It's a Wonderful Life (movie)

Morris Dickstein's "Dancing in the Dark" is not exactly the syncretic "Cultural History of the Great Depression" that its subtitle promises -- at best, the book treats inferentially the broad political and social trends of that desperate, crucial era. Let...

Taking his media blitz national Monday in New York, hundreds of miles from the start of his impeachment proceedings in Springfield, embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich continued to portray himself as Jimmy Stewart in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," an...

TO MILLIONS, James Stewart was Everyman. To Kelly Stewart, he was just Dad. "Dad was a very private person," she says, adding that her father never brought his work home with him. But she got her first inkling of his tremendous popularity at age 6,...

SINCE HER INFANCY, my now-adult daughter and I have ritualized every summer with a week spent lurking as lizards at one or another blazing hot Southwestern desert resort. We're neither rock hounds nor tree huggers; what we seek during these annual...

ARE YOU ready for "Zohan" vs. "Guru"? Next month, Adam Sandler ("You Don't Mess With the Zohan") and Mike Myers ("The Love Guru") will put out new movies -- pieces of funny business that will open with much fanfare and then fade away, before returning on...

Scott Thompson didn't make the cut when NBC programmers began making their long-range TV plans. For 23 years Thompson has been a hair stylist and barber at Universal Studios, tending to everyone from mogul Lew Wasserman to the youngest mail room clerk....

Actors, actresses and entertainers Maila Nurmi, 85; actress created the character Vampira as hostess of late-night TV horror show (Jan. 10) Jack Eagle, 81; a comedian and actor who played Brother Dominic in a Xerox ad during the 1977 Super Bowl (Jan....

Fast National ratings for Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2008 Repeats of its usual programming ruled the roost for CBS once again on Wednesday night, allowing the network to take households with a 3.6 ratings/8 share. NBC came in second with a 3.0/7, followed by...

For many Jewish people in America, Christmas day has long meant wide-open freeways, Chinese takeout and "It's a Wonderful Life" on a loop on TV. If perchance you find yourself invited to a Gentile household for the holiday, however, Rob Tannenbaum of...

Every holiday season my brother and I argue the merits of Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life," never resolving the conflict, just joyously engaging in sibling rivalry under the guise of cultural debate. As Annie Korzen's Op-Ed shows, though, the...

Fast National ratings for Friday, Dec. 14, 2007 The annual NBC showing of "It's a Wonderful Life" wasn't so wonderful in the ratings. Instead CBS and "Ghost Whisperer" got their Nielsen wings Friday. CBS averaged a 5.8 rating/10 share for the night,...

Fast National ratings for Monday, Dec. 24, 2007. 'Twas the night before Christmas and very few people were watching TV, though CBS and ABC can claim small victories if they so desire. Overall, CBS averaged a 3.2 rating/7 share, just beating the 2.7/6...