Efrem Zimbalist Jr., an actor whose mellifluous voice and air of European sophistication left a distinctive stamp on two popular television crime series, died Saturday at his ranch in Solvang, Calif. He was 95. His son, Efrem Zimbalist III, confirmed the death, saying that his father had been outside watering …
“The program you are about to see is ‘All in the Family.’ It seeks to throw a humorous spotlight on our frailties, prejudices and concerns. By making them a source of laughter, we hope to show—in a mature fashion—just how absurd they are.” This nervous disclaimer, which was likely as …
As Game of Thrones begins its fourth season, David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, the creators of HBO’s epic-fantasy hit, and George R. R. Martin, whose books form the blueprint, tell Jim Windolf about the series’s rocky start, its most powerful fan, and the massive problem on the horizon. DRAGON LADY Emilia Clarke …
David Brenner, who delivered his observational style of stand-up comedy on television and on stage for over four decades, died at his home in Manhattan on Saturday. He was 78. His longtime publicist, Jeff Abraham, said the cause was cancer. Mr. Brenner was perhaps best known for his regular appearances …
In recent decades, late-night transitions have been marked by an intense, boxing-match-style circus of hype and speculation over how various hosts would fare opposite each other: Johnny vs. Joan Rivers! Jay vs. Dave! Conan vs. 10 p.m. Jay! But the latest round of personnel changes, with Jimmy Fallon taking over …
“There ain’t no sanity clause,” Chico Marx told Groucho. There is also no Santa Claus. And there was no sanity in the Santa fracas that became an embarrassing liberal-media fixation just before Christmas. For those who missed it, what happened was this: A Fox News anchor, Megyn Kelly, came upon …
Sid Caesar, a comedic force of nature who became one of television’s first stars in the early 1950s and influenced generations of comedians and comedy writers, died on Wednesday at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif. He was 91. His death was announced by Eddy Friedfeld, a family spokesman. r. …
Roger Ailes sometimes refers to Rupert Murdoch’s media empire as a pirate ship. Since launching Fox News in 1996, Ailes’s legendary temper and gyrating moods made him stand out, even among Murdoch’s band of buccaneering media figures, like New York Post editor Col Allan and book publisher Judith Regan. Ailes …
It’s been a year since Jeff Zucker took over CNN, and so far, the worst fears of veteran Zucker Watchers have not materialized. The former NBC chief — who was widely blamed, fairly or not, for running the Peacock network into the ground — hasn’t super-sized Wolf Blitzer or developed …
If I were to ever search for logic, I would not look for it among the English upper class,” says Downton Abbey’s quippy conscience, the Dowager Countess Grantham (Maggie Smith), in the third episode of the show’s fourth season, which premieres on Jan. 5 on PBS. Three-and-a-half months after airing in …
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With James Gandolfini’s sudden death at 51, GQ looks back at the show that made him famous and made HBO a powerhouse, that gave birth to a television revolution that would eventually spawn everything from Mad Men to Breaking Bad to House of Cards and turn ours into the cable-auteur …