2021
 
 
 
 
 
 
2020
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2019
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2018
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2017
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2016
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2015
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2014
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2013
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2012
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2011
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2010
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2009
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2008
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2007
 
 
 
 
 
 
2001
 
 
 
 
1998
 
 
 
 
1990
 
 
 
 
1989
 
 
 
 
1987
 
 
 
 
1985
 
 
 
 
1982
 
 
 
 
1980
 
 
 

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
17
LIVE, BUT ONLY IN NEW YORK, IT'S SATURDAY NIGHT! By David Bianculli
 
 
At 11:30 ET tonight, for the first time in two weeks, the show "Saturday Night Live" will go on. But only in New York, as a staged Writers Guild of America benefit at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. Michael Cera, of "Superbad" and formerly of "Arrested Development," is scheduled to be the guest host of this sold-out event - and though nothing's confirmed, it's rumored...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2007
Nov
16
ICON BELIEVE TV LAND'S "50 GREATEST TV ICONS" LIST By David Bianculli
 
 
Tonight at 8 p.m. ET, the cable network TV Land, in collaboration with Entertainment Weekly, presents what it calls "a definitive list" of The 50 Greatest TV Icons. Not even close - and some of the omissions and inclusions are nothing short of maddening. Of the top 50 all-time TV icons on this list, 30 of them first established their iconic status in the 1970s or later...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2007
Nov
15
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME By David Bianculli
 
 
Today is my birthday. Yesterday, I spent most of the day answering the last of the letters wishing me farewell from the New York Daily News, and good luck on whatever I was doing next...Besides, as I celebrate my birthday today, this website is only 10 days old...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2007
Nov
14
EVEN ON BROADWAY, THE SHOW MUSTN'T GO ON By David Bianculli
 
 
The day I launched this website, the Writers Guild of America went on strike. Less than a week later, the Local One union of stagehands went on strike in New York. Both strikes are still going on strong - which means, among other things, that Aaron Sorkin's "The Farnsworth Invention," scheduled to have its opening night tonight on Broadway, isn't. His drama about TV has, in effect, been turned off...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2007
Nov
13
GATHER YE TV SHOWS WHILE YE MAY By David Bianculli
 
 
You know that feeling, in the middle of May, when you're watching the last few first-run installments of your favorite shows - and feel a little sad because you know you're going to have to wait four months to see them again? Just into the second week of the strike, I feel the same way. Actually, I feel worse...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2007
Nov
12
IS THERE QUARTERLIFE AFTER TELEVISION? YES. By David Bianculli
 
 
Today, on its own website called www.quarterlife.com, a new TV series, also called "Quarterlife," is scheduled to be unveiled. Actually, it was unveiled yesterday as a sneak preview on MySpace -- where, as I watched on my laptop that afternoon, a MySpace counter announced that "Quarterlifehas 856 friends..."
 
 
 
  
 
 
2007
Nov
11
AARON THE STRIKE OUT KING By David Bianculli
 
 
The Aaron in the title doesn't refer to baseball legend Hank Aaron - but to stage, screen and TV writer Aaron Sorkin. His "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" series folded after its freshman season, but on other fronts, the prolific and gifted writer seemed set, with a new Broadway play opening this Wednesday...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2007
Nov
10
THOSE WERE THE (SATUR)DAYS By David Bianculli
 
 
The writers' strike is going to make it trickier to find six outstanding TV recommendations each night, especially as the networks begin stockpiling scripted series like nuts for the winter. (If the producers don't settle the strike soon, they're the nuts - but I digress.) Except for "Saturday Night Live" being relegated to reruns, though, tonight's TV lineup pretty much is the same as it would have been pre-strike...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2007
Nov
9
THE PLAY'S THE THING By David Bianculli
 
 
The new Broadway play by Aaron Sorkin, "The Farnsworth Invention," opens next week. When it does open, I'll be reviewing it for NPR's Fresh Air, because it's got TV written all over it, and couldn't be more in my wheelhouse...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2007
Nov
8
STRIKE ONE! STRIKE TWO By David Bianculli
 
 
The last time there was a writers' strike in Hollywood - meaning show biz rather than geography, since it hits New York as well - it was in 1988, it lasted just over 22 weeks, and it was writers vs. producers, while the networks sat by as concerned bystanders. The net result was that about 10 percent of the broadcast TV networks' audience defected to cable and never looked back...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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