Television

TV Critic David Bianculli reviews a cooking show from Japan called "Iron Chef". It is shown in New York and San Francisco. The show features Japan's top chefs in the heat of competition.

Political satirist Al Franken. He was one of the original writers for Saturday Night Live. He won four Emmys for his writing on the show. His most popular character was Stuart Smalley, the new age cable TV host. He's also the author of "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations." His newest endeavor is the sitcom "Lateline" which premieres next Tuesday on NBC about the behind the scenes of a late night news show.

T.V. critic David Bianculli previews Sunday's episode of "The Larry Sanders Show" on HBO; this will be the show's final season. And he reviews the telemovie on ABC tonight, "Crimes of Passion: One Hot Summer Night," starring as a homicide detective, the prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson trial, Christopher Darden!

T.V. critic David Bianculli reviews "The Con" the new telemovie which premieres on the USA cable network tonight. It was written by actor William H. Macy.

T.V. critic David Bianculli reviews two new shows starring Ann Margaret and Tom Selleck.

TV critic David Bianculli on the coverage of the Olympics.

Frontline correspondent and Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Gates hosts a Frontline segment called "Two Nations of Black America" which airs Tuesday night on PBS. Today, America has the largest black middle class in its history, yet half of all black children are born into poverty. (Interview by Barbara Bogaev)

TV critic David Bianculli comments on the coverage of the Clinton scandal.

TV critic David Bianculli on what's up at NBC now that "Seinfeld" is in it's last season.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg on the controversies of the 1950s over the grammar of commercials.

TV Critic David Bianculli previews tonight’s presentation of “South Park” on cable TV’s Comedy Central.

A 1995 study by the American Psychiatric Association reports that families play a significant part in the recovery of depressed people. Mary Wallace and Rose Styron are the wives of journalist Mike Wallace and writer William Styron, who both suffered from bouts of depression. They'll talk about what it was like to help their husbands thru depression. Mike Wallace and William Styron will appear in the upcoming documentary "Dead Blue: Surviving Depression"

Rock historian and writer Robert Palmer died yesterday at the age of 52. He was the New York Times's first full-time rock critic writing from 1981-1988, and was a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine since the 1970s. He's wrote several books on blues and rock and roll, and was the writer and music director for the award-winning documentary films, "The World According to John Coltrane," and "Deep Blues." He was chief advisor to the 1995 ten-part PBS documentary, "Rock & Roll: An Unruly History,".

Actress Cybill Shepherd. Her TV sitcom, "Cybill," continues in its fourth season on CBS. She also has a CD : Talk Memphis to Me. Shepherd is known for her roles in the films The Last Picture Show,Taxi Driver, and Married To It, as well as her starring role opposite Bruce Willis in the TV series Moonlighting.

TV critic David Bianculli previews tonight's episode of "Law & Order" which teams up the lawyers with the detectives on "Homicide." The story will be wrapped up on "Homicide" Friday night.

TV critic David Bianculli previews the upcoming television docudrama Into Thin Air. The movie is based on the 1996 tragedy on Mt Everest in which eight climbers died.

Historian Dayton Duncan. He's the author of the book "Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery -- an Illustrated History" (Knopf). He also co-produced the PBS series of the same name with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, and is the author of "Out West" (Penguin), in which he re-travels the Merriweather Lewis and William Clark journey.

David Bianculli previews the last new TV show of the season Sleepwalkers that premieres tomorrow on NBC. And with fall line up in place, David gives us his assessment of the new TV season.