The newest offering from the USA Network, a mostly lighthearted concoction called "Covert Affairs" and starring Piper Perabo as a fledgling CIA agent, couldn't be more well-timed, given the recent Russian spy swap and the inescapable images of young, sultry Anna Chapman. For that, and other reasons, it's TV worth watching -- but many other summer offerings are not...

2010

Jul

TVWW INTERNAL MEMO: YOUR MISSION, ERIC GOULD, SHOULD YOU DECIDE TO ACCEPT IT... By David Bianculli

The website upgrade is coming along great. Lots of progress on all fronts this weekend. Meanwhile, our website designer, Eric Gould, posted one wildly entertaining column, analyzing Lady Gaga's latest video. So I have a challenge for him, which I'm sharing with all of you...

2010

Jul

NEWEST EMMY NOMINATIONS: LOTS OF PAST OVERSIGHTS CORRECTED! By David Bianculli

The nominations for the 2009 Emmy Awards, announced early Thursday morning, offered a few surprises, many of them pleasant -- including an in-your-face nomination for Conan O'Brien's version of NBC's "Tonight Show", while Jay Leno's version, also eligible, was snubbed in the variety category...

2010

Jul

GUEST BLOG #102: TVWW GANG WEIGHS IN ON EMMY NOMINATION WISHES: WHO SHOULD GET NOTICED... By David Bianculli

With the Emmy nominations coming Thursday morning, I asked our TV WORTH WATCHING contributors to weigh in on the subject. And boy, did they, with a passion that explains why we all spend so much time watching, and writing about, television...

2010

Jun

POWERFUL FX TWO-PUNCH: "RESCUE ME" RETURNS, LOUIS C.K. REGROUPS By David Bianculli

The characters played by Denis Leary in FX's "Rescue Me" and by Louis C.K., who plays an exaggerated version of himself in the new FX series "Louie", have two major things in common: They misbehave so much, they almost dare you to like them. And somehow, the more abrasive and honestly caustic they get, the funnier they are...

2010

Jun

HELL FREEZES OVER AGAIN: FIRST THE BOOK IS FINISHED, AND NOW THE WEBSITE RELAUNCH IS NEARLY HERE By David Bianculli

Long ago, I swore to myself that TV WORTH WATCHING would be redesigned and relaunched before we published "Guest Blog #100." Our guests, after that much time, deserve their own comfy spaces. Well, when we post our next guest contributor's column Monday, it'll be #99, so we're cutting it really, really close...

2010

Jun

CHECK OUT -- OR CHECK INTO -- ABC'S "BOSTON MED" DOCUMENTARY SERIES By David Bianculli

While most so-called reality TV shows are unwatchable and uninspired, there's a show about actual reality that begins tonight on ABC, and sparkles like a diamond amid all the summertime TV coal. It's an eight-week documentary series called Boston Med, and it's captivating...

2010

Jun

TV DOCUMENTARIES INSPIRE AND INFORM, WHILE SHOWS LIKE "WIPEOUT" SUGGEST TV'S "DOWNFALL" By David Bianculli

Tonight ABC presents two high-action, low-brain competition summer series: the returning "Wipeout" and the brand-new "Downfall". Yet elsewhere this week, quality nonfiction offerings shine -- and deserve to be supported, applauded, and, in spirit, imitated...

2010

Jun

ONCE AGAIN, A "FRESH AIR" INTERVIEW YIELDS SOME BREAKING NEWS ABOUT NBC'S "FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS" By David Bianculli

Two years ago, when I interviewed NBC's "Friday Night Lights" star Kyle Chandler for NPR's "Fresh Air with Terry Gross", Chandler broke the news about the impending deal with DirecTV that would save the series from cancellation for two more seasons. Well, I just recorded an upcoming Fresh Air interview with Lights co-star Connie Britton -- and, once again, emerged with some breaking news...

2010

Jun

COMPUTER PROBLEMS ALMOST DO ME IN -- BUT I LIVE TO SCREAM ANOTHER DAY By David Bianculli

The reason updates have been sluggish last week and this: a series of disconnected, disconcerting computer problems, requiring a repair, a replacement, some wholesale data movement and password changes -- and, today, hours on the phone with every third tech-support specialist in Mumbai...

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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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