Great Performances

1971-2026
54 seasons
PBS
Comedy, Drama, Music
TV-G

Great Performances brings the best in the performing arts from across America and around the world to a US television audience. It presents a diverse programming portfolio of classical music, opera, popular song, musical theater, dance, drama, and performance documentaries.

1971-2026
54 seasons
PBS
Comedy, Drama, Music
TV-G

Weekend TV Review: Give These Shows a Medal!

While the Olympians continue to dominate the TV spotlight in Sochi, another gathering of championship talent takes a bow in the weekend's other gold-medal event: PBS's Great Performances presentation of National Theatre: 50 Years on Stage (Friday, 9/8c, check tvguide.com listings).Laurence Olivier led the National Theatre upon its founding in 1963, and he and other luminaries are seen in vintage clips from past productions, interspersed throughout a dazzling evening of live re-enactments and tantalizing excerpts from landmark plays, including Angels in America, Stuff Happens, The History Boys and War Horse. Fans of Downton Abbey will delight to see the Dowager Countess Maggie Smith in her 1964 prime, vamping in ...

Fri, Feb 14, 2014

Weekend TV Review: Give These Shows a Medal!

The Weekend Playlist: Dead Popular, 40 Years of Great Performances

Is "I've Got You Under My Skin" the most appropriate sweet nothing to croon in the skin-crawling world of AMC's The Walking Dead? No matter, because there's not much of a lull in Sunday's powerful episode (9/8c), ominously titled "Infected." Which suggests the virus that felled Nerd Boy last week creates a bloody panic in the cell block, reminding us how illusory any notion of safety can be. "I haven't seen anybody be lucky in a long time," former Army medic Bob Stookey (new regular Lawrence Gilliard Jr.) observes as a full gamut of courage, terror and anguish is displayed during and after the latest crisis. Earning special bonus stripes this week: Melissa McBride as the awesome Carol, who takes a few distraught girls under her wing, but not to coddle them: "You want to live, you have to become strong" is her mantra. Meanwhile, the walkers keep pressing up against the prison gates and the audience can't get enough of the riveting mayhem, as evidenced by the record numbers who turned out for last Sunday's premiere.

Fri, Oct 18, 2013

The Weekend Playlist: Dead Popular, 40 Years of Great Performances

The Weekend Playlist: Walking Dead Is Back, and So Is Homeland's Brody

It's raining zombies, quite literally, by the end of the first hour of The Walking Dead's fourth harrowing season (Sunday, 9/8c, AMC). And when it rains, it pours blood. Just how fans like it. But it's in the pauses between the gruesome action, those eerie and unsettling silences, when we're reminded there's no rest for the living in a treacherous world where swarming walkers are constantly pressing against the prison-shelter gates, insatiable and relentless. In these quieter moments, Dead reinforces its claim as TV's greatest horror drama by making us care so desperately about the characters' humanity.

Fri, Oct 11, 2013

The Weekend Playlist: Walking Dead Is Back, and So Is Homeland's Brody

Matt's Guide to Weekend TV: Wallander, Dinosaurs on Doctor Who, and More

In the tradition of all great detectives, Swedish bundle-of-brooding Kurt Wallander can't escape crime no matter where he goes — and that includes the country home he is just moving into with his lady love as the first of three new Wallander movies kicks off a third season on Masterpiece Mystery! (Sunday, PBS, check tvguide.com listings).

Fri, Sep 7, 2012

Matt's Guide to Weekend TV: Wallander, Dinosaurs on Doctor Who, and More

Weekend TV in Review: Fringe Exits, Being Human Returns, Walking Dead and More

So much coming and going in the volatile, fragile world of fantasy/horror TV. Once again, we're bidding adieu to Fox's freaky Fringe (Friday, 9/8c) for a month.

Fri, Feb 24, 2012

Weekend TV in Review: Fringe Exits, Being Human Returns, Walking Dead and More

The Guide to Weekend TV: Syfy's Neverland, Michael J. Fox on The Good Wife and More!

First, a few words about fairy tales, one of the more unexpectedly hot trends of this TV season ...

Fri, Dec 2, 2011

The Guide to Weekend TV: Syfy's Neverland, Michael J. Fox on The Good Wife and More!

Matt's Guide to Weekend TV: Fringe, Doctor Who, Dexter and More

FRIDAY Tonight's Top Pick: When worlds collide, Fox's cult gem Fringe (9/8c) is at the top of its game. You've never seen a murder-mystery manhunt like tonight's chilling and provocative episode, in which the Fringe team from the "other" world enlists "our" Olivia to cross over to track down a serial killer in the alt-universe — by bringing along the madman's doppelganger from our world, who happens to be a professor specializing in forensic pathology and profiling. The "what-if" vibes are fascinating as the professor — and by extension everyone in the dual-universe loop — considers the vagaries of fate and environment when confronted with "the path not taken." The story is suspenseful, poignant and wonderfully original. And in case you're wondering why Walter stays behind, surrounding himself with a cacophony of music: It may have something to do with that nagging disembodied voice he can't stop hearing. Hurry home soon, Peter Bishop!

Fri, Sep 30, 2011

Matt's Guide to Weekend TV: Fringe, Doctor Who, Dexter and More

Matt's Guide to Weekend TV: New and Returning Shows

This busy premiere week is far from over. Here's a night-by-night look at how the weekend is shaping up this fall, with some thoughts on the new-season pilots, several key season premieres, and other highlights. FRIDAY The Night in a Nutshell: If you're not a CBS loyalist on this low-viewership night, then it's best to have a healthy appetite for cult TV. CBS is expected to rule as usual, with the new A Gifted Man grafting the popular voices-from-beyond genre of Ghost Whisperer and Medium with a medical procedural, leading in to CSI: NY (which barely got renewed this year) and Blue Bloods. Once again, Fox's mind-blowing Fringe and the CW's undying Supernatural duke it out for out-there enthusiasts, with the underrated spy thriller Nikita taking over Smallville's old time period. NBC enters the game in mid-October, launching the final 13 episodes of Chuck alongside the third supernatural offering in the 9/8c time period: the fairy-tale/mystery hybrid Grimm. Reality fans will soon be able to choose among ABC's transplanted Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Shark Tank and Fox's Kitchen Nightmares.

Fri, Sep 23, 2011

Matt's Guide to Weekend TV: New and Returning Shows

VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Behind the Scenes of Jackie Evancho's Great Performances

America's Got Talent runner-up Jackie Evancho will head her own episode of PBS' Great Performances, which will air throughout June...

Thu, Jun 2, 2011

VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Behind the Scenes of Jackie Evancho's Great Performances

Tonight's TV Hot List: Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Modern Family9/8c ABC Phil's reticence to tell Claire anything she might not like to hear has the tendency to turn molehills into mountains. Well, there's another one to climb when Phil's dad (Fred Willard) shows up in a motor home, and if that's not a big enough surprise for Claire, he's also brought them a dog. Guess you better build a doghouse for two, eh Phil? Meanwhile, Cameron offers to sit in on the drums in Dylan's band, and Manny wears out the panic button after seeing a scary movie.Read on for previews of Law & Order: SVU, Happy Town, Top Chef Masters, Sunset Daze and Great Performances.

Wed, Apr 28, 2010

Tonight's TV Hot List: Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Tonight's TV Hot List: Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010

Leverage 10/9c TNT After a four-month absence of new episodes, the catchy con-job series returns to continue its second season. Forget crimes of passion — tonight there are crimes of fashion. Nate Ford and his crack crew of surreptitious scammers and schemers slip into the high-fashion world in their bid to trounce a tyrannical sweatshop owner. Guest star Jeri Ryan reprises her role as slinky Tara Cole, a temporary member of Nate's team. The episode is preceded by a 10-hour marathon of Leverage shows.Read on for previews of New Adventures of Old Christine, Law & Order: SVU, Great Performances and High School Reunion.

Wed, Jan 13, 2010

Tonight's TV Hot List: Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010

Tonight's TV Hot List: Wednesday, May 27, 2009

George Strait: ACM Artist of the Decade All Star Concert8 pm/ET CBS The famously taciturn George Strait may not say a lot, but when he sings he speaks volumes. The Texas-born troubadour rode into Nashville on a song more than 25 years ago and is now the owner of an amazing 57 No. 1 singles on the country charts. It's no wonder the Academy of Country Music selected him as its artist of the decade, joining previous legends Marty Robbins (1960s), Loretta Lynn (1970s), Alabama (1980s) and Garth Brooks (1990s). Fortunately for Strait, he doesn't have to say much during tonight's all-star tribute. He gets to sit back and listen to a who's who of country artists literally sing his praises, such as Alan Jackson, Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, Taylor Swift, Sugarland and Martina McBride. Read on for previews of Wipeout, Great Performances, The Goode Family, Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns and E! True Hollywood Story's 10 Greatest Stories Ever Told.

Wed, May 27, 2009

Tonight's TV Hot List: Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Sting Takes on Studio 60, American Idol and... the Lute?

Before Sting decided to reunite The Police for a high-profile summer mega-tour, the eclectic musician tackled a much more low-key project: interpreting a set of lute-based songs by Elizabethan 16th-century composer John Dowland. The resulting CD, Songs from the Labyrinth, became a surprise hit on the classical charts. Tonight, Sting channels Dowland once more on PBS' Great Performances (check local listings), an almost spiritual hour of music and conversation that shows the singer in a more intimate setting than the stadiums and arenas he'll play in a few months. We spoke with Sting just days before he and The Police opened this year's Grammys. TV Guide:

Mon, Feb 26, 2007

Sting Takes on Studio 60, American Idol and... the Lute?

"Happy" Clown Laughs (and Cries)

Bill Irwin is a clown. But please, don't think of that as a slam. In fact, it's the highest praise we can lay on the elastic-bodied comic, who began his career in the Pickle Family Circus back in the '70s, but by the early '80s had become a wonderfully weird presence in the New York theater world. Movies and TV would soon call for Irwin's modern-day Buster Keaton shenanigans, but would rarely utilize the full arsenal of his talents. Happily though, he's currently prepping to star in Broadway's Who's Afraid of Virgin Wolfe and gets a loving tribute tonight on PBS's Great Performances (check TV Guide listings). "Bill Irwin, Clown Prince" is a behind-the-scenes look at Irwin and his craft that proves what we've always suspected: Being a clown ain't always a load of laughs.TV Guide Online: This special offers a very intimate peek into the work behind your art.Bill Irwin: To be honest, I don't think I would have felt comfortable with anyone

Wed, Dec 15, 2004