At 86, Mel Brooks is still the life of the party, a consummate ham and peerless joke-spinning storyteller. "I've come to stop the show," announces the irrepressible comic dynamo as he does just that, breaking into song mid-interview and reinforcing why PBS' American Masters titled its latest must-see career profile Mel Brooks: Make a Noise (Monday, check tvguide.com listings). His brilliant career in TV (Your Show of Shows, Get Smart), the movies and Broadway makes him an overdue American Masters subject, and his unflagging comic energy keeps everyone amused — including an intrusively visible camera crew. "I'm head over heels in love with myself," Brooks says, only half-joking.
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In our very first issue, TV Guide Magazine polled the top names in TV — including Ed Sullivan, Milton Berle, Jackie Gleason and Sid Caesar — on what the new medium had taught them. "TV is a great way to reach millions of people — who, luckily, can't reach me," Berle quipped. For 60 years, this publication has chronicled the evolution of what remains the world's most dominant source of entertainment. And while viewers now have hundreds of channels at their fingertips and can watch whatever they want, whenever they want, on a multitude of platforms, one thing hasn't changed: Audiences are hungry for great fare, from I Love Lucy to Modern Family and Playhouse 90 to Homeland.
We spoke to 13 titans of TV and asked them a few questions about where TV has been, what it looks like now and where it's headed.
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Something less than a great escape, Fox's intriguing but formulaic Alcatraz (8/7c), from members of Lost's brain trust, proves a fairly tough "Rock" to crack. Basically a procedural with a 4400-style fantasy gimmick, this twists the America's Most Wanted concept by having its parade ...
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Leslie Knope is one strong contender for City Council, but there's one man who could be brave enough to oppose her.
Paul Rudd is reportedly joining the race for Pawnee City Council on Parks and Recreation, according to Vulture. A source tells the site that Rudd shot his scenes sometime last year and will appear in at least one upcoming episode of the NBC comedy.
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How's this for your show of shows? TV Guide Magazine has learned exclusively that Parks and Recreation is set to host a living legend when comedy icon Carl Reiner guest stars as one of Pawnee's most powerful elders —and possibly a key player in Leslie's City Council campaign.
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