Diane Werts

If TV today seems crowded with crimesolvers, it was once just as jammed with gunslingers. Westerns ran roughshod over midcentury screens circa 1960, when more than 30 shoot-’em-up series ran on just t

Why don’t they just launch a 24/7/365 Christmas channel already? Surely an audience awaits. Because Friday is the night — six days before Halloween! — when Hallmark and Lifetime start debuting their f

Not dead yet — that’s DVD. True, the growth of streaming has curtailed disc sales for many TV hits. But fans of offbeat shows are learning there’s no guarantee that sites won’t drop their cult/vintage

You could call Ernie Kovacs the godfather of special effects. Of crazy comic commercials. Of music videos. Even Monty Python. Kovacs’ hardworking hard-living credo — “Nothing in moderation” — led him

Netflix fave “Stranger Things” isn’t the only biggie back in July. Soon joining it — long-awaited revivals, final-season wrap-ups and unscripted takes on everything from fashion to football. The Last

As TV salutes Independence Day, it also offers Thursday marathons for leisure viewing. JULY 4 HOOPLA Hot Dog Eating Contest (ESPN2, noon) — Live coverage of the annual Coney Island chow-down. But firs

New to stream in June, from Netflix to Facebook Watch  Newsday

May delivers new streaming series, fresh streaming services, and lots of familiar shows back for more. Look for stars, too — George Clooney, Renée Zellweger, Tiffany Haddish — plus programs from aroun

Ready for a new year? If you’re ringing it in with TV, you’ve got plenty of choices — party hearty, binge new/old series, catch movie marathons, and more. (All times Monday, unless noted.) AULD LANG S

Check out dozens more holiday viewing options.

The great summer shark frenzy is about to attack a TV near you. First comes Nat Geo Wild’s SharkFest, its sixth annual incarnation expanding to nearly two weeks of shark-centric documentaries, startin

How would you explain Robin Williams to someone who’d never seen him? Say, an alien from another planet? (He did play one on TV.) Now you could just hand them Dave Itzkoff’s new biography, which does

WHAT IT’S ABOUT Can two divorced people live together without driving each other crazy? That declared theme powered TV’s classic original run of “The Odd Couple” and three recent semi-viewed seasons o

WHAT IT’S ABOUT He wants to run an inspired business. He wants to be a great dad. He wants to change the world. And he wants to please his mother-in-law. He’s “Alex, Inc.” — a busy situation comedy fo

WHAT IT’S ABOUT To lots of people, the Bible means everything. To some, it means nothing. That alone turns a sitcom about a man living “to the letter” of the Good Book into quite the tune-in magnet —

Too many Christmas shows to watch them all? Then you know we can’t cover them all. But we’ve selected some holiday weekend highlights.CHRISTMAS CLASSICS“How the Grinch Stole Christmas” — Half-hour ’60

Sorry, jazz. Improvisation has supplanted your status as “America’s farthest-reaching indigenous art form,” argues author Sam Wasson in his engaging new history, “Improv Nation: How We Made a Great Am

Svengoolie doesn’t just wear one hat.Well, yes, it’s true, MeTV’s retro movie host does wear a top hat during his Saturday 8 p.m. show, to go with his tuxedo, satin-lined casket and horror-face cake m

WHAT IT’S ABOUT Linda Lavin deserves another series, right? Probably also Elliott Gould. Good guy Mark Feuerstein, too. So put them all together, and what do you get?A meddling mother (Lavin), a screw

WHAT IT’S ABOUT Two reliable funny folks — Craig Robinson (“The Office”) and Adam Scott (“Parks and Recreation”) — are paired in this half-hour romp in paranormal research. Because that’s naturally th