Television

TV critic David Bianculli previews tonight’s season premiere of the second season of “24” on FOX.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews some new DVD collections of TV shows.

Shes currently starring in the new sitcom Life with Bonnie, playing a TV morning show host, doctors wife and harried mother. It airs on ABC, Tuesday nights at 9 PM. Its Hunts third sitcom. Hunt came out of the Second City Comedy Troupe.

T.V. critic David Bianculli reviews two made-for-TV movies airing this Sunday: Gleason, on CBS, about the life of comic Jackie Gleason, and Showtimes Bang, Bang, Youre Dead, a one-act play that recalls the dramatic programming of TVs early days.

Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller, authors of the new book, Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live (Little Brown and Company). The book is a history of the late-night comedy mainstay, which first aired in 1975. Shales and Miller interviewed the shows' producers, writers, cast members and guest hosts, including Lorne Michaels, Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Al Franken, Will Farrell, Tom Hanks and many more. Tom Shales is the Pulitzer Prize-winning television critic of The Washington Post and a movie critic for NPR's Morning Edition.

TV Critic David Bianculli remembers Bruce Paltrow and Ellis Larkins.

Actor Joe Pantoliano plays Ralph Cifaretto on the HBO series The Sopranos. He has appeared in more than 60 films, including Memento, The Matrix and The Fugitive. He has a new memoir called Who's Sorry Now: The True Story of a Stand-Up Guy (E. P. Dutton). Pantoliano talks about growing up in Hoboken, N.J., and his acting career.

TV critic David Bianculli on the new TV season.

TV critic David Bianculli on the upcoming fourth season of The Sopranos.

Actress Edie Falco plays Carmela Soprano, wife of Tony Soprano on the HBO drama The Sopranos. The role turned her from a relative unknown to a TV star. She's had roles on Law & Order and Homicide: Life on the Street. She starred in the independent films Judy Berlin, Trust and Laws of Gravity. This interview first aired October 5, 2001.

TV critic David Bianculli has some thoughts on the Sept. 11 anniversary coverage.

David Bianculli reviews the season finale of American Idol.

Actress Cynthia Nixon is one of the stars of HBO's Sex and the City. She plays Miranda Hobbes, a corporate lawyer who is also a new mother in the current season of the show. Nixon recently starred in the Broadway production of the classic 1930 Clare Boothe Luce play, The Women. She also appeared at the age of 18 in the broadway plays Hurlyburly, and The Real Thing. She's a founding member of the Drama Dept., an Off-Broadway theater company. Her film roles inclue, Amadeus, Prince of the City, The Pelican Brief, and The Out-of-Towners.

Comedian Dave Attell . He*s the host of Comedy Central*s Insomniac with Dave Attell. It airs Wednesday nights at 10:30 pm. Attell explores American after-hours culture, traveling to many cities to film his show.

TV critic David Bianculli on the desperate way the networks try to attract viewers, and The Anna Nicole Show, E! cable channels new reality show.

In June the Writers Guild Foundation held its 2002 Film and Television Writers Forum, called "Words into Pictures." The forum focused on the role of the writer in film and television. We feature highlights from the forum. Participants included David Milch of NYPD Blue, Stephen Gaghan of the film Traffic and Aaron Sorkin of The West Wing.

Writer and executive producer of Sex and the City, Michael Patrick King. The show was just nominated for five Emmys including Outstanding Comedy Series, and Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series. He has also written for the television series, Murphy Brown and acted as a consultant for the hit series, Will and Grace.

The HBO hit series Sex and the City, begins a new season July 21. We'll hear from two people involved with the show: Actress Sarah Jessica Parker was just nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. She's been acting for most of her life, including playing Annie on Broadway, the young bimbo in L.A. Story, and a fed-up fiancee in Honeymoon in Vegas. This is her fifth season starring in Sex and the City, as Carrie, a columnist who writes about the sexual mores of New Yorkers.

Actor Tony Shalhoub plays the obsessive-compulsive detective Adrian Monk in the USA Network series Monk. His films include, The Man Who Wasn't There, Spy Kids, Searching for Bobby Fischer, Men in Black and Men in Black II, Big Night, Barton Fink and Honeymoon in Vegas.

Writer/Executive producer Andy Breckman of the new USA Network series, Monk. The program is about a detective with an obsessive-compulsive disorder, and premieres Friday, July 12, 2002. Breckman was one of the original writers of Late Night with David Letterman and has worked with Saturday Night Live.