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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

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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
 
 
2015
Jan
22
MOM By David Bianculli
 
 
Last week in Hollywood, as part of the Television Critics Association press tour, Warner Bros. held a salute to Chuck Lorre, producer of four current CBS sitcoms – and, between the press conference and the party, screened an upcoming episode of one of those comedies. Not the long-running Two and a Half Men, or the top-rated The Big Bang Theory, or even Mike & Molly, but Lorre’s newest show, Mom, starring Anna Faris and Emmy-winning Allison Janney. Tonight, CBS televises that epis
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jan
22
BACKSTROM By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: This is not a recommendation, just a notation. It’s too obvious to call this a detective version of House – but this new series, starring Rainn Wilson as a disagreeable, dislikable investigator, is way too obvious as well. It crams the character’s get-into-the-suspect’s-mind catch phrase, “I’m you…,” too often and too forcefully.  Two can play at that game. “I’m you… and I’m changing channels.”
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jan
22
PARENTHOOD By David Bianculli
 
 
How much more drama can this series dish out as its heads towards next week’s finale? Lots. And tonight, it has another character rushing to the hospital.This time it’s Amber (Mae Whitman), who’s in labor. And with the end of the series on the horizon, nothing can be taken for granted.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jan
22
HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER By David Bianculli
 
 
This is a repeat, but a key one: It’s the episode that ended the first half of the season, and the one in which the murderer of Sam was revealed. Here it is again, serving as a reminder before the second half of the season gets underway.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jan
22
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: FINAL NOTES FROM TCA PRESS TOUR By David Bianculli
 
 

PASADENA, CA – Sunday’s FX portion of the Television Critics Association press tour was top-tier all the way: Billy Crystal, Louis C.K. and Denis Leary all showed up, touting their respective impressive FX series…

 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jan
22
THE SOPHOMORIC DUO By Eric Gould
 
 
Sterling Archer, animated star of FX's Archer was supposed to appear on Conan recently to promote the series’ upcoming sixth season, but pulled a last-minute switch...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jan
21
A PLACE IN THE SUN By David Bianculli
 
 
If you’re a loyal viewer of TCM (and if not, why not?), you’ll care about tonight’s prime-time lineup. It’s comprised of movies selected by Robert Osborne, who’s been the host of TCM since its inception. And the first movie on his list is this 1951 drama, directed by George Stevens and starring Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift. That’s followed at 10:15 p.m. ET by another Osborne pick: 1940’s All This, and Heaven Too, starring Bette Davis and Charles
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jan
21
LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT By David Bianculli
 
 
Mariska Hargitay directed tonight’s episode, which guest stars Armand Assante as the estranged father of Danny Pino’s Nick Amaro.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jan
21
THE CELL By David Bianculli
 
 
This movie is 15 years old now – and that’s how long ago Jennifer Lopez was primed to cross over from pop music to movie stardom. Now, with her new movie hitting theaters, and with her back on American Idol, she’s riding higher than ever. This neglected 2000 movie, though, is a visual stunner, and not just because of what happens when Lopez, as a social worker aiding in a kidnapping investigation, is pulled into the twisted mind of a comatose serial killer. The killer is played
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jan
21
AMERICAN HORROR STORY: FREAK SHOW By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON FINALE: Tonight’s episode is the culmination of the Freak Show story. But don’t freak, because American Horror Story, and many of the Freak Show cast members, will return next season with an all-new story.
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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