David Letterman won't be hosting a new annual Christmas installment of his CBS "Late Show" this year - but he'll be doing the next best thing. On Christmas night, his Worldwide Pants company has decided to repeat last year's CBS special. That keeps the tradition going, if with a strike-affected asterisk...

2007

Dec

WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR: IN 13 DAYS, LATE-NIGHT TALK SHOWS RETURN By David Bianculli

That's when Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien will return with new shows on NBC, and Jimmy Kimmel will return on ABC - all without their writing staffs. That's also the day, reportedly, that the CBS shows owned by David Letterman's Worldwide Pants, "Late Show with David Letterman" and "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson," are hoping to return, with their writing staffs...

2007

Dec

NEW FCC RULING IS WORTH GETTING "MAD AS HELL" ABOUT By David Bianculli

The Federal Communications Commission's ruling yesterday, allowing media companies in the Top 20 TV markets to own both a newspaper and a television station in the same market, is a big disappointment, but isn't that much of a surprise. Not when the FCC's reversal of financial syndication rules long ago ripped the heart out of most independent production companies...

2007

Dec

LATE NIGHT SHOWS ASK, "CAN WE TALK?" - AND SOME WILL, VERY SOON By David Bianculli

Under different circumstances, and with different restrictions, broadcast TV's late-night shows are poised to return. NBC's "Tonight Show" with Jay Leno and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," will be back Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008, but without their writers...

2007

Dec

YESTERDAY, AFI EMBRACED TV'S BEST; TODAY, ABC AND NBC DON'T By David Bianculli

Clash of the Choirs The American Film Institute yesterday announced its eighth annual roster of the year's most outstanding achievements in film and television. Today, ABC and NBC present the premiere installments of their latest prime-time series offerings: a quiz show named "Duel" on ABC, and a music competition show named "Clash of the Choirs" on NBC...

2007

Dec

EASIER THAN ROLLING OFF A BLOG By David Bianculli

By mere coincidence, the writers' strike and TV WORTH WATCHING began the exact same day, on November 5. Ever since, I've written every single day - and every single day, they haven't. Something's gotta give... so, beginning today, I'm giving up writing a blog on weekends...

2007

Dec

RICKY GERVAIS AND HIS "EXTRAS" SPECIAL TV SHOW By David Bianculli

It's miraculous enough for someone to have the talent to create a brilliant TV comedy series. It's even more rare to know when to end it - and rarer still to provide a satisfying, memorable ending. Ricky Gervais and his writing and directing partner, Stephen Merchant, have pulled off that impressive perfecta not once, but twice...

2007

Dec

"LATE SHOW" CHRISTMAS - BABY, PLEASE COME HOME By David Bianculli

My wish for the holidays this year is simple but sincere, and involves the no-end-in-sight writers' strike. I wish "Late Show with David Letterman" could get special dispensation to resume production of its CBS talk show, if only for one day...

2007

Dec

REALITY CAN BE CRUEL, AND SO CAN REALITY TV By David Bianculli

Don't blame the month-long Writers Guild of America strike, and the growing scarcity of scripted programming, for tonight's premiere of CW's "Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants." That mother-daughter competition was in the works long before the strike. As to what's around the corner, you ain't seen nothing yet...

2007

Dec

ANOTHER SIGN THIS STRIKE IS A TOUGH ONE: FOR THE FIRST TIME, THE TCA HAS CANCELED ITS PRESS TOUR By David Bianculli

Last night around 11 p.m. ET, members of the Television Critics Association were sent an email delivering some bad news. TCA President Dave Walker of the New Orleans Times Picayune, who has been working exhaustively to preserve the January 2008 TV press tour, pulled the plug. It will be the first TCA semiannual press tour scrubbed since the organization of TV critics and reporters was formed in the late 1970s...

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David Bianculli

Founder / Editor

David Bianculli has been a TV critic since 1975, including a 14-year stint at the New York Daily News, and sees no reason to stop now. Currently, he's TV critic for NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and is an occasional substitute host for that show. He's also an author and teaches TV and film history at New Jersey's Rowan University. His 2009 Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour', has been purchased for film rights. His latest, The Platinum Age of Television: From I Love Lucy to the Walking Dead, How TV Became Terrific, is an effusive guidebook that plots the path from the 1950s’ Golden Age to today’s era of quality TV.

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