stacyjenelsmith

Biography: Stacy co-authors America's longest continually-running Hollywood column with Marilyn Beck. It can be found at http://becksmithhollywood.com

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stacyjenelsmith 'sPosts

Good TV This Week: Remembering Johnny Carson

Posted on 05/13/2012 by stacyjenelsmith | AARP Blog Author | Comments

EntertainmentIn “Johnny Carson: King of Late Night,” the PBS American Masters documentary airing tomorrow night (5/14), the “Tonight Show” host is referred to as an American Sphinx – right there before our eyes, yet enigmatic. Director Peter Jones shines a light on the more mysterious aspects of Carson’s life – the mother he could never please, the sons he felt he’d shortchanged, the wives who took a back seat to his career – in this special pegged to the 50th …

Good TV This Week: At Long Last, Castle and Beckett

Posted on 05/6/2012 by stacyjenelsmith | AARP Blog Author | Comments

EntertainmentWe’ve been waiting four seasons for our favorite roguish mystery novelist, Rick Castle, and his captivating muse, Detective Kate Beckett, to get together already! Finally, unless the promos and teaser clips are diabolically misleading, tomorrow night’s (May 7) episode is the one. “Castle and Beckett have spent a lot of time not talking about certain things, but in this episode they put all their cards on the table,” is how show creator Andrew Marlowe put it, talking to AARP.org. “And …

Good TV This Week: ‘The Good Wife’ Season Finale

Posted on 04/29/2012 by stacyjenelsmith | AARP Blog Author | Comments

EntertainmentSeason finale time is a bittersweet time for fans of Julianna Margulies’ “The Good Wife” — bitter, because one of the smartest and most brilliantly-performed dramas on the air is about to take a few months’ respite, and sweet because of the promise of a banquet of TV deliciousness. Tonight’s (4/29) episode brings in a pair of ace guest stars, Michael J. Fox as tricky Louis Canning and Martha Plimpton as snarky Patti Nyholm, uniting to bankrupt the Lockhart Gardner …

Good TV This Week: ‘Blue Bloods’ Pumped Up

Posted on 04/22/2012 by stacyjenelsmith | AARP Blog Author | Comments

EntertainmentThere was a festive feeling among the “Blue Bloods” company Monday as the team completed production of its second season. The creative changes and behind-the-scenes drama of Season 1 are distant memories. Last month, the show about an Irish-American family full of New York City cops — a Grownup TV favorite from the start — won early renewal for Season 3. The writers love that, according to Len Cariou, who plays patriarch Henry Reagan. “They’ve got a head start, if …

Good TV This Week: Julia Louis-Dreyfus Returns to the Tube

Posted on 04/16/2012 by stacyjenelsmith | AARP Blog Author | Comments

EntertainmentOnce you see Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ new HBO “Veep” black comedy, it’s a little unsettling to think that, as reported in the New York Times, she talked to the likes of Al Gore and Al Franken and real-life chiefs of staff and speechwriters to help get ready for her role as Vice President Selina Meyer. One hopes that authenticity is not the the order of the day here. “Veep” has been dubbed “the anti-’West Wing’” for good reason. Meyer and her …

Good TV This Week: Bargaining With Laura Linney

Posted on 04/8/2012 by stacyjenelsmith | AARP Blog Author | Comments

EntertainmentIf you haven’t yet seen Laura Linney’s “The Big C,” this would be a good time to sample the audacious dark comedy that, over its first two seasons, made viewers laugh out loud and cry cathartic tears. Showtime launches the series’ third season tonight (4/8) (along with new seasons of its “Nurse Jackie” and “The Borgias”), accompanied by free viewings of the premiere episode on the internet. Linney’s cancer-stricken character, Cathy Jamison, gets some good news from her oncologist (Alan …