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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
 
 
 
 
 
2008
Jul
28
FOR "X-FILES" MOVIE BOX-OFFICE RETURNS, THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE - AND IT'S BRUTAL By David Bianculli
 
 
Just as in Vegas: you bet too often, you get too cocky, you lose big. Buoyed by my relatively accurate predictions for the opening-weekend box-office totals for the "Sex and the City" and "Get Smart" movies, I returned to the table to bet again, on the summer's third and final TV-to-film offering, "X-Files: I Want to Believe"...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Jul
25
AMC'S "MAD MEN" RETURNS -- AND ONCE AGAIN, IT'S A BLAST FROM THE PAST By David Bianculli
 
 
I hope Matthew Weiner, the passionate and innovative creator of AMC's Mad Men, won't take this the wrong way, but I've found errors in his fabulous period drama about Madison Avenue ad-agency employees in the early 1960s. Of course, to find them, I had to visit the set, poke around, and look closely. Very, VERY closely...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Jul
23
ANOTHER BOX-OFFICE GUESSING GAME: X (FILES) MARKS THE SPOT, BUT WHICH ONE? By David Bianculli
 
 
Okay, gang. I've held dinky little contests to see which TV WORTH WATCHING reader comes closest to the opening-weekend box-office totals for the TV-to-movie versions of "Sex and the City" and "Get Smart." Now it's time for the third and final small-to-big-screen effort of the summer, and another guessing game -- this time with "The X-Files"...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Jul
22
A PERSONAL HISTORY OF, AND FAREWELL TO, TCA PRESS TOUR By David Bianculli
 
 
I'm back -- a little early since it ends today, but I'm back. Back from the latest Television Critics Association press tour, the highlight of which was the 24th (and, so far, best) TCA Awards show Saturday night. I'm a little fatigued, a little proud, and, since this most likely was my last time on press tour, a little nostalgic...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Jul
20
TCA AWARDS PRESENTATION: THE MAKERS AND WATCHERS OF QUALITY TV SHARE THE LOVE By David Bianculli
 
 
Saturday night at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, the 24th Annual Television Critics Association awards were handed out in a memorable, enjoyable ceremony that isn't televised -- and is all the better, and rowdier, for it...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Jul
18
"DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES" TIME-JUMP INSPIRED BY "LOST" FLASH-FORWARD By David Bianculli
 
 
Of all the news emanating from the Television Critics Association press tour after the Emmy nominations were announced and dissected, the nugget I found most interesting came from "Desperate Housewives" creator Marc Cherry, who admitted he got the idea for last May's season cliffhanger by watching another ABC show...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Jul
17
EMMY NOMINATIONS ARE OUT, "MAD MEN" IS IN, AND "FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS" WAS ROBBED By David Bianculli
 
 
Nominations for the 2008 Primetime Emmy Awards were announced this morning, and the verdicts are clear. AMC is latest cable-network darling to catch the eye of the voters, with "Mad Men" getting more than twice as many nominations as any other drama series, and with "Breaking Bad" being noticed, too...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Jul
16
UPDATE: EVIL TRIUMPHS, "DR. HORRIBLE" BACK UP AND RUNNING By David Bianculli
 
 
Yesterday I raved about Joss Whedon's new online musical serial comedy, "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog," and urged people to check it out. Boy, am I influential. An hour later, because of a flood of interest overwhelming the site's servers, the website crashed...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Jul
15
JOSS WHEDON'S "DR. HORRIBLE" IS JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED By David Bianculli
 
 
After a day devoted to Fox -- where we saw what's likely to be the best new show for fall from the broadcast networks (Fringe), sat through a surprisingly civil Fox News press conference (featuring Karl Rove) and tried to pry plot points out of largely reluctant representatives for "24" and "The Sarah Connor Chronicles" -- an entertaining jolt arrived from outside the TV press tour umbrella...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Jul
14
"FRINGE" IS FABULOUS: J. J. ABRAMS AND COMPANY DO IT AGAIN, THIS TIME FOR FOX By David Bianculli
 
 
"Fringe," the new paranormal Fox drama series from J.J. Abrams and company, finally was screened for TV critics, long after an incomplete rough cut surfaced on the Internet. After seeing the finished pilot and interviewing the show's creators and cast, I can report the good news that Fringe is off to a fabulous start, and seems to know precisely where it's headed. The bad news? There is no bad news...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 

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