Peter Falk, who died last week at age 83, embodied one of the most popular and durable characters in all of TV history, the mystery-solving sleuth of NBC's Columbo. There's a lot to love about Falk's characterization of the mumbling, fumbling but never bumbling Lieutenant Columbo -- and a lot to remember, too, including the time I had lunch with him and faced an unexpected pop quiz...

2011

Jun

HOW YA GONNA KEEP HIM HERE ON THE WEB AFTER HE'S SEEN PARIS? By David Bianculli

After hosting NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross on Friday, June 17, I'm heading home, packing up, and catching a plane to France, where I'm embarking on an uncharacteristic week-long vacation, courtesy of two sets of friends who are there to a) put me up, b) put up with me, and/or c) take me around...

2011

Jun

PREDICTIONS ABOUT TV'S FUTURE: I GUESSED RIGHT -- NOW IT'S YOUR TURN By David Bianculli

Almost 20 years ago, in my first book, I predicted what TV might look like in the future - and now that the future's here, it happens I was right. So I'm wondering: What will television look like two decades from NOW? And this time, just for fun, why don't YOU guess?...

2011

Jun

HEY, CARRIE ANN INABA! NOTHING PERSONAL, BUT... FOOK YU! By David Bianculli

I was watching a telecast of "Austin Powers" in "Goldmember" the other day and was surprised, when doing my habitual practice of closely reading the final credits, to see a name that was not familiar to me when the film was released in 2002, but is much more familiar now: Carrie Ann Inaba, one of the judges on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars"...

2011

Jun

ED MARTIN IS RIGHT: ONCE AGAIN, MTV AND TIMBERLAKE HAVE REDEFINED 'BOOB TUBE' By David Bianculli

I love it when I read something by one of our TVWW contributors and it makes ME go "Damn, that's brilliant -- and it had never occurred to me." It happens more than I'd care to admit, and it definitely occurs with Ed Martin's newest Ed Martin's TV Mix dispatch...

2011

Jun

'BREAKING BAD': THE SERIES, THE DVD, MY LIFE By David Bianculli

Today I intended to present a lengthy review of the Season 3 DVD set of AMC's Breaking Bad, which just came out...And keep reading, for my one can't-resist observation about this new DVD set...

2011

Jun

LET JAMES ARNESS REST IN PEACE: KELSEY GRAMMER DID NOT MATCH HIS IRON MAN TV RECORD By David Bianculli

James Arness, who died Friday at age 88, was described in some obituaries as playing the same TV series role longer than any other performer in prime time -- until, goes the asterisk, Kelsey Grammer beat his record, though Grammer took two different series to do so. To which I say: Bah, humbug. Arness still owns that crown, and probably always will...

2011

Jun

HEY, PBS: WANT VIEWERS TO STAY TUNED? INTERRUPTING PROGRAMS WITH PROMO BREAKS ISN'T THE ANSWER... BUT I HAVE ONE By David Bianculli

News surfaced this week that PBS plans, starting this fall, to insert promotional messages and corporate and foundation sponsor spots within a few core programs, rather than just between shows. Executives defend it as a way to keep viewers from defecting during the long bunched-up breaks at the end of each hour -- but this strategy carries its own risks. Besides, there's an easier way to reduce viewer turnout...

2011

Jun

WHY 'TRUE BLOOD' RULES: ZOMBIES, WEREWOLVES AND WITCHES MAY BE HOT NOW, BUT VAMPIRES ARE FOREVER By David Bianculli

Season 3 of True Blood has just come out on DVD and Blu-Ray, less than a month before Season 4 arrives on HBO. It's great to dive in, again or the first time, with Sookie Stackhouse and all her supernatural friends, enemies and lovers -- and it's a biting reminder why, no matter how many other creatures of the night may pop up in movies and TV right now, vampires rule...

2011

May

2011 SEASON FINALES: AN ILLUSTRATED, ALPHABETICAL, VERY SUBJECTIVE RECAP By David Bianculli

As we say hello to June, and new and returning summer series, it's time to give nods to some of the shows that recently wrapped up for the season -- many with dynamic, daring surprises and shifts. If you've still got the year's final episodes of, say, Fringe and Justified and The Good Wife waiting for you on your DVR, you may want to wait before taking my illustrated, subjective A to Z tour. Well, A to S, anyway. Starts with American Idol. Ends with Survivor...

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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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