Television

Television critic David Bianculli reviews the season premiere of "Beauty and the Beast."

Tom Shales, Pulitzer Prize-winning television critic for the Washington Post. He has a new collection of essays, "Legends: Remembering America's Greatest Stars," which takes a look at such stars as Jackie Gleason, Bing Crosby, Natalie Wood, and Gilda Radner.

Commentator Laurie Stone reviews Home Box Office's "Comedy Channel." The channel is the brainchild of Eddie Gorodetsky.

Television critic David Bianculli considers the networks' penchant for the docudrama and looks at NBC's upcoming movie, "Howard Beach: Making the Case for Murder."

Television critic David Bianculli reviews "The Neon Empire" a new mini-series on Showtime which stars Martin Landau, Gary Busey, and Ray Sharkey. It follows in the footsteps of NBC's belated "Crime Story."

Television critic David Bianculli reviews "Girltalk." It's a documentary that explores the lives of several women...all of them runaways, many of them from abusive homes. The program airs as part of Public Television's series, "P.O.V." (That's short for point of view).

Television critic David Bianculli reviews two new miniseries--"A Tale of Two Cities" by Dickens, and "Till We Meet Again" by Judith Krantz.

This week marks the 10th anniversary of ABC's "Nightline," and television critic David Bianculli examines how the show went from a special on the hostage crisis to one of the most important programs in broadcast journalism.

Television critic David Bianculli previews "Cross of Fire," a four-hour NBC miniseries based on true events in the 1920s, when a charismatic leader of the Ku Klux Klan came to power in Indiana.

Critic at large Laurie Stone reviews comic Billy Crystal's new HBO special, "Midnight Train to Moscow." The premise is that Crystal has been invited to be the first American stand-up artist to perform in the Soviet Union. In addition to his act, there are cameo appearances by a flock of Crystal characters.