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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
Feb
18
RICKY GERVAIS CONTINUES TO BAT 1.000 ON TV, THIS TIME WITH HBO'S "RICKY GERVAIS SHOW" By David Bianculli
 
 
Ricky Gervais, on television, has a perfect streak going. BBC's "The Office", the original series in which he starred, and which co-wrote with Stephen Merchant: brilliant. HBO's Extras, the series featuring both him and Merchant on-camera as well as off: brilliant. Gervais' HBO stand-up special: brilliant. And now comes "The Ricky Gervais Show", an animated HBO version of an ongoing series of conversational podcasts. And guess what? It, too, is brilliant...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Feb
15
NBC'S 2010 OLYMPICS: OFF TO A TRAGIC/THRILLING/IMPRESSIVE START By David Bianculli
 
 
The opening weekend of NBC's coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games from Vancouver started tragically, ended thrillingly, and featured a lot of emotional and impressive moments in between. All in all, it was a strong start, establishing, once again, that the best - and worst - Olympic moments follow no set script...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Feb
9
DID SUPER BOWL XLIV REALLY OUTDRAW "M*A*S*H"? NOT NECESSARILY... By David Bianculli
 
 
Both CBS and the Nielsen Company give credit to Sunday's CBS telecast of Super Bowl XLIV as the all-time most popular TV event, slightly beating the finale of the same network's "M*A*S*H", a record that has stood for 27 years. But if you look at the statistics from a slightly different angle, that record STILL stands...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Feb
7
"UNDERCOVER BOSS": FOR CBS, A SMART USE OF THE POST-SUPER BOWL SLOT By David Bianculli
 
 
After Super Bowl LXIV ends, and after the post-game interviews and final analysis, CBS will attempt to retain as many members as possible of that huge TV audience, and introduce them to a new reality series: "Undercover Boss", a program in which the heads of corporation pretend to be new trainees, with cameras along to capture both their performances and their treatment. As post-Super Bowl programs go, it's a pretty good fit...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Feb
3
WHAT DID YOU THINK OF LAST NIGHT'S "LOST"? By David Bianculli
 
 
Once it's been broadcast, I feel, it's fair game for discussion. So what did YOU think of last night's episode of ABC's Lost?...Basically, I liked it, and was thrown by it in all the right places, and can't wait for next week's episode...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Feb
2
THE BEGINNING OF THE END: ABC'S "LOST" IS BACK, FOR ONE LAST LAP By David Bianculli
 
 
When last we saw a first-run edition of ABC's Lost, nine months ago, Juliet was banging a nuclear device with a rock, hoping desperately to trigger an explosion that would, in theory, disrupt the existing time line and throw the island's inhabitants back to a time before its magnetic and mysterious forces drew them in. The season ended with Juliet succeeding in sparking an explosion -- a blinding, brilliant flash of white...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Jan
30
STUDENT BLOG #3: AN ANIME PRIMER, AND POP QUIZ: WHAT IS "MOE"? (HINT: NOT ONE OF THE THREE STOOGES) By David Bianculli
 
 
Bianculli here: All TV critics have their quirky specialties, and we here at TV WORTH WATCHING are no different. But I admit to being ignorant of, though curious about, the majority of Japanese anime programs. But one of my former college students at Rowan University, Rich Greenhalgh, is passionate about the subject, so I gave him a dare: Write a column about anime explaining what's hot, and why. He came through, and even provided links for us to become instantly anime-literate...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Jan
29
FINAL VERDICT ON JOSS WHEDON'S "DOLLHOUSE": REGARDING THE CAST, MISSED IT BY THAT MUCH By David Bianculli
 
 
As I type this, less than 90 minutes remain until Fox broadcasts the final, unpreviewed episode of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse. The fact that I'm anticipating it attests to the promise that Whedon brings to every project -- but at this point, at the show's final hour, I think I've isolated where his latest genre missed the mark. It cast the right actors -- but not always in the right roles...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Jan
25
GOODBYE, CONAN -- HELLO, RETURNING CABLE SERIES AND OTHER GOOD TV By David Bianculli
 
 
Conan O'Brien said farewell to his NBC show, and his audience, Friday with absolute class -- thanking NBC rather than trashing it, and sending a special message to young fans not to be cynical. So long as entertainers such as Conan still get to follow their bliss on TV, that'll be an easier message to embrace. Meanwhile, TV marches on -- and on this particular Monday night, there's a LOT worth watching...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Jan
22
WE KNOW JAY LENO'S NEXT MOVE -- NOW HOW ABOUT DAVID LETTERMAN'S? By David Bianculli
 
 
We now know that Conan O'Brien's era as host of NBC's "Tonight Show" is at an end, and that Jay Leno will resume his former late-night throne in five weeks. The next question to ask -- and it's an enticing one, regarding CBS's David Letterman -- is "WWDD?" As in, "What Will Dave Do?"...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 

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