Last week’s episode showed Carrie (Claire Danes) and her team conducting a thrown-together sting, targeting a woman ensnared in a money trail leading to the chemically induced death, by mysterious chem-warfare agent, of a general in custody for attempted treason. (Let’s set aside, for the moment, just how spookily prescient that chemical killing has proven.) What was so good about that episode was how the mission kept shifting as things kept going wrong — and how, at the end, C

2018

Mar

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE By David Bianculli

Charles Barkley returns as guest host, with musical guest Migos. Not to knock Migos, or add undue pressure, but Barkley has hosted SNL three other times over a 25-year span, and each time, his musical guests have killed it. That was true of Kelly Clarkson in 2012, and of Alicia Keys in 2010 – and it certainly was true, way back in 1993 the first time Barkley the NBA star hosted, when the musical guest was Nirvana.

2018

Feb

IT’S A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN TV HISTORY By David Bianculli

Today (Monday, February 19), is the golden anniversary of the premiere of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood on public television. All manner of tributes are on the way... including a library of shows available on YouTube...

2018

Feb

2018 WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES By David Bianculli

There’s stuff going on all day on NBCSN and elsewhere – with all of it live on the NBC Olympics site – but today I’m going to be especially selfish and focused, and point out only the USA curling team coverage. From 2-5 p.m. ET on NBCSN, you can watch (as I will), the USA men’s curling team take the ice against Italy. From 5-8 p.m. ET on CNBC, you can see the USA women’s curling team take on their counterparts from Switzerland. And at 11 p.m. ET back on NBCSN,

2018

Feb

WHERE IS MISTER ROGERS WHEN WE NEED HIM IN WASHINGTON AGAIN? By David Bianculli

Next Monday, Feb. 12, is the golden anniversary of the premiere of the landmark public television children’s series Mister Rogers’ Neighborhoood. But today, a week earlier, President Donald Trump has announced his budget plans to eliminate PBS from the federal budget...

2018

Jan

'BREAKING BAD' TURNS 10, BUT HAS A PAST AND A FUTURE: THAT'S 'SAUL,' FOLKS By David Bianculli

AMC’s Breaking Bad turns 10 years old this month, which its network is celebrating by repeating the entire series, in sequence, on weekends through the end of January. The celebration is richly deserved, and not only for the way the series advanced the evolution of quality TV in general, and AMC in particular. Breaking Bad also happens to be, in my opinion, the best TV drama series ever presented. It’s got brilliantly written and performed characters, its photography is as

2017

Dec

(RE)BUILDING BRIDGES By David Bianculli

New Jersey has a lot of old bridges...

2017

Nov

TV WORTH WATCHING CELEBRATES 10TH ANNIVERSARY! By David Bianculli

TV Worth Watching turns 10 years old this weekend – a proper time for a fond look back, and, if you’d like, a chance for you to share your opinions and memories as well…

2017

Aug

JAY THOMAS, MASTER STORYTELLER, 1948-2017 By David Bianculli

Jay Thomas, the comedian and radio host whose TV appearances included familiar regular roles on NBC’s Cheers and CBS’s Murphy Brown, died of cancer Thursday, Aug. 24, at age 69...

2017

Jul

HOW A BAREFOOT CONTESSA WELCOMED BEN MANKIEWICZ TO TCM By David Bianculli

Monday, July 24, is Ava Gardner Day on Turner Classic Movies... TCM host Ben Mankiewicz, in this special video, credits with leading to his job at the network. Sort of...

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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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