David Bianculli

Fresh Air's TV critic previews a new series, a new special and a season premiere — all on HBO this weekend. They are, respectively:

Tell Me You Love Me, about a therapist and the couples she counsels
Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq, in which Sopranos star James Gandolfini (the special's executive producer) interviews 10 injured war vets
Curb Your Enthusiasm, which begins its sixth season.

With the rise of the TV-series box set, more shows are earning fans who devour episodes one after another. Fresh Air TV critic David Bianculli reviews two newly released sets: the debut seasons of Heroes and Friday Night Lights. The former is a seven-disc set packed with deleted scenes and the unaired original pilot; the Friday Night Lights set includes deleted episodes and a making-of featurette.

Our TV critic reviews High School Musical 2, the sequel to the wildly popular teen musical. It stars Zac Efron and premieres on the Disney Channel tonight.

Fresh Air's TV critic reviews the new Showtime dramedy Californication. The show stars X-Files veteran David Duchovny as a charming, jaded rogue of a writer trapped in a Hollywood identity crisis. The studios have turned his dark novel into a romantic comedy, but that's hardly the worst of it. He's still hung up on his ex — so much so that he's sleeping with every woman who'll let him.

ABC is preparing to launch a four-week anthology series called Masters of Science Fiction; it's scheduled to air on Saturdays at 10 p.m. Fresh Air's TV critic says it's a modern-day Outer Limits.

Fresh Air's TV critic reviews two new cable shows featuring strong female leads: TNT's Saving Grace, starring Holly Hunter as a troubled detective, and the FX channel's Damages, starring Glenn Close as a powerful and ruthless attorney.

The Sopranos' final episode aired last night on HBO. Spoiler alert: Critic David Bianculli's review tells us how the episode, and the series, concludes.

Critic David Bianculli is a big Beatles fan, and to pay homage to the 40th anniversary of the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, he turns to other homages: On today's Fresh Air, Bianculli reaches into his record collection and pulls out favorite cover versions of the songs from the album.

HBO's long-running hit The Sopranos returns this Sunday, with the first of nine episodes that will wrap up the mob drama. Guest host David Bianculli weighs in on the final act of this widely acclaimed series.

The gritty cop drama The Shield, starring Michael Chiklis, begins its sixth season tonight on the FX cable network.

It's intense from the start — and it keeps building from there