Brian Lowry - Senior Writer, CNN Media and Entertainment
Brian Lowry
Senior Writer, CNN Media and Entertainment
Brian Lowry is a senior writer for CNN, focusing on everything from TV streaming to film news.
Latest
‘NCIS’ star David McCallum dead at 90
Sep 26, 2023
Actor David McCallum, known for his role on the long-running CBS procedural “NCIS,” has died, the network said in a statement. He was 90.
The WGA strike might be ending, but Hollywood’s bigger problems aren’t
Sep 25, 2023
The Writers Guild of America is in an understandably celebratory mood as it ends one of the longest strikes in its history, having held firm – and banded together with actors – to win significant concessions from the major studios and streaming services.
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CNN reporter breaks down tentative deal Hollywood writers and studios have reached
Sep 25, 2023
The Writers Guild of America said that striking writers have reached a tentative deal with the major film and television studios in Hollywood. CNN’s Brian Lowry explains what it means for productions.
‘Krapopolis’ and ‘The Irrational’ give fall TV some newness, but not much freshness
Sep 24, 2023
The shortage of new scripted network series because of the writers strike makes “Krapopolis” and “The Irrational” stand out on the major networks, but only in terms of newness, not freshness. Indeed, a tired Fox animated sitcom and very familiar NBC crime procedural only provide a one-two reminder of what’s not worth missing.
‘The Continental’ brings ‘The World of John Wick’ to TV without enough firepower
Sep 22, 2023
When considering the simple pleasures of the “John Wick” movies, character development and dense back story would rate somewhere below the bottom of the list. The world of streaming, however, favors the long winded, a factor much in evidence in “The Continental: From the World of John Wick,” a handsomely produced but unnecessary prequel Peacock miniseries with a Keanu Reeves-shaped donut hole.
‘Expend4bles’ reloads the action franchise with Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham
Sep 22, 2023
After three movies in four years, “The Expendables” waited more than nine to unleash its latest adventure, likely a testament to the poorly received youth movement introduced in the third film. “Expend4ables” seeks to provide a badly spelled tonic to that misstep but works from such a flimsy, threadbare script, “The Disposables” would describe it better.
‘Dumb Money’ brings a smart spin to its David-and-Goliath GameStop story
Sep 22, 2023
“Dumb Money” takes full advantage of its David-vs.-Goliath underpinnings to turn a tale of stocks and finance, a la “The Big Short” or “Too Big to Fail,” into a crowd-pleasing underdog story. Paul Dano heads a sprawling cast as the guy leading the rebels with pitchforks on behalf of GameStop, resulting in a film that’s smart and satisfying enough to earn every dollar it makes.
‘The Super Models’ takes a few too many detours in its catwalk down memory lane
Sep 21, 2023
Nostalgia only goes so far with “The Super Models,” a four-part Apple TV+ docuseries as glossy as a high-end fashion magazine of yore, and often as slim as one from the Internet age. Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington Burns lead this strut down memory lane, punctuated by occasional highlights but ultimately more celebratory than revelatory.
‘Ahsoka’ finds its long-lost fan favorites in a galaxy ‘Far, Far Away’
Sep 21, 2023
A long-awaited moment finally arrived for “Star Wars Rebels” fans in the sixth episode of “Ahsoka,” marking the live-action debut of two fan favorites from that animated series.
‘NYPD Blue’ at 30: The cop drama didn’t change TV for good. But it did deliver good TV
Sep 21, 2023
Although the hyperbole came mostly from its critics, “NYPD Blue” was supposed to change broadcast television forever, and it didn’t. Yet as the show reaches the 30th anniversary of its premiere, its legacy includes introducing a few new curse words and carefully shot body parts to ABC, and 11 seasons as one of TV’s best crime dramas.
Emma Roberts and Kim Kardashian headline the latest horrors in ‘American Horror Story: Delicate’
Sep 21, 2023
“Restraint” is a seldom-used word in connection with “American Horror Story,” where the emphasis often tilts more toward gory images and sadism than genuine scares. Yet working from a novel with a different writer appears to have imposed some welcome discipline on the 12th edition of the FX series, “Delicate,” which owes a tonal debt to “Rosemary’s Baby.”
Sean Penn presents an up-close view of the war in Ukraine in ‘Superpower’
Sep 18, 2023
As polarizing he might be, Sean Penn is no stranger to humanitarian efforts and crusading around the globe, as detailed in the documentary “Citizen Penn.” Penn was in Ukraine when Russian bombs started falling in February 2022, which turns “Superpower” into a powerful chronicle of Ukrainian courage and resistance, in a way that reflects Penn’s passion as opposed to journalistic detachment.
Network TV, already struggling, limps into a strike-hobbled fall season
Sep 18, 2023
As symbolism goes, a fall TV season whose highest-profile new series is “The Golden Bachelor” – a retirement-age seniors version of ABC’s dating franchise – is a pretty good metaphor for a network TV business that was already fading into the sunset, and risks getting there that much faster because of the twin writer and actors strikes.
‘Winning Time’ won’t three-peat as HBO ends the ‘Lakers Dynasty’ series
Sep 18, 2023
The Lakers won five championships in the 1980s, but there will be no three-peat for the HBO series devoted to that run, “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty,” with the network bringing showtime to an end after two seasons.
‘A Haunting in Venice’ scares up Kenneth Branagh’s third Hercule Poirot mystery
Sep 15, 2023
Kenneth Branagh has found a nice rhythm in his Hercule Poirot mysteries, serving as director, producer and star. “A Haunting in Venice,” his third go-round with writer Michael Green, derives its main wrinkle from the vaguely supernatural tone, a just-in-time-for-Halloween adornment that might add a small commercial boost to a formula otherwise as neatly manicured as the great detective’s moustache.
‘Love at First Sight’ adds up to Netflix’s latest easy-to-like (not love) romance
Sep 15, 2023
Netflix spends a lot of money on prestigious Oscar bait, but its subscriber/viewership numbers probably owe as much to the light romances that the service spits out with regularity. Add “Love at First Sight” to that column, playing like a slightly darker fairy tale – rom without much com – about the odds against finding your soulmate, filtered through one of the young lovers’ preoccupation with math.
About
Brian Lowry is a senior writer for CNN, focusing on everything from TV streaming to film news.
Prior to CNN, Lowry was a TV critic and columnist for Variety starting in 2003. Before that, he spent seven years as a reporter and columnist at the Los Angeles Times.
Throughout his career, Lowry has been a contributor to National Public Radio and FoxSports.com. He also co-hosted TV Guide Network’s Square off, a weekly talk program about the television business.
Lowry has written two authorized companion guides to the Fox series The X-Files.