David Bianculli

Critic David Bianculli is a big Beatles fan, and to pay homage to the 40th anniversary of the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, he turns to other homages: On today's Fresh Air, Bianculli reaches into his record collection and pulls out favorite cover versions of the songs from the album.

HBO's long-running hit The Sopranos returns this Sunday, with the first of nine episodes that will wrap up the mob drama. Guest host David Bianculli weighs in on the final act of this widely acclaimed series.

The gritty cop drama The Shield, starring Michael Chiklis, begins its sixth season tonight on the FX cable network.

It's intense from the start — and it keeps building from there

Comedian and actor Andy Richter's new sitcom is Andy Barker, P.I. Richter plays an accountant who is mistaken for the detective who formerly occupied the office he is renting. He reluctantly takes on the role of private investigator and discovers he likes it.

The show just premiered on NBC and airs Thursdays at 9:30 p.m.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new drama series “The Riches” on the FX cable network. It stars Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver.

The Black Donnellys is a new television show created by Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco, the team who wrote the Oscar-winning movie Crash.

Two new British shows premiere on American cable television: Longford and The State Within.

TV critic David Bianculli previews three shows with season openers this Sunday: Extras and Rome on HBO, and the popular Fox TV series 24.

This season's new trend in boxed sets of television series on DVD is something that ought to be called the "megaset." These aren't just single-season collections of TV shows. They are compilations of every episode in a series.

Three new prime-time TV series premiere this week: scripted dramas on ABC and CBS, and a new quiz show on ABC. This week also brings the season finale of ABC's Dancing with the Stars, and lots of other activity involving first-run weekly television shows. Our TV critic says that all this action is related -- and little of it is cause for celebration.