In “Behind the Candelabra” (Sunday, 8 p.m.), HBO assembles high-quality artists to tell the story of a low-quality one: the glitzy piano player Liberace. Steven Soderbergh directs, Michael Douglas camps it up as the inexplicably popular musician, and Matt Damon throws himself into the role of Scott, Liberace’s boy toy
Read More →‘The Goodwin Games’ pits family members against each other In Fox’s promising sitcom “The Goodwin Games” (Monday, 7:30 p.m.), three estranged siblings reunite after their father (Beau Bridges) dies only to learn that he has set up a series of competitions to determine which one of them will win his
Read More →Christopher Guest brings his patented style to HBO’s ‘Family Tree’ Christopher Guest earned a place in my pantheon by pioneering the mockumentary with his script for 1984’s “This Is Spinal Tap.” Since then, as a writer-director, he’s perfected the style in one big-screen gem after another: “Waiting for Guffman,” “Best
Read More →A teenager films himself in ‘Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous’ Viral-video star Bo Burnham is well cast as a would-be viral-video star in “Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous” (Thursday, 9:30 p.m., MTV). He plays Zach Stone, a motormouth high school dork obsessed with his post-graduation plan: making a
Read More →‘American Idol’ emphasizes silliness over singing The “American Idol” season is heading into its final stretch (Wednesday and Thursday, 7 p.m., Fox), but it’s not the must-see TV of yore. Ratings are dropping, rival singing competitions are coming on strong, and the last half-dozen winners have been nondescript. We’ve been
Read More →‘All the President’s Men Revisited’ takes a fresh look at the Watergate scandal You couldn’t ask for a better reevaluation of the Watergate scandal than “All the President’s Men Revisited” (Sunday, 8 pm, Discovery). Robert Redford narrates the story of President Richard Nixon’s downfall, drawing on interviews with the journalists
Read More →Alien races try to coexist in the post-apocalyptic ‘Defiance’ Syfy boasts that “Defiance” marks the first conversion of TV and online gaming. The drama will unfold as both a series and a multiplatform videogame, with connections between the two mediums. That’s an intriguing gimmick — but luckily there’s nothing gimmicky
Read More →A new sitcom explains ‘How to Live With Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life)’ “How to Live With Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life)” (Wednesday, 8:30 p.m., ABC) is the rare sitcom where everyone in the cast is a great comedian, down to the child actor.
Read More →‘Crypt Collectors’ takes reality TV six feet under It seems no one is safe from the woes of economic turmoil. And as it often goes in Hollywood, if there’s a devastating plight out there, some TV show producer is ready to exploit it. Now not even the dead can rest
Read More →‘Phil Spector’ tries to humanize the notorious music producer “Phil Spector” (Sunday, 8 p.m., HBO) has a startling premise: that the freaky music producer might be a human being. Against the backdrop of his 2007 trial for murder, writer-director David Mamet tries to figure out what makes Spector tick. The
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