Television

TV critic David Bianculli reviews this weekend's HBO miniseries, "Laurel Avenue," about a large working class African American family in St. Paul, Minnesota.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews the latest episode of the television documentary series, CBS Reports. This installment follows the famed Gulf War general as he returns to Vietnam for the first time in decades.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews "Late Night with David Letterman," at least as we know it. In August, the host moves his show to CBS.

Sharkey died on Friday from complications related to AIDS. We replay an excerpt from a 1988 interview with him.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews a new mystery-comedy series NBC seems eager to kill -- once called Smoldering Lust, it's now in a bad time slot with the title "Black-Tie Affair."

TV critic David Bianculli reviews the final episode of "Cheers," which airs tonight. He says that, after eleven years, the characters have become a part of our cultural vocabulary.

Former staff members on The Johnny Carson Show, Mike Huber and Barbara Bowen. They were, respectively, correspondent and co-correspondent for Carson and had the job of reading letters sent from fans and non-fans of the show. They collected the most memorable ones in the new book, "Dear Johnny."

Maureen Corrigan considers the implications of the addition of the Asian American woman journalist Connie Chung as co-anchor with Dan Rather on the Evening News.

Levine is an Emmy Award-winning screenwriter and has been head writer for two of television's greatest shows: MASH and Cheers. He trained himself to be a baseball announcer out of a childhood love for the game, and has written a new book about his season as a broadcaster for the Baltimore Orioles: "It's Gone!...No, Wait a Minute." He's now an announcer for the Seattle Mariners.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews "Wild Palms," the new series coming up on ABC. It's a futuristic drama produced by Oliver Stone.

Brown revolutionized cinematography with the the steadicam, skycam, and the mobicam. The steadicam is a camera-suspension system that eliminates the jiggle in hand-held shots. Brown's work with the steadicam can be seen in "Rocky," "The Shining," and "Return of the Jedi," among other films. The skycam is a suspended remote-controlled aerial camera, which gives the affect of putting the viewer in an airplane. The mobicam is for underwater shots, and has been used in the Olympics.

Belushi is starring in the upcoming ABC series, "Wild Palms," produced by Oliver Stone. It's a thriller set in the future. Belushi plays a television executive caught up in the computer-generated world of illusion that his network broadcasts. Belushi is the brother of the late John Belushi.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews three new specials: "The Return of Ironside," on NBC; "The Beatles Songbook," on PBS; and HBO's documentary on the making of the sequel to the comedy film, "Hot Shots," which parodies the documentary about the making of Apocalypse Now.

Among his many roles in entertainment, Shearer is also one of the creators of and performers in the mock-rock group Spinal Tap. He also does several voices on "The Simpsons." Shearer has a new book of the columns he wrote for the Los Angeles Times Magazine. He'll also be appearing tomorrow at The Museum of Television & Radio in New York City, to talk about his work on "Saturday Night Live" and his syndicated radio program, "Le Show."

TV critic David Bianculli reviews the television news coverage of the WACO standoff and disaster, which sometimes featured harrowing interviews with the relatives of Branch Davidians while the cult's compound burned.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews "Dudley," the new sitcom starring Dudley Moore.

Palin is best known for his comedy work with England's legendary Monty Python troupe. But his new movie, "American Friends," is a romance based on the life of his great-grandfather. Edward Palin was a 35 year-old tutor at Oxford University when he met 17-year-old Brita, an American girl touring Europe. Oxford tutors in the Victorian era were sworn to chastity, so Edward Palin left his job to marry Brita. Michael Palin found the story in his great-grandfather's journal.

Larson got his start playing Jimmy Olsen, the cub-reporter on the original "Superman" TV show. One of his poems, "The Relativity of Icarus," was part of a Joffrey Ballet." He's also written a couple of versed plays, "The Candied House," and "Cherry, Larry, Sandy, Doris, Jean, Paul."

TV critic David Bianculli reviews the second TV movie about the Texas mother who wanted to secure her daughter's place on the cheer leading squad by conspiring to kill a rival student and her mother. This one is on HBO, called "The Positively True Adentures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader Murdering Mom."

TV critic David Bianculli reviews "Good Advice," the new sitcom that stars Shelley Long portraying a character similar to Diane, who she played in "Cheers."