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DAVID BIANCULLI

Founder / Editor

Bianculli's Blog

ERIC GOULD

Associate Editor

The Cold Light Reader

LINDA DONOVAN

Assistant Editor

Dateline Donovan
Contributors

DAVID HINCKLEY

All Along the Watchtower

ED BARK

Uncle Barky's Bytes

ALEX STRACHAN

TV That Matters

MIKE HUGHES

Open Mike

ED MARTIN

Ed Martin's TV Mix

KIM AKASS

Aerial View

MONIQUE NAZARETH

MNtv

BILL BRIOUX

TV Feeds My Family

ROGER CATLIN

TV Eye

GARY EDGERTON

Must-Click TV

TOM BRINKMOELLER

Raised On MTM

GERALD JORDAN

Crossing Jordan

NOEL HOLSTON

The Grassy Noel

TVWW ARCHIVE

Contributors Archive
 
 
 
 
 
2007
Dec
10
IT'S TIME FOR DAVID LETTERMAN TO COME BACK - AND JON, AND CONAN, AND ALL THE REST By David Bianculli
 
 
So long as both sides were at least attempting to negotiate an end to the month-long strike by the Writers Guild of America, it made sense to support the shutdown of most scripted shows, wait patiently, and hope for the best. But the best isn't happening, so it's time for viewers to make some demands of their own: Bring back Dave. And Jon, and Conan, and all the rest...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2007
Dec
9
TOM BROKAW BRINGS "1968" UP TO DATE By David Bianculli
 
 
Tom Brokaw, who celebrated WWII veterans as "The Greatest Generation," focuses on the 1960s in his latest book - and tonight at 9 ET on The History Channel, in a two-hour documentary, he hones in on one year in particular: 1968...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2007
Dec
8
FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELTS: STRIKE TALKS BREAK OFF AGAIN, AND SOUND REALLY BROKEN By David Bianculli
 
 
Press releases from the networks started coming in about 10 p.m. ET last night, late enough to minimize coverage on a Friday night in December. But there was news, and the news was bad: The studios and networks had walked away from the negotiating table, leaving them and the striking Writers Guild of America members both moaning about intractable positions and irreconcilable differences...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2007
Dec
7
SHOP! IN THE NAME OF LOVE... By David Bianculli
 
 
I'm channeling the Supremes here, but that's only because I'm happy enough to sing. After weeks of work, it's finally ready: TV WORTH WATCHING's one-stop holiday shopping guide...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2007
Dec
6
TV ALCHEMY: TURNING "TIN MAN" INTO GOLD By David Bianculli
 
 
The three-night, six-hour telecast of "Tin Man" just earned Sci Fi Channel the biggest audience for a miniseries in the network's history, outdoing even "Taken" and "Dune." Average audience for the imaginative reworking of L. Frank Baum's Wonderful Wizard of Oz: 5.3 million viewers...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2007
Dec
5
WGA STRIKE REACHES ONE-MONTH MARK - AND SO DOES TV WORTH WATCHING By David Bianculli
 
 
One month ago today, the Writers Guild of America went on strike, and this website was launched. A month later, I'm still writing... and the writers still aren't. Meanwhile, the networks have begun announcing their strike-affected revised lineups for January and beyond. Among the most interesting moves comes from CBS, which is talking about importing edited versions of such Showtime series as "Dexter"...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2007
Dec
4
THE MORNING AFTER... "HEROES," "MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL" AND "LAST CALL WITH CARSON DALY" By David Bianculli
 
 
If you watched TV last night, you were witness to, among other things, two abrupt endings and one uneasy beginning. ESPN's "Monday Night Football" went down to the last second...NBC's "Heroes" ended its second volume with a gunshot and, just to tease us, showed the first seconds of volume three...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2007
Dec
3
"YOU GUYS KNOW WHO PHILO FARNSWORTH WAS?" By David Bianculli
 
 
That quote - "You guys know who Philo Farnsworth was?" - was the way William H. Macy, playing a ratings expert on the ABC comedy "Sports Night," began lecturing a trio of meddling network executives on the true inventor of electronic television. That speech, and that episode, was written by "Sports Night" creator Aaron Sorkin in 1999...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2007
Dec
2
"TIN MAN": SCI-FI CHANNEL DARES TO DREAM, WHILE THE BROADCAST NETWORKS MERELY SLEEP By David Bianculli
 
 
For months now, Sci-Fi Channel has been publicizing "Tin Man," its six-hour miniseries, arriving tonight, that offers a rebooted take on L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." It's worth watching because (after a slow start) it builds nicely and imaginatively. It's also worth applauding because - well, because it's a risk, the type the networks mostly are avoiding these days...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2007
Dec
1
ALL HAIL THE QUEEN OF CHRISTMAS TV By David Bianculli
 
 
In certain areas of TV criticism and history, I bow to no one. (I should, but I don't.) But when it comes to holiday television, I bow quite humbly to The Queen of Christmas TV. She Who Cannot Be Equalled, during this time of year, is "Newsday" TV columnist Diane Werts. When it comes to December holiday shows on television, she wrote the book...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 

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.
 
 
New From TVWW

PBS' 'Frontline’ Examines Pension Promises and — Spoiler Alert — Finds the Math Doesn’t Add Up
By Alex Strachan
 
 
 
 
The Decadence of ‘Versailles’ Comes to Ovation
By David Hinckley
 
 
 
 
Prescribing Mamie Gummer in 'Emily Owens, M.D.'
By Ed Bark
 
 
 
 
Looking for a Free Ride? HBO Can Deliver
By Christy Slewinski
 
 
 
 
'Pass the Biscuits' Part of the Hatfield-McCoy Pop-Culture Legacy
By Noel Holston
 
 
 
 

Dispatches From TVWW

'Extinction: The Facts' is a Sobering Call to Action
By David Hinckley
 
 
 
 
How 'Mayans' Has Been Influenced by the Show's Creator Elgin James
By Mike Hughes
 
 
 
 
For Whom the Bell Tolls: Ken Burns and Lynn Novick Take on Ernest Hemingway, the Man and the Myth
By Alex Strachan
 
 
 
 
In the Final Season, Sutton Foster's Liza is Now the Genuine Version of Her 'Younger' Self
By Monique Nazareth
 
 
 
 
Season 2 of 'City on a Hill' Returns with Kevin Bacon, Aldis Hodge, and Boston Corruption
By David Hinckley
 
 
 
 

This Day in TV History

1957: Julie Andrews Stars in 'Cinderella'
By TV WW