2021
 
 
 
 
 
 
2020
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2019
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2018
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2017
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2016
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2015
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2014
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2013
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2012
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2011
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2010
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2009
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2008
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2007
 
 
 
 
 
 
2001
 
 
 
 
1998
 
 
 
 
1990
 
 
 
 
1989
 
 
 
 
1987
 
 
 
 
1985
 
 
 
 
1982
 
 
 
 
1980
 
 
 

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
 
 
 
 
 
2012
May
8
ON NBC’S 'THE VOICE,' TONY LUCCA DOES '99 PROBLEMS' AND CHRISTINA AGUILERA IS ONE By David Bianculli
 
 
As we approach Tuesday’s winner-crowning season finale on NBC’s The Voice, this deserves note: On Monday’s show, judge Christina Aguilera’s treatment of finalist Tony Lucca, who started out with Aguilera on The All New Mickey Mouse Club, was rude beyond belief…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
May
7
ABC IS TAKING A BITE FROM THE APPLE: GOOD IDEA? By David Bianculli
 
 
To promote its new summer musical competition series, Duets, ABC is taking a bite from the Apple – and echoing the iconic, Orwellian ad used by Apple to launch the Macintosh computer in 1984. I invite you to compare and contrast, and ask whether it’s a good idea…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
May
6
LONG LIVE 'DOCTOR WHO': TALKIN' ABOUT MY REGENERATION... By David Bianculli
 
 

While recording my interview with writer-producer Steven Moffat the other day for NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, I grilled him for secrets about the upcoming golden anniversary of Doctor Who. Moffat didn’t crack under interrogation – but did reveal one newsworthy secret, which didn’t make it on air. I offer it here, exclusively…

 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
May
4
'AVENGERS' ASIDE, OTHER COMIC-BOOK ADAPTATIONS TO TV AND FILM ARE LESS MARVEL-OUS By David Bianculli
 
 
Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon behind the wheel of the new Avengers movie? For TV fantasy fans, it’s a fantasy come true. But other TV shows and movies based on Marvel Comics characters have flopped a lot more than they’ve soared…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
May
3
MY 'SHERLOCK 2' REVIEW: COMPLIMENTARY, MY DEAR WATSON By David Bianculli
 
 
Season 2 of the imported Sherlock series begins Sunday on the PBS Masterpiece Mystery series – and once again, this modern-day updating of literature’s most classic sleuth is as clever as its protagonist…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Apr
27
NBC'S LIVE "30 ROCK" WAS SPECTACULAR - TWICE By David Bianculli
 
 
NBC’s 30 Rock presented a brilliant live episode Thursday night, inspired by and spoofing on the history of live TV itself. Then, three hours later, did it all over again, just as brilliantly – but by no means the same…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Apr
26
LIVE, FROM NEW YORK, IT'S THURSDAY NIGHT! By David Bianculli
 
 
NBC’s 30 Rock is performing and presenting this week’s episode live, a trick it pulled off successfully two years ago. But these days, is watching TV in “real time” a treat – or an annoyance?...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Apr
25
I, DAVID, RECOMMEND NEW DVD OF ‘I, CLAUDIUS’ By David Bianculli
 
 
Thirty-five years ago, PBS’s Masterpiece Theatre imported a brilliant BBC miniseries about a family so twisted, it makes The Borgias and The Sopranos look like The Waltons -- now, reissued in a lavish new DVD set, I, Claudius still amazes...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Apr
23
TV WORTH WATCHING: THE NEXT GENERATION By David Bianculli
 
 
No, you’re not seeing things. Well, actually, you are. This is still TV WORTH WATCHING – but we’ve finally delivered on our promise for another relaunch...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Apr
18
DICK CLARK DIES AT 82, LEAVES BEHIND A HIGH-SCORING TV LEGACY By David Bianculli
 
 
Fifty-five years after his American Bandstand pop-music show went national, TV host Dick Clark died Wednesday morning of a heart attack. He was 82...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 

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