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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
Jan
21
ACADEMY OF TV ARTS & SCIENCES HALL OF FAME: THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS GET INDUCTED, NOT INDICTED By David Bianculli
 
 
I was an invited guest at Wednesday's Academy of Television Arts & Sciences dinner honoring new inductees into the Hall of Fame -- and it didn't dawn on me, until dawn the next morning, that I had forgotten to take notes. I was there because of, and to support, Tom and Dick Smothers, and just enjoyed the evening thoroughly. For a TV critic, historian and professor, the whole night was a dream...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Jan
13
CONAN, TAKE 2: HERE'S MY OPINION PIECE FOR CNN.COM By David Bianculli
 
 
After posting my own Conan-Jay blog yesterday on TV WORTH WATCHING, CNN.com called and asked me to do one for them. So I did, and it's been posted. Was Conan screwed - and if so, by whom? Is Conan doing the right thing? And will NBC reverse course, or is Jay Leno the "new" Tonight Show host -- again?...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Jan
12
NEWS FLASH: CONAN REFUSES NBC'S POST-MIDNIGHT "TONIGHT SHOW" OFFER By David Bianculli
 
 
Bill Carter of the New York Times, who wrote the authoritative "Late Shift" book about the previous late-night TV upheaval, has just written the latest chapter of an obvious sequel: Conan O'Brien has rejected NBC's offer to continue to host The Tonight Show, but in a 12:05 a.m. time slot...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Jan
12
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER PRIME-TIME SHUFFLE: THIS TIME IT'S SIMON COWELL, LEAVING "AMERICAN IDOL" FOR HIS OWN FOX SERIES By David Bianculli
 
 
Beginning tonight at 8 ET on Fox, the ninth season of "American Idol" begins with a notable absence: from now on, no more Paula Abdul. What Fox announced yesterday, though, was a coming change of much more significant proportions: Simon Cowell will be leaving after this season, and launching his own talent-search series, an American variant of his British hit, "The X Factor", in fall 2011. And just like the latest Leno shuffle, this move has major TV implications...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Jan
11
NBC CONFIRMS LENO MOVE, BUT TWO QUESTIONS REMAIN: WHITHER CONAN, AND WILL LENO'S LATE-NIGHT FANS RETURN? By David Bianculli
 
 
NBC confirmed Sunday that it's canceling the prime-time Jay Leno Show, and moving the former "Tonight Show" host back to his old 11:35 p.m. time slot. But one question is, will Conan O'Brien stay with The Tonight Show, and with NBC? And another question is, or ought to be: Will Leno have the same drawing power when he returns, or, as a prime-time flop, is he now damaged goods?...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Jan
8
LENO RUMORED TO RETURN TO 11:30: NBC'S LATEST MORONIC MOVE By David Bianculli
 
 
How many colossal, crucial mistakes can one network make before its executives (in NBC's case, chiefly Jeff Zucker) pay the price for their own hubris and mismanagement? My guess: With Comcast coming in to merge with NBC-Universal, and with this latest rumored Jay Leno move, not many more...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Jan
7
SMOTHERS BROTHERS BOOK UPDATE: MOSTLY GOOD NEWS, AND ONE MISSED OPPORTUNITY By David Bianculli
 
 
Lots of news to pass on today, starting with this: I just learned this morning that another New Jersey bookstore is hosting a signing and mini-lecture event for my Smothers Brothers book, this time in February (Thursday 18) at my neighborhood Barnes & Noble in Cherry Hill, NJ...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Jan
6
COMING UP FOR FRESH AIR, I END UP DOING A LOT OF "FRESH AIR"... TODAY, GEORGE LUCAS! By David Bianculli
 
 
My first week of the New Year, what was supposed to be my first actual week off in about a decade (blame the book), has turned out to be a mini-marathon of guest hosting for NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross. Terry has been sick, so I've been filling in - and today's show features my interview with George Lucas, which I recorded yesterday afternoon...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Jan
4
MY SMOTHERS BROTHERS BOOK TOUR IS COMING SOON TO A CITY NEAR YOU -- BUT ONLY IF YOU LIVE IN NEW YORK OR NEW JERSEY... By David Bianculli
 
 
Happy New Year! This month brings a few more publicity events for my Dangerously Funny book on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. In January, I'm booked to appear at one Barnes & Noble, one Borders, one college campus and a synagogue... PLEASE come see me, if you're in one of these areas...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Dec
29
CBS "KENNEDY CENTER HONORS" SPECIAL IS SO GOOD, YOU MUST WATCH -- AND TAKE NOTES, BECAUSE AFTERWARD, THERE'S A QUIZ By David Bianculli
 
 
Slipped into the dead TV week between Christmas and New Year's is one reliable annual treat: The CBS Kennedy Center Honors, which salutes, each year, a quintet of powerful performers from various arenas in the arts. It's always one one of my favorite TV shows of the year -- and tonight, with its amazing list of honorees and artists, it's the best Kennedy Center Honors presentation in years...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 

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
 
 
 
 
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Prescribing Mamie Gummer in 'Emily Owens, M.D.'
By Ed Bark
 
 
 
 
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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