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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
 
 
 
 
 
2009
Oct
19
BACK FROM MISTER ROGERS' NEIGHBORHOOD -- AND WHAT A WARM, INSPIRING PLACE IT WAS By David Bianculli
 
 
I just spent a few glorious days at the Fred Rogers Center, an inspiring facility at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, PA. It's a place devoted to the development of children, and worthwhile children's media, and it's populated by employees, executives, fellows and advisors that leave no doubt that Mister Rogers' mission is in the best of hands...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Oct
16
NEW MONTY PYTHON MEGA-DOCUMENTARY: AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY ENTERTAINING By David Bianculli
 
 
Beginning Sunday night at 9 p.m. ET, The Independent Film Channel presents a six-day, six-hour documentary series honoring the 40th anniversary of Monty Python's Flying Circus. You can expect new details, big laughs, fresh insights and, yes, you can even expect the Spanish Inquisition...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Oct
14
TAKING A TRAVEL DAY -- TO MISTER ROGERS' NEIGHBORHOOD By David Bianculli
 
 
Today I'm heading out over the Ben Franklin Bridge and deep into the western part of Pennsylvania, heading for Latrobe, PA, for the annual meeting of the Fred Rogers Center Advisory Council. This year, for the first time, I'm a member of the council...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Oct
12
WHAT A BLAST: TWO BLASTS FROM MY DISTANT PAST CHECK BACK IN By David Bianculli
 
 
When I teach my film and TV courses at Rowan University, I tell my students that I started writing, as a TV critic for a daily newspaper, when I was about their age. This weekend, I heard from the newspaper editor who gave me that opportunity -- as well as from a college professor who made me want to be one myself...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Oct
5
GREAT NEWS: MY SMOTHERS BROTHERS BOOK ARRIVES IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS By David Bianculli
 
 
Due to advance interest from at least one major bookstore chain, the publication date of my Smothers Brothers book has been moved up. Instead of arriving the first week of 2010, the book now will be in stores December 1, in plenty of time for holiday gift-giving. For me, that's a great Christmas gift already...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Oct
3
IMAGINE, IF YOU WILL... THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF "THE TWILIGHT ZONE" GOES LARGELY UNNOTICED By David Bianculli
 
 
Friday -- October 2, 2009 -- was the 50th anniversary of Rod Serling's classic CBS anthology series, The Twilight Zone. Yet neither CBS nor Syfy bothered to make a big deal of it. Or even a small one...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Oct
2
LETTERMAN'S SURPRISE ADMISSION: AN UNEXPECTED LATE-NIGHT TIME BOMB By David Bianculli
 
 
The expectations and predictions regarding Jay Leno's move to prime time, and Conan O'Brien's inheritance of NBC's Tonight Show, were thought to be the biggest moves regarding the late-night TV wars of 2009. All of that might be eclipsed, though, by what happens next after David Letterman's surprising Thursday night admission...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Sep
30
CW'S "THE BEAUTIFUL LIFE" IS CURSED, BUT NOT KICKOFF CURSED By David Bianculli
 
 
CW's The Beautiful Life TBL, its glossy new drama starring Mischa Barton, was scheduled to present its third episode tonight, but don't look for it. Two strikes -- two telecasts -- and it's already out...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Sep
28
A WEEK INTO THE NEW TV SEASON, WHAT DO YOU THINK? By David Bianculli
 
 
There are more of us writing at TV WORTH WATCHING, dispensing more opinions all the time, and you can find our thumbnail summaries of our reactions to the new fall shows by clicking on the FALL PREVIEW banner on the main page. But now that the fall 2009-10 TV season is a week old -- what shows hooked you enough to tune in? Which ones were disappointing, and which ones impressed you, and why? It's time for US to read YOU for a change...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Sep
25
PARK YOURSELF IN FRONT OF THE TV FOR PBS "NATIONAL PARKS" By David Bianculli
 
 
Sunday night PBS presents the latest multi-night documentary by Ken Burns: "The National Parks: America's Best Idea." You expect, and you get, endless arrays of stunning still and moving images of nature at its rawest -- gorgeous gorges, and so on. But what's so unexpected, and so uplifting and fascinating, are the human stories...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 

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