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Comedy

Survivor’s Remorse — LeBron James and “Glee’s” Mike O’Malley team up on Starz

Survivor’s Remorse Starz Premieres: Oct. 4 Airs: Saturdays at 9pm Who’s In It? Jessie T. Usher, RonReaco Lee, Erica Ash, Teyonah Parris Starz’ new six-episode laugher about the personal and professional travails of young Boston basketball standout Cam Calloway (Usher) — whose multimillion-dollar pro contract is his family’s ticket out of poverty and into a fresh set of problems — is executive produced by the sports-meets-entertainment dream team of LeBron James, his business partner Maverick Carter, sitcom guru and Boston Red Sox chairman Tom Werner (The Cosby Show, Roseanne) and Glee’s Mike O’Malley, himself a Boston native. “Ever since I […]

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Music

PBS special commemorates “The Star-Spangled Banner” bicentennial

The valiant defense of Fort McHenry on the night of Sept. 13, 1814, during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812 inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The song eventually was declared the national anthem of the United States by Congress in 1931. In commemoration of 200 years of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” PBS will air a live, two-hour broadcast featuring various performances of patriotic tunes — including, of course, America’s national anthem. John Lithgow (pictured) hosts the event, held at Pier Six Pavilion in Baltimore, and is joined by co-host Jordin Sparks. The concert, called […]

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Sports

Tim Tebow joins “Good Morning America”

It’s Tebow Time for ABC’s Good Morning America. The network announced today that former NFL quarterback and Heisman Trophy-winning college football star Tim Tebow will be adding a contributor role on GMA to his current and continuing roles as ESPN and SEC Network analyst (both those networks are also in the ABC-Disney family). ABC says that Tebow “will help launch GMA’s ‘Motivate Me Monday’ series, featuring individuals and their amazing stories of triumph. Tebow will appear in studio and live on location in towns across America with a wide-range of reports that motivate and inspire.” Tebow played professionally for the […]

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Comedy

Fall TV shows 2014: ABC’s “black-ish” is kinda funny-ish

ABC’s new comedy black-ish is about a wealthy black family in Los Angeles dealing with cultural and racial identities in America. Dre (Anthony Anderson) is an ad executive who gets a surprise when he’s promoted at the office. Meanwhile, Dre has a crisis when his 13-year-old son Andre Jr. (Marcus Scribner) wants a bar mitzvah. Tracee Ellis Ross and Laurence Fishburne also star. ALSO SEE: New fall 2014 TV shows by genre black-ish ABC Premieres: Sept. 24 Airs: Wednesdays at 9:30pm ET/PT Who’s In It? Anthony Anderson, Tracee Ellis Ross, Yara Shahidi, Marcus Scribner, Laurence Fishburne What’s It All About? […]

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Drama

Holy origin story, Batman!: FOX’s “Gotham” tops 2014 TV dramas

FOX’s stylish crime series Gotham is more than just a Batman origin saga — it’s the story of rookie detective James Gordon (Ben McKenzie) and his struggle against the tide of crime and corruption that threatens to consume Gotham City. It’s also the story of how The Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor), The Riddler (Cory Michael Smith), Catwoman (Camren Bicondova) and others emerged as criminal masterminds. Donal Logue and Jada Pinkett Smith also star. ALSO SEE: Fall TV Preview 2014 new shows by genre Gotham FOX Premieres: Sept. 22 Airs: Mondays at 8pm ET/PT Who’s In It? Ben McKenzie, Donal Logue, […]

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Family

Farm Queens preview: Great American Country takes pageant girls from stage to stable

Everything you need to know about the premise of Great American Country’s new Farm Queens is handily summed up by beauty queen turned pageant coach Juliann Sheldon in Sunday’s premiere episode: “If you can survive almost getting peed on by a cow, you can survive pageant week.” She should know. Sheldon, Miss Pennsylvania of 2011, is a veteran of longtime pageant coach (and 30-year Miss Pennsylvania pageant director) Chet Welch’s tiaras-meets-tractors beauty-queen boot camp, held on the 102-acre rural cattle farm he shares with his life partner Bob. That’s right, those of you long weary of Toddlers & Tiaras frivolity […]

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Talk Show

Barbra Streisand to appear on “The Tonight Show” for first late-night guest appearance in decades

Legendary singer Barbra Streisand will be making her first late-night talk show appearance as a guest in over 50 years, according to NBC, when she appears on the network’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Sept. 15. Streisand will be the only featured guest on that night’s show, which a release says will be “a night of talk, comedy and performance to celebrate the upcoming release of her new album Partners.” Streisand’s new Partners album will be released the day after her Tonight Show appearance, on Sept. 16. The album features 12 new duets with famous male vocalists, including […]

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Documentary

“The Roosevelts” is another winning documentary from Ken Burns

Ken Burns’ latest historical documentary (and certainly not the last; he said at a recent press conference that he is working on seven other films right now) is, according to Burns and collaborator Geoffrey C. Ward, the first project to intertwine the stories of Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt into one family history. The 14-hour film spans the years from 1858 (Teddy Roosevelt’s birth) to 1962 (Eleanor Roosevelt’s death), and airs seven consecutive nights. “Half [our] films have touched upon the Roosevelts, and for as long as we’ve worked together,” Burns told reporters, about how he and […]

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Drama

The Affair: Showtime’s irresistible drama puts infidelity in complex perspective

The Affair Showtime Premieres: Oct. 19 Airs: Sundays at 10pm Who’s In It?  Maura Tierney, Dominic West, Ruth Wilson, Joshua Jackson (below) If you’ve ever shared a long-ago memory with a friend and discovered you each recall the same event in vastly different ways, you’ll recognize the fragile skeleton on which this exquisite drama — from House of Cards executive producer Sarah Treem — is built. At its most basic, The Affair tracks the cause and effect of an extramarital affair between author/schoolteacher Noah (The Wire’s West) and throaty-voiced, sleepy-eyed waitress Alison (a stunning Wilson) — a relationship that somehow […]

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Lifestyle

Say Yes to the Dress Season 12: TLC reveals details, celeb guests

Famous faces abound when TLC’s longest running primetime series, Say Yes to the Dress, launches its 12th season on Friday, Oct. 10 at 9/8CT with the show’s first ever hour-long episode. In the season opener, former Biggest Loser contestant Tumi Oguntala — who dropped 175 pounds— is also a winner at love, arriving at New York’s Kleinfled Bridal salon to find the perfect gown to flatter her new figure at her upcoming wedding.  Oguntala gets an additional, very special consultant in the form of her former Biggest Loser coach Jillian Michaels, who arrives with plenty of surprises in store for […]