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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
May
26
'OPRAH' FINALE: CUTTING AN ANGELIC FIGURE, IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE By David Bianculli
 
 
Oprah Winfrey's three-day, three-part TV series finale -- two parts Premature Burial fawning salute, one part sermon on the TV mount -- was a study in celebrity worship at its highest. For two days, Monday and Tuesday, a parade of A-listers paid homage to Oprah, talking about nothing but her. On Wednesday's final day, Oprah accepted that load, and spent her last hour, with no guests, talking about herself and her audience...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
May
24
PEABODYS AT 70: STILL PIONEERING, STILL ENTERTAINING By David Bianculli
 
 
The 2011 Peabody Awards presentation Monday at New York's Waldorf-Astoria was a celebration of excellence, attended by recipients and subjects whose sheer variety exemplified the wide-ranging Peabody standard. Over there, Yoko Ono. Over there, Julianna Margulies. And over there, Spike Lee, Timothy Olyphant, Patrick Stewart and Temple Grandin...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
May
23
SHERMAN, SET THE WAYBACK MACHINE FOR... LATER TONIGHT, AFTER THE PEABODY AWARDS By David Bianculli
 
 
Right after I type this, I'm hitting the road to head north to New York and today's Peabody Awards presentation.... I'll provide coverage of what happened today at TV's most prestigious awards presentation -- as well as quotes from my recent conversation with Peabody Awards director and pioneering TV historian Horace Newcomb...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
May
19
NOW I LAY ME DOWN TO SWEEP: FOR MAY TV SWEEPS, EXCEPT FOR OPRAH, WHY BOTHER? By David Bianculli
 
 
The ratings "sweeps" months, used to set advertising rates for local stations for the coming quarter, used to be hotly contested events, full of miniseries and TV movies, attention-getting series cliffhangers and loads of special events. But for the May 2011 sweeps, which end next Wednesday, the biggest event of all comes not from a broadcast network, but from a syndicated show...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
May
17
TRUMP'S PRESIDENTIAL BID IS TRUMPED BY... TRUMP By David Bianculli
 
 
So much for my presidential prognostication skills. Though I thought I had predicted the perfect game plan with which Donald Trump could mount a presidential run over the summer -- just long enough to get attention without having to disclose his financials -- The Donald scuttled that idea yesterday and threw his hat out of the ring in a way that was very, well, up front...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
May
16
'FREEDOM RIDERS': IMPORTANT, EXCITING NEW DOCUMENTARY FROM PBS 'AMERICAN EXPERIENCE' By David Bianculli
 
 
The newest PBS American Experience documentary, Freedom Riders, tells of a key moment in the history of the Civil Rights movement that took place 50 years ago -- yet tells it in such a gripping, present-tense way that it plays more like a retro episode of 24. Premiering tonight (Monday, May 16) at 9 p.m. ET (check local listings), it's a two-hour history lesson that's as exciting as it is important...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
May
12
JAMES DURBIN ELIMINATION AN 'IDOL' TRAVESTY By David Bianculli
 
 
Just when it seemed as though Fox's American Idol had weathered the storm of revamping its judging panel... the long-running musical competition show shot itself in the foot, and maybe the heart, Thursday night by refusing James Durbin entry to the Final Three. The fatal Achilles' heel of American Idol, may well turn out to be its own voters...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
May
10
WITH 'THE VOICE,' NBC PROFITS BY GOING DUTCH By David Bianculli
 
 
The only real hit of the 2010-11 TV season has arrived at the 11th hour, as NBC's The Voice moves to a new time slot tonight (10 p.m. ET Tuesday) already acknowledged as a ratings, demographic and even critical success. And its success proves, once again, that when it comes to adaptable TV formats, it's a small world after all...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
May
9
HAPPY GOLDEN AGE, 'VAST WASTELAND': IT'S YOUR 50TH ANNIVERSARY! By David Bianculli
 
 
Fifty years ago today [Monday], new Federal Communications Commission chairman Newton Minow (above) gave his inaugural speech to broadcasters, and coined a durable phrase that rattled them a bit by describing what they presented on their TV stations as a "vast wasteland." And that was half a century BEFORE Snooki...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
May
6
WILL DONALD TRUMP RUN FOR PRESIDENT? MY PREDICTION: YES, BUT... By David Bianculli
 
 
Two weeks ago, Donald Trump irritated President Barack Obama into releasing a longer-form birth certificate to quell absurd yet persistent questions about his country of birth. Last week, Trump scowled as Obama shot back with one-liners at the White House Correspondents Dinner. The next night, Obama coincidentally pre-empted the climax of Trump's Celebrity Apprentice with news of his successful raid on the compound of Osama bin Laden. So what will Trump do...I have a prediction...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 

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