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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
 
 
2007
Nov
27
GREAT GRIEF! "CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS" STILL THE BEST By David Bianculli
 
 
Charlie Brown and Linus would look at tonight's ABC presentation of A Charlie Brown Christmas (8 p.m. ET), a Peanutsholiday special first broadcast 42 years ago, somewhat differently. In this case, they'd both be correct. Linus, the faithful optimist, would say that it's one of the few places left, other than the Super Bowl and "American Idol," where entire families can and will gather annually to enjoy a television show together...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2007
Nov
26
IF VIDEO KILLED THE RADIO STAR, WHO KILLED THE VIDEO STAR? By David Bianculli
 
 
The music channel Fuse presents a new 10-part series tonight at 10 p.m. ET, called "Videos That Rocked the World." The opener, on Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," makes the point about how influential music videos could be - back in 1991. But could any video rock the world of 2007? And if not, why not?...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2007
Nov
25
STRIKE TALKS RESUMING, SCRIPTED SHOWS EVAPORATING By David Bianculli
 
 
Representatives on both sides of the Writers Guild of America strike are scheduled to meet tomorrow, for the first time in weeks, and talk. They're supposed to be negotiating a settlement - and both sides better talk fast. All around them - and all around us - the TV season is starting to evaporate...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2007
Nov
24
SUPPORTING THE STRIKE, ONE FRAME AT A TIME By David Bianculli
 
 
Ordinarily, the biggest weapon in a TV writer's arsenal, when a point needs to be made, is the national soapbox of his or her television show. But when you're a writer on strike, you can't even pick up your mightier-than-a-sword pen. So what's a writer-producer to do?...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2007
Nov
23
ONE-WORD ADVICE, FROM PLASTICS TO QUARTERLIFE By David Bianculli
 
 
Remember that classic scene in "The Graduate," when Dustin Hoffman's Benjamin Braddock was corralled at his college graduation party by an older-generation businessman friend of his father's? He uttered one word of advice, a word which was supposed to unlock the future, and future fortunes: "Plastics"...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2007
Nov
22
HAPPY THANKSGIVING - PASS THE TV TURKEY By David Bianculli
 
 
Happy Thanksgiving. We who care about quality TV have a lot about which to be thankful on this particular Thanksgiving. And no, I'm not talking about tonight's ABC season premiere of the sappy "October Road"...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2007
Nov
21
FINAL BODY COUNT FOR "THE WAR" By David Bianculli
 
 
Final audience numbers for the 15-hour PBS documentary series "The War" were released yesterday - and for quality TV lovers, they're reason for celebration. Sort of. PBS is boasting that the Ken Burns-Lynn Novick production is "the most watched series in the last 10 years on PBS..."
 
 
 
  
 
 
2007
Nov
20
QUARTERLIFE'S NEXT LIFE...AND OTHER GOOD NEWS By David Bianculli
 
 
A week ago Monday in this blog, I raved about a new dramatic series by Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick called "Quarterlife" - available, at the time, only on the Internet (on MySpace and its own brand-new website, Quarterlife.com), presented twice weekly in eight-minute chunks...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2007
Nov
19
DAY 14: VIEWERS HELD HOSTAGE By David Bianculli
 
 
This is the start of the third week of the Writers Guild of America strike - and no news, in this instance, is the closest we'll get to good news for quite a while. That's because both the writers and producers have agreed to resume talks one week from today, after Thanksgiving weekend, and, in the meantime, to issue no official press releases...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2007
Nov
18
MISSION: IMPASSE-ABLE By David Bianculli
 
 
"Mission: Impossible," the 1996 Brian De Palma movie that launched the Tom Cruise "M:I" franchise, is televised tonight at 8 p.m. ET by American Movie Classics. I recommend you don't watch it. But I do recommend you think about it - for reasons I'm about to explain...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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