Donald Liebenson is a Chicago-based entertainment writer and DVD reviewer. He has been published in The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, Entertainment Weekly, and Playboy (he reviewed the PBS series, The Nature of Sex and can no longer look at male elephant seals without giggling).

Blog Entries by Donald Liebenson

Mr. Smith? Roddy, You're a Real Paine

Posted January 28, 2009 | 04:32 PM (EST)


Proclaiming his innocence in interview after interview, Rod Blagojevich seems to be auditioning for a remake of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, casting himself as James Stewart's naïve and embattled freshman senator, Jefferson Smith. As he told "The Early Show," "If you're asking me do I see myself like a...

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A Barack Obama Christmas

2 Comments | Posted December 12, 2008 | 10:52 AM (EST)


Are advent calendars, traditionally the Whitman Sampler of holiday offerings, getting a cool makeover? Exhibit A is Stephen Colbert's Video Advent Calendar included as a bonus feature on the "A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All" DVD ("Relax everybody, " begins Colbert's Dec. 21 greeting, "you have four more...

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David Brenner at Zanies: "This is What Comedy Was Meant to Do"

2 Comments | Posted November 20, 2008 | 03:58 PM (EST)


When groundbreaking comedian David Brenner takes each of Zanies' stages this weekend (November 20 in Chicago, November 21 in St. Charles, and November 22 in Vernon Hills), he will have the daunting challenge of trying to find the funny in depressing times.

As a topical comedian, Brenner is not...

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Yes Virginia, There is a Star Wars Holiday Special

5 Comments | Posted November 17, 2008 | 12:23 PM (EST)


On Nov. 17, 1978, the Star Wars universe was rocked by a disturbance in the Force more calamitous than the destruction of Alderon, more catastrophic than the Clone Wars, and more devastating than the introduction of Jar Jar Binks. It was The Star Wars Holiday Special (or TSWHS), a two-hour...

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Paul Newman: No Autographs, Please

1 Comments | Posted October 6, 2008 | 03:15 PM (EST)


My mother loved Paul Newman, whose most memorable characters were a rebellious, disreputable 180 from the faithful, respectable man she married. My father was secure enough in their marriage that would last nearly 60 years that he wasn't jealous when she joked about running away with him.

When Mr....

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Police Add Uncertainty Into the Mix

Posted September 18, 2008 | 03:10 PM (EST)


My son made me a mixtape. Caught me completely by surprise, and I was oddly moved. How cool that he wanted to share these songs with me.

My son is 14, and we're good. We talk. I know enough not to press him about girls or his plans for the...

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Police Add Uncertainty to the Mix

Posted September 15, 2008 | 05:29 PM (EST)


My son made me a mixtape. Caught me completely by surprise, and I was oddly moved. How cool that he wanted to share these songs with me.

My son is 14, and we're good. We talk. I know enough not to press him about girls or his plans for the...

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New Documentary Looks on the Bright Side of Neil Innes

Posted August 19, 2008 | 09:16 PM (EST)


It is in tune with Neil Innes' whimsical sense of the absurd that the 32nd Annual Fest for Beatles Fans recently at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare featured what was billed as "the second world premiere" of the documentary, "The Seventh Python."

Innes, who has been hailed as...

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