2012
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2011
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2010
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2009
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2008
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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
Aug
20
FLICK PICKS: MOVIE LEGEND, SHE WROTE By Diane Werts
 
 
If you only know Angela Lansbury for TV's Murder, She Wrote, you don't know Angela. Not only was she a '60s Broadway musical star in Mame (and a '70s revelation baking those man-made meat pies in Sweeney Todd), but decades before that, Lansbury had launched her career in her teens as a busy Hollywood studio contract player...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Aug
17
FALL PREVIEW: NEW 'DANCING' CAST By Diane Werts
 
 
So, whom from this list do we want to see least? Kelly Osbourne? Ashley Hamilton? Tom DeLay? Michael Irvin?...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Aug
14
DVD ALERT: 'ON THE ROAD WITH CHARLES KURALT' By Diane Werts
 
 
Sunday Morning fans will appreciate this DVD announcement: On the Road With Charles Kuralt comes out Oct. 27 from our friends at Acorn Media (responsible for British drama sets like Poirot and Life on Mars, plus other releases like Stephen Hawking and the Theory of Everything)...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Aug
13
SUMMER SLUDGE: THE TRUE COST OF NETWORK COST-CUTTING By Diane Werts
 
 
It strikes me that the real "cost" to which the networks should be paying attention is the psychological one they've inflicted on themselves by giving every indication to viewers that their driving concern is money, not quality, and not even entertainment value...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Aug
11
TV WORTH BUYING: CLASSIC SERIES STAMPS By Diane Werts
 
 
Lassie will be happy to mail your letter. So will The Lone Ranger. Even Ralph Kramden. TV icons from 20 classic series get a U.S. Postal Service salute Tuesday, when a commemorative sheet of 44-cent stamps called Early TV Memories becomes available at post offices and online...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Aug
10
GOOD SPORTS: TIANT'S EMOTIONAL RETURN TO CUBA By Diane Werts
 
 
This almost makes up for all the hyperventilating ESP-heads screaming at each other to beat the clock . .ESPN presents a moving documentary portrait of pitcher Luis Tiant's return to his native Cuba after 46 years in exile...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Aug
10
DVD ALERT: 'ALLY MCBEAL' UPDATE By Diane Werts
 
 
We reported last month that both Ally McBeal and It's Garry Shandling's Show were finally coming to DVD in complete series sets. We had an Oct. 20 release date for Shandling then, and now Ally has a firm street date, too -- Oct. 6...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Aug
10
WEIRD & WILD: KILLER WEATHER! By Diane Werts
 
 
Because there's just not enough scary disaster on TV (unless you count pretty much every episode of Maury), cable is following up Discovery Channel's just-concluded Shark Week with The Weather Channel's current Hurricane Week: Extreme Impact...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Jul
20
PLEASE STAND BY: THE TROUBLE IS NOT WITH YOUR SET . . . By Diane Werts
 
 
It's actually me who's heading into the repair shop for a bit, so I may not be able to update here for a week or two. In the meantime, try to catch these shows I might otherwise have written more about...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Jul
14
AD BREAK: ACTORS/CHARACTERS DO COMMERCIALS, EARTH CONTINUES SPINNING By Diane Werts
 
 
The Flintstones smoked Winstons. The Clampetts hawked Corn Flakes. Ozzie & Harriet loved their kitchen's natural gas. And Hogan's Heroes savored their Jell-O...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 

Diane Werts

Associate Editor
Diane Werts has been glued to the tube since she can remember, growing up in a household where the TV came on first thing in the morning and stayed on till bedtime and beyond. She worked for the USA Film Festival, then for The Dallas Morning News writing about everything from Shakespeare to macrame art to rock music (and has the hearing loss to prove it). She moved to New York's Newsday to edit their glossy TV magazine, then returned to writing about television, specializing in its stranger permutations. She's a past president of the Television Critics Association.
 
 
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