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May Sweeps Go Out With a Twang

Posted on 05/19/2013 by | AARP Blog Author | Comments

EntertainmentThis year’s May sweeps end Wednesday night — and the schedule over these final four days is a veritable dessert cart of TV goodness. Tomorrow night (5/20), there’s the delectable “Mel Brooks: Make a Noise” offered by PBS’s American Masters. Also tomorrow night: the final performance show of this season’s Dancing With the Stars, with the results show coming up Tuesday night. And y’all had better hold on tight for the season finale of ABC’s Nashville on Wednesday (5/22). One of …

‘American Idol’ Finale Must-See Viewing

Posted on 05/12/2013 by | AARP Blog Author | Comments

EntertainmentYes, I did compare Randy Jackson’s yo-yo-yo dawg-dawg-dawg repetitiveness to Barney the Dinosaur a few weeks ago in terms of things I simply cannot bear to watch anymore.  But now he’s leaving “American Idol” and I feel kind of bad.  It’s the end of an era – and all the more reason that this week’s season finale Wednesday and Thursday is must-see territory. The worst is behind us – not only Randy’s tired catch phrases, but also Nicki Minaj’s endless …

Get Ready For Cliffhangers as TV Season Ends

Posted on 05/5/2013 by | AARP Blog Author | Comments

EntertainmentThe broadcast networks’ season is coming to an end, and series showrunners are hell-bent to leave us wanting more.  The next two weeks we will see stunt casting, cliff-hangers and plot twists enough to lure even the most casual viewer to the tube.  Here are seven we want to see: 1.  Laura San Giacomo guests on tonight’s (5/5) The Mentalist season finale, which returns to Patrick Jane’s (Simon Baker) quest to find Red John, the serial killer who murdered his family.  He …

Bob Newhart Is a Hit on ‘Big Bang Theory’

Posted on 04/27/2013 by | AARP Blog Author | Comments

EntertainmentBob Newhart’s fans have been waiting for this one — his first appearance on The Big Bang Theory Thursday night (May 2).  Duly promoted as befits a sweeps-sized casting coup, Newhart has come aboard TV’s highest-rated sitcom for at least three episodes, playing a “Mr. Wizard”- style kiddie science show host who’s a childhood idol of Sheldon (Jim Parsons) and Leonard (Johnny Galecki).  When Sheldon learns that “Professor Proton” is available for appearances, he giddily books him for an engagement at …

Alan Alda Talks Life, Death and ‘The Big C’

Posted on 04/23/2013 by | AARP Blog Author | Comments

EntertainmentAlan Alda is uncomfortable with the word “Legacy.”  “It’s always sounded like some kind of monument you want to leave for yourself,” he says with a tinge of sarcasm. At 77, the actor-writer-director-author and science enthusiast prefers to apply simpler terms to his efforts to leave a mark on the world.  “I like to think of it more like planting a tree rather than making something that I’m remembered for.  What I’d really like to do is leave something that’s …

Laura Linney’s ‘Big C’ Prepares to Say Goodbye

Posted on 04/21/2013 by | AARP Blog Author | Comments

EntertainmentFor the past three seasons of Showtime’s The Big C, Laura Linney’s cancer-stricken character, Cathy Jamison, has gone through three stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining.  In the season that launches April 29, subtitled “Hereafter,” Cathy will reach the stage of acceptance.  This is a different kind of a season – with four two-hour episodes they’re calling a “limited series event.” Fans of the under-appreciated series will not be surprised that despite these ominous signs, there is a lot …

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