known as the "other cop show" against fellow newbie (it had been one season) Law & Order, but quickly, NYPD Blue emerged as a sadder, more complicated, and even more intimate companion to creator Steven Bochco's Hill Street Blues. Gothamist had watched NYPD Blue in the early days, from David Caruso's naked butt to Jimmy Smits (always Victor Sifuentes in our hearts, but a great Bobby Simone), from Rick Schroeder to Zack Attack. But, as most people can acknowledge, the messy heart of the show was Dennis Franz, possibly the best casting for a city detective this side of Jerry Orbach, who endured Job-like situations. Gothamist had wondered about NYPD Blue's endurance, because we stopped watching a couple years ago; the Daily News' David Bianculli make a very good point that other "groundbreaking" shows started to emerge in 1998, like The Sopranos and Oz. Gothamist could never get over NYPD Blue filming in L.A. (the streets on the show were way too clean), but we did enjoy it very much. Tonight's finale airs at 10PM, but there's a special tribute show at 9PM hosted by Jimmy Smits.

The reviews are out, and Chris Rock is getting a mixed bag of feedback for his duties as the MC of the Oscars. The NY Daily News' David Bianculli says he wasn't edgy or funny enough, Variety says his opening monologue was great (subscription required), the Hollywood Reporter says that Rock wasn't on a roll, and the Washington Post's Tom Shales says Rock was strangely lame and mean-spirited. Gothamist wonders if there's a generational divide between the reviewers, because we thought Rock was the best thing about the Oscars. It's like some of these reviewers weren't familiar with Rock's material before. At least Tim Robbins (left, photo AP), whom Chris Rock made fun of, could take a joke ... we think. As for the show, sure, it seemed to move quickly and was "well-produced," and, yes, we were happy certain people won, but since there wasn't much enthusiasm for any one nominee, the whole show was boring. And Gothamist doesn't care what Gil Cates's "producer's blog" says!

Carter reports on the TV business for the NY Times and wrote a book about the Leno-Letterman fight, The Late Shift. In our opinion, it's the best book about issues in current state of television - money, talent, and ego. And in today's paper, Carter analyzes the decision to give Leno a five year good-bye. The NY Daily News' TV critic, David Bianculli, who had complained about NBC giving the Tonight Show's 50th Birthday the short shrift the day before, thinks that NBC made the right decision. And after the jump, NBC's press release of Conan's statement last night:

Frontline's own site for sacred ground will go up after the show airs - we look forward to the page on Libeskind's and Childs's respective design philosophies. And Curbed notes how NY Times critic Nicolai Ouroussoff thinks New York City will be "Totally New" after certain buildings are built.

For our money, we're enjoying the pictures of Ron Reagan, who interviewed Michael Moore, taking the future of America on a pub crawl, via MSNBC's Hardblogger. Gothamist is sure someone is live-blogging the convention. Also, since Gothamist thinks it's going to be a little slow in NY, news-wise, for the next month, as everyone gears up for the Republican National Convention, so expect more posts on animals!

Everyday People was written and directed by Jim McKay, who also made the fantastic Girls Town about three young female juvenile delinquents.

The new line-up also includes a boxing reality show (zzzz), a show starring Melissa Etheridge's wife, the Americano version of The Office, a sitcom with John Cho (starred in Better Luck Tomorrow but is better known as one of the MILF guys from American Pie), and a show called Medical Investigations with a young and sexy cast but it just sounds like Diagnosis Murder to us. And while Friends spin-off Joey seems dubious (in spite of the good buzz NBC is trying to "leak"), we must give NBC's marketing department for releasing this photo from the show, to help American think "Well, it's Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani - and there will be hot girls in a tight clothes - we're on board!" Actually, NBC showed an entire episode of Joey, which surprised the Daily News' David Bianculli with how good it was; apparently Drea de Matteo, as Joey's sister, makes him feels her boob job. Even if it's good, it's going to be a long fall. But in the good news, Scrubs was renewed for another two seasons, and there's a new drama, LAX, starring Heather Locklear. For that, Gothamist is thankful, because TV without Heather Locklear just doesn't seem like TV.

Jennifer at Daily Gusto mentioned the recent New Yorker profile of L'Engle, which helped explain a little about L'Engle's personality, and also felt she'd stay away from the movie, to preserve her imagination vision of Meg Murry. The Daily News' David Bianculli likes the TV Movie but hates the timelot: "But if you want to watch a TV adaptation of a children's classic that treats its subject seriously, reverently and almost mythically, here it comes - poorly scheduled or not."

No, not really. The AP promptly covers the finale's details. The best quote comes from Ellen DeGeneres: ".'"

The Daily News' David Bianculli doesn't even give "Call Me" any stars: "...one of the least sexy films ever made about the world's oldest profession." And the Post's Linda Stasi rips the movie a new one: "Horrible script, horrible acting, horrible direction. Horrible period." Damn it, Gothamist will definitely have to watch tonight. Only if the Law & Orders on TNT are ones we've seen six times before, though.

- Carrie strutting down the street, wearing some combination of fur, lame, and heels that was a little George Clinton-esque, checking her sequin-covered cellphone to see that Big, apparently named "John," was calling.

Variety's Todd McCarthy: "Fully capturing the grandeur, extravagance, urgency, poetry and humor of the produced play, the savvy veteran director [Nichols]has brought out an elemental dimension of emotional melodrama that makes the piece compulsive screen fare without subtracting one bit from its status as great theater."

Gothamist like military night vision home video fine, but we think we might like Paris Hilton's actual upcoming Fox television program, The Simple Life, with Nicole Richie better, if the Daily News' David Bianculli's review is any indication: "If you're looking for entertaining television, look no further. I don't know what her sex tape makes her look like, but 'The Simple Life' makes her look like an idiot." Brilliant!

One word: Boring. Okay, maybe seeing Edie Falco and Stanley Tucci together is cute, and we liked that Fred Rogers got two shout-outs, but come on - Doris Roberts for the third year in a row? Tyne Daly again? Gothamist spent our childhood watching Tyne Daly rack up FOUR Emmys for Cagney and Lacey - hey, Television Academy, she's talented, but spread the love. This is why no one cares about the Emmys, when Frasier or Kelsey Grammer wins year after year. John Larroquette won four Emmys in a row for Night Court - his randy D.A. Dan Fielding was funny, but not THAT funny. Ugh, we were right when the nominations came out earlier this summer: We weren't happy while watching.

Tonight marks the premiere of Comedy Central's new show, I'm With Busey, where a Busey fan hangs with Gary Busey. Phil Gallo of Variety says it might be addicting:

Jake's favorite Channel 11 reporter (possibly favorite reporter of all time), Toni Senecal, is hosting a program about Broadway theater tonight on at 7PM on Channel 11. We expect Jake to set the TiVo about 1.4 seconds after reading this, tripping over his skates in his excitement to reach the TiVo control.

Victorian lesbians make it here tomorrow night with the premiere of Tipping the Velvet at 10PM on BBC America. The Post's Linda Stasi thinks it's funny that television doesn't know what to do with women...who kiss...each other... and think the TV drama is great. David Bianculli loves it, too. Gothamist knew to look forward to BBC America's airing of Tipping, thanks to Dahl.

Law & Order turns 300 tonight, and over the past few years and after successfully extending the brand, everyone has been tripping over themselves to explain exactly why Law & Order been so successful. The Los Angeles Times has a pretty comprehensive piece about its staying power. Brian Lowry's gives Gothamist interesting observations, like how L&O subverted the movie-of-the-week genre and a subhead that says, "The by-the-book crime show has undermined TV movies, figured out the perfect series formula (stories, not stars) and succeeded with spinoffs. This is its story. Chung-chung." A companion LA Times piece outlines Law & Order's history of actors and story arc.

Tonight we say good-bye to Buffy Summers, Xander Harris, Willow Rosenberg, Rupert Giles, Dawn Summers, Anya Jenkins and Spike. We'll have many memories.

Tom Fontana on TV
Tom Fontana (St. Elsewhere, Homicide, Oz) spoke at the IFP From Script to Screen Conference and Gothamist listened.

This positive review for NBC's "Mr. Sterling" from David Bianculli of the Daily News surprised me, because I've found Josh Brolin pretty wooden. A reviewer likened his looks to being "Cro-Magnon" which aplies to his acting, too, except in Flirting with Disaster. He should play gay federal agents more often. Though my fingers are crossed because it also stars Audra McDonald, the luminous Broadway actress, I don't know if I can actually bring myself to watch it.

This review of The Sopranos season finale is interesting, because the critic thinks Meadow kills herself. NY Daily News - Entertainment - David Bianculli: Season's end a shot in the heart I think she's very upset, but she seems too important to be dead next season.