Tuesday, January 26, 2016
A loving tribute presented largely in his own words, the “American Masters” documentary “Mike Nichols” is directed by his one-time collaborator Elaine May, and drawn extensively from…
SOURCE: Variety at 11:44AMFriday, December 4, 2015
That 1975 Tony award notwithstanding, “The Wiz” isn’t among the greatest of musicals, but practically speaking, it was certainly a shrewd choice for NBC’s third annual live extravaga…
SOURCE: Variety at 12:07AMThursday, October 22, 2015
At the risk of mixing franchises, “Star Wars” looks destined to be the hammer Disney wields to synergistically bolster fortunes across its far-flung empire during the build-up to its l…
SOURCE: Variety at 05:42PMWednesday, April 1, 2015
Anchored by Mark Rylance’s towering central performance, “Wolf Hall” is a very quiet “Masterpiece,” visiting the court of King Henry VIII minus the perfume and airbrushing associat…
SOURCE: Variety at 10:30AMSaturday, March 21, 2015
Let’s face it, “Glee” has been running on fumes for several seasons, making its two-hour finale more a subject of curiosity than the emotional event it would have been except for the h…
SOURCE: Variety at 02:09AMThursday, March 12, 2015
The New York Times recently acknowledged that its media coverage is “in flux,” which betrays a gift for understatement. Not only did year-end buyouts claim some of its most experienced h…
SOURCE: Variety at 01:00PMSunday, February 22, 2015
Neil Patrick Harris brought an obvious bag of tricks to his role as Oscar host, and his opening number took clever advantage of talents he has showcased in stints emceeing the Tonys and Emmy…
SOURCE: Variety at 09:09PMMonday, December 15, 2014
Using stop-motion animation to cleverly create the feel of a holiday-special throwback, “Elf: Buddy’s Musical Christmas” — derived from the Will Ferrell movie and subsequent musical …
SOURCE: Variety at 10:15AMFriday, December 5, 2014
About 10 minutes after the ratings for “The Sound of Music Live!” rumbled in, I (and no doubt a lot of others) immediately thought “Peter Pan.” Not because that music…
SOURCE: Variety at 02:22AMSunday, March 2, 2014
Ellen DeGeneres did not sing a song about seeing actresses’ boobs on screen, which, after last year’s Seth MacFarlane skit, represents some sort of progress. Everything else abou…
SOURCE: Variety at 09:00PMWednesday, February 12, 2014
Sid Caesar can be judged, in part, by the company he kept. As the star of “Your Show of Shows,” he famously provided a spawning ground for numerous titans of comedy, with a writing staff…
SOURCE: Variety at 08:16PMMonday, January 27, 2014
Jay Leno is doing all he can to endorse Jimmy Fallon as his heir, as NBC seeks to engineer a smoother-than-usual “The Tonight Show” handoff. Yet in an interview with Variety, Leno stress…
SOURCE: Variety at 05:26PMSunday, January 12, 2014
Without declaring victory after just one night, Harry Connick Jr. has almost single-handedly brought a sense of fun back to “American Idol.” Whether spoofing his lack of celebrity relati…
SOURCE: Variety at 10:30AMFriday, December 6, 2013
Reading about Kevin Spacey returning in “House of Cards,” watching Jonathan Banks breaking bones on “Breaking Bad” and Steven Bauer in “Ray Donovan,” and seeing Stanley Tucci ste…
SOURCE: Variety at 10:35AMIt’s a long way back to Mary Martin as Peter Pan, but the notion of a live TV musical — with all the inherent risk that entails — still contains more than a little magic. S…
SOURCE: Variety at 02:28AMThursday, December 5, 2013
Affixed with an unnecessary gimmick, “Six by Sondheim” is a loving ode to the composer by director James Lapine — part biography, part detailed examination of the roots of Sondheim’s…
SOURCE: Variety at 10:00AMFriday, August 16, 2013
There were media naysayers who acted like Comedy Central was crazy letting Jon Stewart take the summer off to go direct a movie, tapping correspondent John Oliver to fill in for him. “…
SOURCE: Variety at 02:36AMWednesday, June 19, 2013
In a different, pre-HBO world, James Gandolfini the TV star never would have happened. Fox wanted Anthony LaPaglia for the lead role when they were developing “The Sopranos,” and it’s …
SOURCE: Variety at 08:29PM 
