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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

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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

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TV Feeds My Family

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Must-Click TV

TOM BRINKMOELLER

Raised On MTM

GERALD JORDAN

Crossing Jordan

NOEL HOLSTON

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TVWW ARCHIVE

Contributors Archive
 
 
2016
Nov
30
INCORPORATED By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: Behind the scenes, this new Syfy series about a dystopian future is produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. On screen, its stars include Dennis Haysbert of 24 and Julia Ormond of Mad Men. It’s set in 2074, and, as with the movie Minority Report, what’s most impressive – at least in tonight’s premiere episode – is its detailed vision of its imagined future, which is ruled by corporations instead of countries and is divided into green and red “z
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
30
KOYAANISQATSI By David Bianculli
 
 
Please, please, stay up to watch this, or record it for viewing at a later date. This 1982 film bears the title of a Hopi Indian word meaning "life out of balance," and it's basically an entire movie showing scenes, of nature and of civilization, either sped up or slowed down so we can see them in a different way -- all scored to the perfectly matched music of Philip Glass. When I saw this documentary for the first time, 33 years ago, it blew me away. When I watch it again tonight, it'll do the
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
29
JULIA ORMOND CONTROLS THE BLEAK FUTURE OF 'INCORPORATED' By David Hinckley
 
 
Incorporated's Julia Ormond talks about Syfy's unsettling vision of a future in which cold, soulless mega-corporations rule what’s left of the world for the benefit of a select elite...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
29
DRUNK HISTORY By David Bianculli
 
 
Comedy Central is giving away its shot, by giving viewers access to the plot of the Broadway musical hit Hamilton while giving shots to its lyricist and creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda. It's an all-Hamilton version of Drunk History, with Alia Shawkat and Aubrey Plaza as Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, and with additional appearances by Dave Grohl, Tony Hale, and Bokeem Woodbine.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
29
THIS CAN’T BE MUCH SIMPLER: ‘THIS IS US’ By David Hinckley
 
 
It’s way too common for a TV show to start off strong and soon be running on empty. But a select few shows have a less dynamic opening and then get good. This season, that small group includes NBC’s This Is Us...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
29
THE VOICE By David Bianculli
 
 
Tonight is another elimination night – and this time, the field is being whittled down to the Top 9.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
29
RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER By David Bianculli
 
 
Another 1960s holiday TV special that refuses to die, this one is repeated tonight to kick off CBS’s evening of prime time. The title song is sung, as it has been for 52 years, by Burl Ives.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
29
FLASH SUPERHERO CROSSOVER By David Bianculli
 
 
This is Part 2 of this week’s four-part, four-show DC Superheroes crossover event on the CW. If this interconnected gimmick draws a lot of viewers to this program tonight, then the CW will have a Flash mob on its hands.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
29
THIS IS US By David Bianculli
 
 
Is it too late for this drama series to deal with the fallout from Thanksgiving dinner? Not at all – not when it’s still dealing, in some scenes, with holiday frictions from decades earlier.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
29
MARVEL'S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. By David Bianculli
 
 
This is a superhero drama on TV tonight, but it’s not part of the DC Comics universe crossover on the CW. It’s part of the Marvel universe crossover on ABC, where this show tries to keep its big-picture plots in alignment with the larger Marvel stories being told on the big screen in The Avengers movies and elsewhere. And this season, on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., has been all about the character of Ghost Rider. Maybe too much about Ghost Rider, if you ask me.
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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