DAVID BIANCULLI

Founder / Editor

ERIC GOULD

Associate Editor

LINDA DONOVAN

Assistant Editor

Contributors

ALEX STRACHAN

MIKE HUGHES

KIM AKASS

MONIQUE NAZARETH

ROGER CATLIN

GARY EDGERTON

TOM BRINKMOELLER

GERALD JORDAN

NOEL HOLSTON

 
 
 
 
 
2008
Oct
23
 
 
Tonight at 9:30 ET on NBC is the third and final Thursday prime-time special edition of "Saturday Night Live's" "Weekend Update." Next week, Tina Fey's "30 Rock" returns to the schedule, reclaiming its old time slot with its third-season premiere...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Oct
22
 
 
Let us pray... for ABC's "Pushing Daisies." Last year, it was the best new show of the season -- but it was a short season because of the strike, and ABC opted to stockpile episodes and return this fall rather than resume last spring. Big mistake...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Oct
20
 
 
In the short window of opportunity between last Wednesday's final presidential debate and Nov. 4's Election Day, there are only two arenas for the candidates to visit in hopes of reaching sizable national audiences and winning their votes...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Oct
17
 
 
John McCain showed up on Letterman's CBS show Thursday, and was lampooned in prime time on NBC's "SNL Weekend Update" Thursday the same night. Also, new TV versions of the movie "Crash" and the novel "Robinson Crusoe" are unveiled this weekend. Let's get right to them...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Oct
16
 
 
Wednesday's third and final presidential debate of the 2008 election campaign was something we haven't seen this year, or in many previous election cycles. This debate, in both structure and execution, was... an actual debate...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Oct
15
 
 
The last time John McCain felt great pressure to do something to gain attention and shift momentum in his direction, he selected Sarah Palin as his running mate. So what will he do tonight, when he and Barack Obama debate one last time, before the largest TV audience available in one place before the election? Who knows? Which is why the debate really does qualify as must-see TV...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Oct
14
 
 
One day before the final presidential debate of 2008, the PBS "Frontline" series presents an invaluable primer: Its latest installment of "The Choice," this time profiling candidates John McCain and Barack Obama. Don't miss it...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Oct
13
 
 
While interviewing CBS's Bob Schieffer for my "Broadcasting & Cable" column, about his preparations and expectations for Wednesday's final 2008 presidential debate, I threw him what might have been a curve, but which he caught gracefully and gratefully...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Oct
10
 
 
The 2008 presidential election campaign is no laughing matter. Except, on TV, it really is. Big time. Tina Fey, on NBC's "Saturday Night Live," has scored a coup for the ages by devastatingly imitating Sarah Palin. Jon Stewart, on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," just canceled a planned vacation week next week, because this was too volatile -- and politically rich -- a news cycle to ignore...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Oct
9
 
 
Tonight's biggest must-see show is one that NBC didn't send for preview, because it couldn't. It's the premiere of the first of several October prime-time Thursday special editions of "Weekend Update," broadcast live at 9:30 p.m. ET. Plan your night around that, for starters. As for the rest...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 

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.

 
 
 
 

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