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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
 
 
 
 
 
2011
Nov
1
'ROCK CENTER' IMPRESSES IN FIRST OUTING -- BUT ON NBC, IS QUALITY ENOUGH? By David Bianculli
 
 
Monday's inaugural edition of NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams was an unusually polished and impressive first outing for a TV newsmagazine -- good mix of stories, thoughtful and engaging conversation, even a fun surprise guest. But with the most mindless of lead-ins, a two-hour installment of The Sing-Off, did anyone watch?...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Oct
31
WHAT DID YOU WATCH, OR RECORD, SUNDAY NIGHT? By David Bianculli
 
 
What Did YOU Watch, Or Record, Sunday Night? I hope you caught the first installment of PBS's America in Primetime Sunday night -- and if so, I'd love to know what you thought. But then it occurred to me: Sunday night, at this point in 2011, is so bursting with good TV, I'd be very interested in hearing about whatever you watched, and what you thought of it -- and, if any, which shows you recorded to save for later...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Oct
29
TOM YELLIN: THE TV WORTH WATCHING INTERVIEW By David Bianculli
 
 
Tom Yellin, co-founder of The Documentary Group, used to produce the ABC News Peter Jennings Reporting specials, among other fine programs. His latest project, created with director Lloyd Kramer and others, is America in Primetime, the four-part PBS documentary series premiering Sunday at 8 p.m. ET (check local listings). I'm so impressed with this study of television that I wrote about it for TVWW and for NPR...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Oct
27
'AMERICA IN PRIMETIME': FINALLY, A TV SHOW ABOUT TV GETS IT RIGHT! By David Bianculli
 
 
"America in Primetime", the four-part PBS documentary series about various TV archetypes, begins Sunday night at 8 ET (check local listings), and absolutely is a show to watch, record and savor. How good is it? This good: It's the best television series about television in more than 20 years...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Oct
26
CHINA SEES TOO MUCH TACKY REALITY TV, DECIDES TO DIM SOME By David Bianculli
 
 
The Associated Press has just reported that China, with a new Communist Party ruling intended to be enforced by the end of this year, plans to cut back drastically on the amount of reality programming permitted on its satellite networks. Talent shows, matchmaking shows and programs focusing on marital troubles are among those being ordered to cease production. And you know what? Don't quote me in Red Channels, but those Communists may be on to something...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Oct
24
'SECONDHAND TV' BAD FOR KIDS? SO IS FIRSTHAND EXPOSURE TO STUPID TV STUDIES By David Bianculli
 
 
You heard it here secondhand: Last week, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a warning that "secondhand TV" -- the casual exposure to television, when being watched by other, older viewers -- can harm the development of children under age 2. To which I say, well, that's not the stupidest thing any organization has said about television. But it does make the semifinals...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Oct
22
'ONCE UPON A TIME,' ABC HAD A CHARMING IDEA FOR A NEW TV SERIES By David Bianculli
 
 
Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you -- and if you believe, really believe, then maybe ABC's new Once Upon a Time series will come true, too. After previewing two episodes, I'm not sure yet whether this new Sunday series, premiering this weekend at 8 p.m. ET, has the vision to go the distance. But my, this new mix of enchanted fantasy land and small-town soap opera starts out with a tantalizingly original premise, and certainly shows promise...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Oct
21
WHO'S THE 'BOSS'? KELSEY GRAMMER -- AND ON HIS NEW SHOW, HE'S THE ONE TO WATCH By David Bianculli
 
 
The impressive first scene of Boss, the new Starz drama starring Kelsey Grammer as a volatile and domineering Chicago mayor, locks in entirely on Grammer's Tom Kane as (seen above) he receives a death sentence from his doctor -- a long, dispassionate description of the probable effects, short-term and long-term, of his rare brain disease...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Oct
19
EYE REMEMBER, MAMA: CBS LOGO TURNS 60 YEARS OLD By David Bianculli
 
 
One of the most recognizable logo brands of the 20th century, one that's still around (with modernized variations) here in the 21st, celebrates its 60th anniversary Thursday. It's the CBS eye, which, only in the most literal sense, is a black eye on the face of the CBS network. Otherwise, it's a marketing triumph that would make Don Draper weep with pride. The CBS Eye, with the CBS Television Network identified in the pupil, and with the eye floating behind a sky of black-and-white clouds, was broadcast for the first time on Oct. 20, 1951...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Oct
18
IT'S A ZOMBIE JAMBOREE AT AMC, WITH 'WALKING DEAD' REGISTERING MONSTER RATINGS NUMBERS By David Bianculli
 
 
TVWW managing editor Diane Werts has beaten me to the punch on this one, reporting on the amazing audience estimates for Sunday's Season 2 premiere of AMC's The Walking Dead in her For Better or Werts column -- But those numbers, like the show, bears repeating. They really are shocking -- and multiplying about as quickly as a zombie epidemic...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 

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