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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
May
9
THE ALOHA TV SEASON: YOU SAY HELLO, I SAY GOODBYE By David Bianculli
 
 
In Hawaii, "Aloha" means both hello and goodbye. Consider 2007-08 the Aloha TV Season, because just as we've welcomed our favorite shows back to the schedule, it's time to say farewell again...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
May
8
HBO'S "HEAR AND NOW" IS A TREAT FOR THE EYES -- AND EARS By David Bianculli
 
 
Geese. That's the image, and the sound, I can't shake after watching HBO's "Hear and Now," the evocative, emotional, breathtakingly personal documentary by Irene Taylor Brodsky...an up-close-and-super-personal study of her own parents, Paul and Sally Taylor, both of whom have been deaf since birth...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
May
7
CBS CALLS INDIANA FOR CLINTON, THEN SWEATS HOURS WAITING FOR A SECOND OPINION By David Bianculli
 
 
For a while Tuesday night, and into Wednesday morning, there were fewer than 15,000 votes between CBS and a potentially huge embarrassment....
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
May
6
"TWO AND A HALF MEN" SPOOFS "CSI" -- BUT NOT FOR THE FIRST TIME By David Bianculli
 
 
Even by sweeps-month TV standards, it's a bizarre crossover stunt: writers on the CBS sitcom "Two and a Half Men" and the drama series "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" taking a stab at writing an episode of each other's shows. The CSI version of Men aired last night, and the more comedic version of CSI airs Thursday. So far, it's a fun stunt...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
May
5
CBS GOES TO THE DARK SIDE OF THE "MOONLIGHT" PROMOS By David Bianculli
 
 
Viewers tuned to CBS last Friday night may have caught something that made their jaws drop. I know my jaw did...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
May
2
WATCHING RINGO STARR NOW AND THEN -- AS IN 2008 AND 1981 By David Bianculli
 
 
Ringo Starr talks with Dave Stewart about his life and career, and his new album, tonight at 11 p.m. ET on HBO's "Ringo Starr: Off the Record." He also talks about his life and career, and his then-new album...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
May
1
NBC SLIPS FROM MUST-SEE TO PLEASE-WATCH TV By David Bianculli
 
 
Hoping to boost the audience levels for two of its Thursday sitcoms, "Scrubs" and "30 Rock," NBC has swapped their positions in the Thursday lineup. The newly shuffled prime-time lineup, which took into effect last week just as the May sweeps began, now looks like this: "My Name Is Earl," "Scrubs," "The Office," "30 Rock," "ER"...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Apr
30
THE MAGIC OF LIVE TV: PAULA ABDUL HEARS DOUBLE ON "AMERICAN IDOL" By David Bianculli
 
 
Simon Cowell's assessment, as usual, was right on the money. This time, though, at the end of last night's "American Idol," he was judging the program itself: "This is officially," he said with a smile, "the strangest show we've ever done"...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Apr
29
SPECIAL GUEST STARS -- A TV TRICK THAT GOES BACK A LONG WAY By David Bianculli
 
 
Robin Williams is tonight's special guest star on NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (10 p.m. ET), playing a tightly wound guy who manipulates people into doing sinister things. Eventually, he gets pulled into the court, defends himself -- and the story doesn't end there...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Apr
28
TIMELY ADVICE FOR CBS: BE GOOD TO "YOUR MOTHER" -- WITH UPDATE! By David Bianculli
 
 
With "House" returning to TV tonight, the prime-time schedule as we know it is back, with original episodes for all its big shows, for the first time since the writers' strike. The May ratings sweeps period gives us almost nothing special, figuring fresh episodes of our favorite shows is good enough...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 

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