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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
Mar
13
HBO'S "THE PACIFIC" IS A SUPERB SIBLING TO "BAND OF BROTHERS" By David Bianculli
 
 
Executive producers Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Gary Goetzman did a great job dramatizing the European battles of WWII in 2001's "Band of Brothers". Now, nine years later, they've reteamed for another HBO miniseries, to do the same thing for "The Pacific" -- and it's just as good. Maybe even better...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Mar
11
DIANE HOLLOWAY, AND MILLIONS OF OTHERS, GET THEIR WISH: BETTY WHITE WILL HOST "SNL" By David Bianculli
 
 
How cool is this? (Answer: Very.) Fan and critic pressure, for once, has carried the day: NBC has announced that, due to popular demand, Betty White WILL host Saturday Night Live...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Mar
10
CBS "EARLY SHOW" PRESENTS "COLON CAM," BILLED AS "FIRST TV ANCHOR TO UNDERGO LIVE TV COLONOSCOPY" By David Bianculli
 
 
It happened Wednesday morning on the "CBS Early Show". Co-anchor Harry Smith, promoting prevention and treatment of colorectal cancer, underwent what CBS billed as "First TV Anchor to Undergo Live TV Colonoscopy." Mabel, pass the doughnuts...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Mar
9
MY "BREAKING BAD" INTERVIEW BREAKS TODAY ON NPR'S "FRESH AIR" By David Bianculli
 
 
Today on NPR's "Fresh Air with Terry Gross", I interview Vince Gilligan, the creator of AMC's fabulous, and delightfully unpredictable, drama series "Breaking Bad". It reminds me, all over again, why I love being associated with Fresh Air...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Mar
8
2010 ABC OSCAR TELECAST: TWICE THE BEST PICTURE NOMINEES, TWICE THE HOSTS, BUT NOT TWICE THE VALUE By David Bianculli
 
 
The number of Best Picture nominees was doubled, from five to 10. The running time expanded, too, with ABC's telecast running more than 30 minutes over schedule. So with Monday's Oscar telecast, if less is more, is more less? More or less...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Mar
5
AFTER LENO'S FIRST WEEK IN LATE NIGHT, WHAT'S HAPPENING? LOTS -- BUT NOT IN LATE NIGHT By David Bianculli
 
 
Jay Leno has had a week to reassert himself in late night, and NBC has had the same week to re-establish itself in prime time. So who's doing better in this first phase of reshuffling? In late night, Leno is dominating the ratings, but not doing anything impressive to earn his viewers. In prime time, on the other hand, NBC is trying an interesting thing or two. Or three...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Mar
2
JAY LENO RETURNS TO LATE NIGHT, LEAVES PRIME TIME TO "PARENTHOOD" By David Bianculli
 
 
Jay Leno reclaimed his NBC "Tonight Show" throne Monday night, a month after vacating his prime-time slot. Filling that spot tonight? The premiere of NBC's new midseason drama entry, Parenthood. Reviews of both shows follow...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Feb
27
I DON'T USUALLY DO THIS, BUT YOU MUST WATCH THIS KEITH OLBERMANN SEGMENT FROM MSNBC'S "COUNTDOWN" By David Bianculli
 
 
I've seen lots of captivating TV the past few days -- Olympics skating, curling and hockey, ABC's Lost, and so on -- but nothing quite so riveting, and unforgettable, as Keith Olbermann's passionate commentary on Wednesday's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" on MSNBC...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Feb
24
LATE NIGHT PREPARES TO SHIFT AGAIN, AND FERGUSON ALREADY IS EXPERIMENTING By David Bianculli
 
 
Monday evening, after the Olympics are over, Jay Leno will return to NBC's "The Tonight Show", and is bringing a pair of Olympic medal winners with him on opening night. Meanwhile, as Leno plans to return with a big splash, another late-night TV host is quietly experimenting, with no advance publicity whatsoever...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Feb
22
"UNDER OUR SKIN" DOCUMENTARY DESERVES NATIONAL TV EXPOSURE By David Bianculli
 
 
Sometimes a documentary comes along that not only is TV Worth Watching, it is TV essential to a national discussion. We were fortunate enough to find "Under Our Skin", a 2010 broadcast investigating Lyme Disease. It revealed and disproved accepted ideas around this chronic illness, and TVWW readers responded overwhelmingly. One wrote, "Thanks David...Your TV criticism is welcome and needed..."
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 

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