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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
 
 
 
 
 
2010
May
14
ROWAN UNIVERSITY: GRADUATION DAY, AND ONE MEMORABLE TV HISTORY ESSAY By David Bianculli
 
 
Last year, when I was completing my first year as a full-time faculty member at New Jersey's Rowan University, I also was crashing on the final month of writing my Smothers Brothers book, so I passed on attending, and participating in, what would have been my first graduation ceremony as an associate professor...Friday, with the book done and published and the school year over again, I happily attended -- and was so glad I did...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
May
10
FOR "24" AND ITS FINAL HOUR, IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO KILL JACK BAUER By David Bianculli
 
 
In two weeks, we'll be saying goodbye to the Fox series 24, and to Kiefer Sutherland's character of Jack Bauer, who's had a memorable string of terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days. The real-time clock on 24 is running out -- and so is the chance for the series to deliver one last, shocking, legendary twist...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
May
5
STUDENT BLOG #5: ROLLING WITH THE UPS AND DOWNS OF "GREY'S ANATOMY" By David Bianculli
 
 
Once a term, I try to discover a student with enough obvious writing and critical ability to give him or her a shot at writing a guest column about TV -- and give us a chance to see things from a younger generation's perspective. Today, Rowan University junior Eve Patzlaff evaluates the shifting effectiveness of a long-time favorite. Please welcome her...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
May
4
KENT STATE, 40 YEARS LATER -- A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE By David Bianculli
 
 
Forty years ago today, the National Guard fired into a distant crowd of student protesters at Ohio's Kent State University, killing four students. As a TV critic and scholar, I've been quoted by the Cleveland Plain Dealer about one media-related aspect of the tragedy -- but back in 1970, at age 16, I relayed by thoughts via the media also -- delivering a controversial editorial for my high school's closed-circuit TV system...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
May
3
TOM FONTANA REUNITES "OZ" CAST, RAISES MONEY FOR WGAE By David Bianculli
 
 
In a one-day-only, two-performances benefit staging for Writers Foundation East, a giggling gaggle of cast members from Tom Fontana's groundbreaking HBO drama series Oz reunited in New York yesterday, for a comedic, playfully homoerotic, revenge-fantasy comedy of Fontana's unproduced The Godfather Part IV. What a riot -- and what a shame it wasn't filmed for HBO, or as the funniest DVD Extra of all time...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Apr
29
SO LONG, BILL MOYERS: TELEVISION WILL BE POORER WITHOUT YOU By David Bianculli
 
 
Friday night, the host of "Bill Moyers' Journal" presents an expanded 90-minute edition of his superb program, then says goodbye -- putting a self-imposed end to a stellar TV career that began 40 years ago. It's safe to say, given Moyers' reliable excellence and the qualitative demise of most network news and public affairs shows, we're unlikely to see his equal again...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Apr
27
ACTOR JOE PANTOLIANO BECOMES A DIRECTOR, AND CHAMPIONS COMPASSION FOR "MENTAL DIS-EASE," IN NEW DOCUMENTARY By David Bianculli
 
 
Beginning today, Amazon has begun offering exclusive distribution of a new documentary by Joe Pantoliano...But this time, as writer-producer-director of "No Kidding?!! Me, Too!", the performer known as Joey Pants isn't hiding behind a role. He's being as honest as he can, about his personal battles with depression and other forms of what he calls "mental dis-ease,"...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Apr
20
"GLEE" AND "LOST": TWO OF TV'S MOST INVENTIVE, ORIGINAL SERIES ARE MUST-SEE TONIGHT By David Bianculli
 
 
Two of television's most exciting, inventive and original broadcast network series right now, Fox's "Glee' and ABC's "Lost", present can't-miss episodes tonight. Unfortunately, they're on at the same time, so a little time-shifting is required. But see them both, by all means...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Apr
17
SPEAKING AND WATCHING AT THE BEA: MY WEEKEND IN VEGAS By David Bianculli
 
 
This weekend capped the latest frenzied round of what passes for my life, with a presentation about my book at the Broadcast Education Association convention in Las Vegas. But what I was most excited about at the convention was the King Foundation Awards show, which selected and honored the best student and faculty productions in various media categories...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Apr
13
SINGING THE PRAISES OF FOX'S "GLEE": IT'S BACK, AND EVEN MORE DELIGHTFUL By David Bianculli
 
 
When last we saw the musical misfits of Fox's "Glee", they had won the Sectionals, the first step in becoming state champs for their singing glee club. Well, after a few months off, they return tonight, basking in their newfound glory -- for about 10 seconds. Then, once again, the reality and cruelty of high school sets in...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 

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