News

Longtime broadcast journalist and author Jane Pauley and documentarian/director Alex Gibney have been tapped to receive lifetime achievement awards at the 45th annual News & Documentary Emmys. The honors were revealed Wednesday by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Pauley, currently the host of “CBS News Sunday Morning,” will receive her award during the news ceremony portion of the awards on Wed., September 25, while Gibney will be honored during the Documentary ceremony on Thursday, Sept. 26. Both ceremonies will take place at New York’s Palladium Times Square, and be streamed on NATAS’ viewing app.

Adam Sharp, President and CEO of NATAS, said: “We are honored to pay tribute to these two revered icons of our industry. Jane Pauley and Alex Gibney continue to reach viewers while at the same time opening doors for those coming behind them,” said NATAS president/CEO Adam Sharp in a statement. “This honor...

"I want to go and follow the music, but you never know what you're going to find along the way." Another new official trailer has debuted for the documentary film titled In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon, the latest from Alex Gibney following his docs on The Forever Prisoner, and Boris Becker. This first premiered at the 2023 Toronto & London Film Festivals last fall, and is already streaming on MGM+ in the US (though we missed this when it first dropped). The film follows Paul Simon inside the studio making his new album Seven Psalms while looking back on his six-decade career with countless musical peaks from Sounds of Silence to Graceland. Gibney's In Restless Dreams is supposedly the definitive musical biography of Paul Simon, one of the greatest songwriters (and performers as well) in the history of rock 'n roll. It's yet another one of these music docs...

Documentary film editors are like crash test dummies, according to Alexis Johnson. You keep letting yourself crash, assuming the seatbelts will work, over and over again just to see what impact a scene is having on you.

“If I am going to harness a feeling, I have to feel it myself,” she said, recalling working on director Alex Gibney’s powerful 2021 documentary “The Forever Prisoner,” about the CIA’s interrogation treatment of prisoner Abu Zubaydah. In addition to the countless hours reworking scenes of waterboarding and other harsh treatments, Johnson edited a sequence that depicts the technique of playing high-decibel music to terrorize a prisoner. It was particularly grueling, as Johnson repeatedly subjected herself to the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ cacophonous “Give It Away” for hours while shaping the depiction of Zubaydah being tortured by the same song.

By the end of working on “The Forever Prisoner,” Johnson said, she...

Two questions ran through my mind throughout the two hours of Alex Gibney’s new HBO documentary The Forever Prisoner.

The first, “Wait, haven’t I seen this documentary before?”

The second, “Wait, hasn’t Alex Gibney made this documentary before?”

The answer to both questions is “Kinda, but not exactly,” and it underlines how, when it comes to The Forever Prisoner, the aspect that makes it least successful is maybe, simultaneously, the aspect that makes it most important. Going back to Gibney’s Taxi to the Dark Side and Errol Morris’ Standard Operating Procedure and through literally countless documentaries in ...

Two questions ran through my mind throughout the two hours of Alex Gibney’s new HBO documentary The Forever Prisoner.

The first, “Wait, haven’t I seen this documentary before?”

The second, “Wait, hasn’t Alex Gibney made this documentary before?”

The answer to both questions is “Kinda, but not exactly,” and it underlines how, when it comes to The Forever Prisoner, the aspect that makes it least successful is maybe, simultaneously, the aspect that makes it most important. Going back to Gibney’s Taxi to the Dark Side and Errol Morris’ Standard Operating Procedure and through literally countless documentaries in ...

This weekly feature is in addition to TVLine’s daily What to Watch listings and monthly guide to What’s on Streaming.

With nearly 500 scripted shows now airing across broadcast, cable and streaming, it’s easy to forget that a favorite comedy is returning, or that the new “prestige drama” you anticipated is about to debut. So consider this our reminder to set your DVR, order a Season Pass, pop a fresh Memorex into the Vcr… however it is you roll.

More from TVLineWorld Beyond Series Finale Recap: Who Lived, Who Died and Which Long-Lost Walking Dead Character Showed Up?...

Wake up, Neo.

It’s December 2021 and to celebrate HBO Max is bringing back a classic sci-fi franchise for one last ride. The list of new releases on HBO Max this month is highlighted by The Matrix Resurrections on Dec. 22. This is the long-awaited return to the reality-bending saga from The Wachowskis. Writer/director Lana Wachowski returns as do stars Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss as Neo and Trinity, respectively. This time around it’s 20 years after The Matrix Revolutions and “Neo lives a seemingly ordinary life as Thomas A. Anderson in San Francisco where his therapist prescribes him blue pills. Neither he nor Trinity recognize each other. However, Morpheus offers him the red pill and reopens his mind to the world of the Matrix.”

While The Matrix Resurrections is the big draw this time around, HBO Max has some other intriguing originals to speak of. The David Thewlis and...