David Bianculli
Stories
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'The Rehearsal' feels more surprising than ever as it returns for Season 2
The Max show uses actors and real people to stage elaborate recreations and imaginings of events. It's like a mystery tour, because you aren't given any clues about the final destination.
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'Black Mirror' remains a thought-provoking treasure in its 7th season
Netflix's near-future anthology series draws on classic film/TV for inspiration but its strongest episode, "Common People," takes on subscription tiers in a chilling way.
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Michelle Williams is brilliantly comic -- and tragic -- in Hulu's 'Dying for Sex'
A long-married woman with terminal cancer leaves her husband and embarks on a quest for sexual satisfaction in a miniseries that's so real and so raw it's likely to make you both laugh and cry.
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In 'The Studio,' Seth Rogen offers a hilarious take on Hollywood filmmaking
An outstanding new Apple TV+ comedy series sends up Hollywood's movie-making machine. You don't have to be a movie lover to appreciate The Studio, but the more you know, the more you'll laugh.
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'Ludwig' captivates with a light-hearted story about a missing identical twin
When a police inspector goes missing, his identical twin assumes his identity in an effort to solve the disappearance. Ludwig is one of the most original takes on the TV mystery genre.
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'The Pitt' and 'Adolescence' offer a radical, real-time approach to TV storytelling
Each episode HBO's The Pitt presents an hour of a shift in a Pittsburgh ER, while each episode of Netflix's brilliant Adolescence considers the murder of a teenage girl from a different point of view.
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Robert De Niro stars as a former president confronting a cyber attack in 'Zero Day'
In Netflix's six-part political thriller, a crippling attack on American communications and infrastructure leads to abuse of power, political overreach and questionable decisions.
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Veteran performers shine in 'Planet Earth: Asia' and 'Star Trek: Section 31'
From grand and elusive creatures to small and bizarre ones, David Attenborough's BBC docuseries offers wonders in every frame. Michelle Yoeh plays an evil emperor in a new Star Trek made-for-TV movie.
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An estranged son returns as a daughter in Norman Lear's family comedy 'Clean Slate'
A new show from the late All in the Family producer centers on an Alabama widower and his trans daughter. Clean Slate delivers laughs and tenderness, courtesy of stars George Wallace and Laverne Cox.
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'Without Arrows' follows a tribe member's return to the Sioux reservation
The filmmakers of this emotionally powerful documentary followed Delwin Fiddler Jr. as he returned home to South Dakota after years in Philadelphia — then kept revisiting him for more than a decade.