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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

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Aerial View

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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
 
 
2016
Nov
17
HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER By David Bianculli
 
 
FALL FINALE: Just a note, not a recommendation: I’m not very impressed with the idea of a “fall finale,” which basically just serves to remind viewers that the show is going into hibernation for the holidays. Then again, I’m not very impressed with this show in general, which all season has teased a “mystery” out of the identity of the body under the sheet. Tonight – abra cadaver! – the body is revealed. But frankly, my dear, I don’t give a s
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
17
SOUNDBREAKING: STORIES FROM THE CUTTING EDGE OF RECORDED MUSIC By David Bianculli
 
 
Part 4 of 5. Tonight’s installment on the evolution of recorded music pays attention to masters of the studio recording. Not masters as in master tapes – masters as in master musicians. So get ready for, among others, Stevie Wonder, the Rolling Stones, and Jimi Hendrix. For a full review, see David Hinckley’s All Along the Watchtower. Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
17
MARS By David Bianculli
 
 
In tonight’s installment of this miniseries, which is part documentary and part scripted fictional elements, we get closer and closer to the planet of Mars itself. For a full review, see David Hinckley’s All Along the Watchtower.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
16
HOW ‘SURVIVOR’ BECAME THE MOST IMPORTANT SERIES IN AMERICAN TV HISTORY By Alex Strachan
 
 
The millennials and Gen-Xers merged last week on Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X. To the casual viewer, it might have looked like any other Survivor outing...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
16
MYSTERY AND INTRIGUE ON BBC AMERICA'S UNPREDICTABLE 'UNDERCOVER' By David Hinckley
 
 
It isn’t until the last minute of the first episode of BBC America’s latest drama that many viewers will suddenly get why the show is called Undercover...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
16
LUCY ON THE LINE WITH CHOCOLATES By Eric Gould
 
 
David’s new book, The Platinum Age of Television: From I Love Lucy to The Walking Dead, How TV Became Terrific is now out on Amazon. To help kick off The Platinum Age release, we’ll be featuring clips related to his study of TV genres and their evolution...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
16
THE HUMANS OF 'POLAR BEAR TOWN' By David Hinckley
 
 
Polar bears, more than any other bear this side of the panda, make you want to snuggle down right next to them for a soft cuddle. Except, of course, you don’t...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
16
UNDERCOVER By David Bianculli
 
 
MINISERIES PREMIERE: Parts 1-3. This six-part British miniseries stars Sophie Okonedo of Hotel Rwanda as a highly ranked prosecutor in the British courts. The story spans several decades, and two continents, and co-stars Dennis Haysbert of 24 and Adrian Lester of Red Band Society – as, respectively, her client and her husband. Both of the men have deep secrets, and they’re unfurled slowly in a character study about undercover officers and ulterior motives. Concludes tomorrow night. F
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
16
POLAR BEAR TOWN By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: This new nature series spends several episodes in the very small town of Churchill, Manitoba. Its human population is 800 – but as winter approaches, the polar bear population outnumbers them, at around 1000. It’s a confluence of man and animal that’s already been chronicled on TV, by David Attenborough’s The Hunt, but it’s documented very well here also. For a full review, see David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
16
THE ENDLESS SUMMER By David Bianculli
 
 
Alec Baldwin didn’t show up to impersonate Donald Trump last week on Saturday Night Live, but tonight he shows up on TCM, continuing his guest hosting chores on this month’s overview of documentary films. Tonight he begins, at 8 p.m. ET, with this surfer-culture classic from 1966, which promopted more than a generation of surfer dudes to seek out the perfect wave. At 9:45 p.m. ET a documentary on basketball, 1994’s Hoop Dreams, follows, and the evening culminates at 12:45 a.m.
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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