With the filming of “Iron Man 2” just underway (can’t wait!), Nicktoons Network and Marvel Animation are set to launch “Iron Man: Armored Adventures,” a prequel that might also be called “Iron Man: The High School Years.” The 26-episode series begins with back-to-back episodes 7-8 p.m. April 24, which is the same day that Robert [...]

Fathers and daughters are key to three tube offerings this Sunday with varying results. The relationship is central to the intermittently moving “King Lear,” part of THIRTEEN’s “SundayArts” showcase at noon. It haunts “Little Dorrit” (9 p.m.), which continues on PBS’ “Masterpiece” through April 26 and is as great a Dickens adaptation as “Bleak House,” [...]

On paper, “Thais” — which PBS’ “Great Performances at the Met” will present at noon March 28 — should be a sensual spectacle. The tale of a glamorous courtesan at romantic and spiritual crosspurposes with a fiery monk in ancient Alexandria, Jules Massenet’s opera would seem ready for lush, Gustave Moreau-like, fin-de-siècle treatment and the [...]

If you missed Judy Kinberg’s superb documentary about Jerome Robbins on PBS’ “American Masters” the other night, you can catch the repeat as part of THIRTEEN’s “SundayArts” showcase.

Interviews with Broadway actors and such ballet stars as Mikhail Baryshnikov of Snedens Landing, Irvington’s Peter Martins and Maria Calegari and Bart Cook of Carmel help paint a [...]

The path to hell is paved with good intentions, and rarely has that been truer than in the compelling docudrama “Rough Crossings” (10 p.m. Feb. 16, THIRTEEN), written and presented by historian Simon Schama, a Briarcliff Manor resident who adapted the program from his recent book of the same title.

The Rockland Dickens Fellowship will be following “The Tales of Charles Dickens” on PBS’ “Masterpiece Classic,” beginning Sunday at 9 p.m. (THIRTEEN locally) with part one of “Oliver Twist.” With a name like the Rockland Dickens Fellowship, members must be a-quiver at the mere thought of “The Tales.” Really, though, is there a better author [...]

Abraham Lincoln is very much with us these days. There have been echoes of the Great Emancipator in the presidential campaign, in Barack Obama’s thrilling inauguration and in the current national crisis. As editor Eric Foner told PBS’ Bill Moyers, Lincoln is the mirror in which each generation sees itself.

Lincoln-ologists have, of ourse, a special [...]

Well, I see that Congress — our sterling Alexandrian leadership — has voted to move the date for the digital revolution from Feb. 17 to June 12. It’s the least the members can do given the total lack of vision they and the rest of the federal government have contributed to the “transformation.”

With all the talk about the new Sherlock Holmes movie — starring Robert Downey Jr. as the idiosyncratic detective and Jude Law as his sidekick, Dr. Watson — it is both enjoyable and instructive to revisit the modern incarnation of the Holmes story, Fox’s “House,” particularly as Monday’s return relates directly to the Holmes character.

Well, clearly I’m going to have more viewing time on my hands in the new year as many of the shows I’ve been following have been or are about to be canceled. (I know: Don’t take it personally. But still.)

“Stargate Atlantis” concludes appropriately with its 100th episode at 9 p.m. Friday after a five-year run [...]

This just in from the What A Surprise Department:  The federal government has run out of the coupons for the digital converter boxes that those with TV antennas will have to have if they want reception on and after Feb. 17, when the TV nation goes totally digital.

It seems the Commerce Department, which is overseeing [...]

You know how every network channel has been running those public-information spots about getting ready for the conversion to digital TV? They make it sound as if it’s so easy for those who have an aerial antenna or rabbit ears. You just buy the converter box with your government coupon, plug the box into the [...]

PBS’ “Masterpiece Classic” kicks off a new season with a new host, Laura Linney, and two new productions of seminal novels, courtesy of Thomas Hardy and Tom Hardy.

First a word about Linney (pictured above), who brings an all-American warmth to her role as host. This as opposed to predecessor Gillian Anderson’s chilly, almost neurotic demeanor. [...]

This season is shaping up to be a big one for PBS programs on J. Robert Oppenheimer — the complex colossus who is often called “the father of the atomic bomb”. On Jan. 26, “American Experience” will air “The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer,” an absorbing film by David Grubin that is part [...]

It seems that media interest in HBO’s “True Blood” — which just concluded its first season run to the satisfaction of the blogosphere — has spiked with the arrival of the movie phenom “Twilight.” Not that the two are bound to share much crossover action. “Twilight” is for the tween/soccer mom set. There’s nothing tween [...]

This has been Expedition Week on the National Geographic Channel. As I’m a big Alexander the Great buff, I couldn’t wait to see a preview of “Egypt Unwrapped: Alexander the Great’s Lost Tomb,” which premieres at 8 tonight. You, however, might be more interested in the mummies, dinosaurs and tales of the Scorpion King and [...]

Perhaps initially lost in TV’s analysis of the selection of Sen. Barack Obama as our next president was what one respondent to a political blog described as the triumph of brilliance over mediocrity.

NBC is trying to make Wednesday the new Thursday (Remember Must-See TV?) with a trio of crime-stoppers, beginning with the remake of “Knight Rider” at 8 tonight. Then “Life,” returning to Wednesday, follows at 9 as a lead-in to “Law & Order” (10 p.m.). The moves seem to be designed to showcase “Life,” which [...]

The PBS documentary “Medal of Honor” — airing at 8 p.m. tomorrow on Thirteen/WNET — is a somewhat disjointed, somewhat prosaic exploration of our nation’s highest military honor. Still, it’s worth watching for what it says about the human will to endure.

Thank the TV gods that “Lipstick Jungle,” which is in ratings trouble, seems to be moving back to Joe the Billionaire tonight and away from the “Joe the Plumber” plots of previous episodes.