Television

Scientists and filmmakers capture images in unprecedented, truly breathtaking ways in the BBC nature documentary series. Critic David Bianculli calls Blue Planet II a "dazzling piece of television."

Fifty years ago Monday, when Fred Rogers showed up on national public television as the host of what then was a brand new children's show called Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, TV was a lot different. PBS wasn't even a network then — not by that name, anyway — and aside from CBS, NBC and ABC, there were only a few independent local channels to watch, if that.

TV critic DAVID BIANCULLI reviews two futuristic TV shows, one is new, the other has a new season.

Peter Morgan, the creator of The Crown says research can tell him where the Royals were and what they were doing on any given day; but it's up to him to imagine what they were feeling.

My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman is a program that marks Letterman's return to the talk-show format and to series television, a journey he began in 1980 with his brief but brilliant daytime talk show, NBC's The David Letterman Show.

Fresh Air's TV critic spends a lot of time watching television — in part because there are so many great shows to watch. Godless, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Fargo are also among his favorites.

John Powers has some gems he hasn't had a chance to review yet.

Scott Frank's Netflix series is full of western cliches but with a twist. The town in his series Godless is run by women because the men died in a mining disaster. And there's a lesbian couple and an interracial romance.

There's an unforgettable scene in the Netflix documentary Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold. Filmmaker Griffin Dunne asks Didion about the legendary moment when, while reporting a piece on the counter-culture in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, she came across a 5-year-old girl tripping on LSD.

A conversation with the two brothers - twins -- Matt & Ross Duffer -- who created the popular sci-fi horror series, Stranger Things.

Alias Grace tells the true story of an Irish immigrant who worked as a household maid in Canada in the 1850s and was later convicted of murder.

Growing up in Pennsylvania, actor Jonathan Groff was a Disney-obsessed kid who dressed up as Mary Poppins and Cinderella and dreamed of one day performing on Broadway.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new Netflix series about FBI agents pioneering criminal profiling methods in the 1970s.

Even though, like other critics DAVID BIANCULLI wasn't given a preview of Curb Your Enthusiasm's return, he's celebrating the show with a retrospective.

David Simon and George Pelecanos talk about their newest HBO drama 'The Deuce' set in NYC Times Square in 1970s when 42nd street was a center of prostitution, adult book stores, peep shows and movie theatres. Simon and Pelecanos also collaborated on 'The Wire' and 'Treme'.

"The Vietnam War" the latest documentary series by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, examines the story of the war from multiple perspectives.

Jerry Seinfeld became the biggest TV star to sign with Netflix when he agreed to star in a pair of comedy specials for the streaming service. The first of them, "Jerry Before Seinfeld" premiered this week - and TV critic David Bianculli reviews it.

Ken Burns became a star on PBS a generation ago by telling the story of the Civil War in a huge — and hugely popular — documentary series. Since then, he and his collaborators have done invaluable work, including a lengthy and superb examination of World War II.