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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
 
 
2014
Oct
16
THE GHOST BREAKERS By David Bianculli
 
 
Here’s a long-odds coincidence: At the very same day and time that AMC is presenting 1984’s Ghostbusters, TCM is televising 1940’s The Ghost Breakers, a comedy ghost story starring Bob Hope. He plays a radio broadcaster on the lam from the mob, and Paulette Goddard co-stars as a woman who’s inherited a haunted castle in Cuba, which serves as a particularly eventful hiding place.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Oct
16
PROJECT RUNWAY By David Bianculli
 
 
Part 1. It’s the first part of the season finale, and for this major, time-consuming competition, Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn take the Final Four contestants somewhere special for inspiration – to Rome. And it’s a tough competition: in Rome, as in fashion, one day you’re in, and the next day, you’re fuori.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Oct
16
PARENTHOOD By David Bianculli
 
 
The story line about Zeek (Craig T. Nelson) and his heart surgery continues tonight. I know what happens – but I don’t have the heart to tell you.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Oct
16
CHOREOGRAPHED POLICE WORK By Eric Gould
 
 
There will be a new complete series collection of Reno 911 coming out next month. The 2003-09 Comedy Central series parodied COPS-like police reality shows in a mockumentary, single-camera style with the actors improvising a lot of the dialogue...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Oct
15
2014 AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES By David Bianculli
 
 
The Kansas City Royals are an amazing team to watch lately – if ever there seems to be a team riding a wave of destiny, the Royals are it. Last night, the Royals won a hard-fought pitching duel, going deep into its powerful bullpen, and paired that with dedicated defense to beat the Baltimore Orioles and take a 3-0 lead in this series. The Royals, after clawing their way back to win the one-game wild-card playoff, haven’t lost a postseason game yet this year. The team has tied the re
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Oct
15
2014 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES By David Bianculli
 
 
Meanwhile, on the National League side of things, the San Francisco Giants employed the virtues of small ball to eke out a win in yesterday’s extra-innings game against the St. Louis Cardinals, and take a 2-1 lead in this championship series. Tonight: Game 4, with the Giants enjoying home-field advantage.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Oct
15
IT'S THE GREAT PUMPKIN, CHARLIE BROWN By David Bianculli
 
 
This animated special was made in 1966, the year after A Charlie Brown Christmas, and is nearly as perfect and evocative a holiday special for Halloween as the first one was for Yuletide. Once again, Linus provides the story’s emotional core – but in this one, Snoopy comes to the fore as well. In a few years, this TV cartoon will be 50 years old, but for young and old, it still works its magic.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Oct
15
AMERICAN HORROR STORY: FREAK SHOW By David Bianculli
 
 
Last week’s season-premiere reboot of this spooky series gave FX the highest ratings in its history. And tonight, the fun continues, with even more players joining in the Freak Show frivolity. Michael Chiklis and Angela Bassett, who were absent from last week’s opener, show up tonight – and their characters on this show, between them, have five breasts. All that, and the scariest clown ever seen on TV, period.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Oct
15
THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART By David Bianculli
 
 
Jon Stewart got violently ill for one day last week, and it was the day when Bill O’Reilly was booked as a guest. The Fox News host’s appearance was rescheduled, and it’s now scheduled for tonight. If Stewart gets violently ill again, start suspecting some sort of cause-and-effect reaction.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Oct
14
2014 NATIONAL LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYOFFS By David Bianculli
 
 
This series is now even, with the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants each having won a game. Tonight, in a battle of pitching aces: Game 3.
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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