What Did YOU Watch, Or Record, Sunday Night? I hope you caught the first installment of PBS's America in Primetime Sunday night -- and if so, I'd love to know what you thought. But then it occurred to me: Sunday night, at this point in 2011, is so bursting with good TV, I'd be very interested in hearing about whatever you watched, and what you thought of it -- and, if any, which shows you recorded to save for later...

2011

Oct

TOM YELLIN: THE TV WORTH WATCHING INTERVIEW By David Bianculli

Tom Yellin, co-founder of The Documentary Group, used to produce the ABC News Peter Jennings Reporting specials, among other fine programs. His latest project, created with director Lloyd Kramer and others, is America in Primetime, the four-part PBS documentary series premiering Sunday at 8 p.m. ET (check local listings). I'm so impressed with this study of television that I wrote about it for TVWW and for NPR...

2011

Oct

'AMERICA IN PRIMETIME': FINALLY, A TV SHOW ABOUT TV GETS IT RIGHT! By David Bianculli

"America in Primetime", the four-part PBS documentary series about various TV archetypes, begins Sunday night at 8 ET (check local listings), and absolutely is a show to watch, record and savor. How good is it? This good: It's the best television series about television in more than 20 years...

2011

Oct

CHINA SEES TOO MUCH TACKY REALITY TV, DECIDES TO DIM SOME By David Bianculli

The Associated Press has just reported that China, with a new Communist Party ruling intended to be enforced by the end of this year, plans to cut back drastically on the amount of reality programming permitted on its satellite networks. Talent shows, matchmaking shows and programs focusing on marital troubles are among those being ordered to cease production. And you know what? Don't quote me in Red Channels, but those Communists may be on to something...

2011

Oct

'SECONDHAND TV' BAD FOR KIDS? SO IS FIRSTHAND EXPOSURE TO STUPID TV STUDIES By David Bianculli

You heard it here secondhand: Last week, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a warning that "secondhand TV" -- the casual exposure to television, when being watched by other, older viewers -- can harm the development of children under age 2. To which I say, well, that's not the stupidest thing any organization has said about television. But it does make the semifinals...

2011

Oct

'ONCE UPON A TIME,' ABC HAD A CHARMING IDEA FOR A NEW TV SERIES By David Bianculli

Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you -- and if you believe, really believe, then maybe ABC's new Once Upon a Time series will come true, too. After previewing two episodes, I'm not sure yet whether this new Sunday series, premiering this weekend at 8 p.m. ET, has the vision to go the distance. But my, this new mix of enchanted fantasy land and small-town soap opera starts out with a tantalizingly original premise, and certainly shows promise...

2011

Oct

WHO'S THE 'BOSS'? KELSEY GRAMMER -- AND ON HIS NEW SHOW, HE'S THE ONE TO WATCH By David Bianculli

The impressive first scene of Boss, the new Starz drama starring Kelsey Grammer as a volatile and domineering Chicago mayor, locks in entirely on Grammer's Tom Kane as (seen above) he receives a death sentence from his doctor -- a long, dispassionate description of the probable effects, short-term and long-term, of his rare brain disease...

2011

Oct

EYE REMEMBER, MAMA: CBS LOGO TURNS 60 YEARS OLD By David Bianculli

One of the most recognizable logo brands of the 20th century, one that's still around (with modernized variations) here in the 21st, celebrates its 60th anniversary Thursday. It's the CBS eye, which, only in the most literal sense, is a black eye on the face of the CBS network. Otherwise, it's a marketing triumph that would make Don Draper weep with pride. The CBS Eye, with the CBS Television Network identified in the pupil, and with the eye floating behind a sky of black-and-white clouds, was broadcast for the first time on Oct. 20, 1951...

2011

Oct

IT'S A ZOMBIE JAMBOREE AT AMC, WITH 'WALKING DEAD' REGISTERING MONSTER RATINGS NUMBERS By David Bianculli

TVWW managing editor Diane Werts has beaten me to the punch on this one, reporting on the amazing audience estimates for Sunday's Season 2 premiere of AMC's The Walking Dead in her For Better or Werts column -- But those numbers, like the show, bears repeating. They really are shocking -- and multiplying about as quickly as a zombie epidemic...

2011

Oct

HARRY BELAFONTE BIO ANOTHER HBO TREAT -- AND TRIUMPH By David Bianculli

Monday night at 10 ET, HBO premieres Sing Your Song, a 90-minute biography of Harry Belafonte that has a lot in common with that network's recent, equally triumphant and illuminating George Harrison documentary. Both are loaded with rare photographs, recordings and film and TV clips. Both drop more big names than a Who's Who compendium. And both look at artists who were as concerned with social activism, and personal enlightenment, as with making music...

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