Busy, busy day. Reaction to Sunday's Emmy Awards, news that one of my favorite TV shows screened at RomaFictionFest is coming to the U.S., and -- just in time for the television season -- TV WORTH WATCHING presents its annual overview of the new fall season. Strap on your seat belts. Here we go...

2009

Sep

CRAIG FERGUSON: AMUSING, HONEST, LITERARY AUTOBIOGRAPHY AUTHOR -- ON PURPOSE By David Bianculli

Craig Ferguson's autobiography hits stores next week -- and his American on Purpose, subtitled The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot -- And if that doesn't sound like high enough praise, it's meant as quite the compliment...

2009

Sep

TV HISTORY ALL OVER THE PLACE: LARRY GELBART FRIDAY, "BONANZA" SATURDAY, LENO TONIGHT By David Bianculli

TV history seems to be everywhere all of a sudden. News broke Friday of the death of Larry Gelbart, whose TV triumphs go back to the Golden Age with Sid Caesar. Saturday marked the 50th anniversary of the Ponderosa clan. And tonight, Jay Leno takes the TV talk show into very significant virgin territory...

2009

Sep

BEATLES FANS, REPEAT AFTER ME: "NUMBER NINE, NUMBER NINE, NUMBER NINE..." By David Bianculli

Today is September 9, 2009. It's no coincidence, given how much stock Yoko Ono Lennon puts in numerology, that this is the day the Beatles and their surviving heirs have selected to release the biggest batch of Beatles merchandise in a generation -- Or, to quote the opening moments of "Revolution No. 9" from The Beatles, a.k.a. the White Album: "Number nine, number nine, number nine..."

2009

Sep

15 TV THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO THIS MONTH By David Bianculli

This TV season hasn't generated a lot of buzz, but there are plenty of reasons to come back to the TV set. This month alone, without breaking a sweat or making an exhaustive list,or including AMC's ongoing "Mad Men," I counted 15. Here they are, in order of telecast. Mark your calendars, and plan accordingly...

2009

Sep

THEMES TO ME, AND TO OTHERS, THAT TV IS MISSING A MUSICAL BEST BET By David Bianculli

I love TV theme songs. Always have, and always will, even if more and more networks and TV production companies seem to hate them. This week, I've been quoted in an article by Mark Dawidziak of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. What Mark has to report about the state of the TV theme song of tomorrow, and remember about the state of them yesterday, is well worth reading...

2009

Aug

FEELING NOSTALGIC ABOUT THE WILD, WILD WESTERN By David Bianculli

Like a lot of people -- more of them almost every week -- I'm loving my Sunday night dose of HBO's "True Blood," one of the most enjoyable thrill rides on TV right now. But unlike most people, I have another Sunday night thrill-ride TV treat...

2009

Aug

TWENTYSOMETHING YEARS AGO, THERE WAS "THIRTYSOMETHING"... By David Bianculli

One of the most eagerly anticipated TV-shows-on-DVD releases hits stores today: the first season of thirtysomething, the ABC series that, beginning in 1987, examined yuppie angst. The tangled web of music rights is what has discouraged the series from being packaged until now... but now, as Diane Werts already has alerted us in her blog, Shout! Factory has made it a reality...

2009

Aug

DON HEWITT DIES AT 86, BUT HIS 41-YEAR OLD CBS "60 MINUTES" IS STILL TICKING By David Bianculli

Compared to CBS producer-director Don Hewitt, who died yesterday at age 86, there aren't many men whose personal experiences and professional accomplishments span so many important events in the history of television. There may not be any...

2009

Aug

FOX "OCTOMOM" SPECIAL IS THE RUNT OF THE TV LITTER By David Bianculli

Already this year, the Fox network has presented "Osbournes Reloaded," a variety series so bad, and so poorly received, Fox shelved it after a single showing. You'd think that would be a lock for worst TV program of 2009 -- but tonight, Fox presents...

Posts 701-710 of 1097

70 71 72 73 74

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

David Bianculli

PBS' 'Frontline’ Examines Pension Promises and — Spoiler Alert — Finds the Math Doesn’t Add Up

The Decadence of ‘Versailles’ Comes to Ovation

Prescribing Mamie Gummer in 'Emily Owens, M.D.'

Looking for a Free Ride? HBO Can Deliver

'Pass the Biscuits' Part of the Hatfield-McCoy Pop-Culture Legacy

Dispatches From TVWW

'Extinction: The Facts' is a Sobering Call to Action

How 'Mayans' Has Been Influenced by the Show's Creator Elgin James

For Whom the Bell Tolls: Ken Burns and Lynn Novick Take on Ernest Hemingway, the Man and the Myth

In the Final Season, Sutton Foster's Liza is Now the Genuine Version of Her 'Younger' Self

Season 2 of 'City on a Hill' Returns with Kevin Bacon, Aldis Hodge, and Boston Corruption

1957: Julie Andrews Stars in 'Cinderella'