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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
 
 
2012
Nov
22
PRO FOOTBALL By David Bianculli
 
 
Three games are being played today, so no matter when you’re having Thanksgiving dinner, there will be a game to watch before or after. And the three games are played on three different networks, starting at 12:30 p.m. ET on CBS, when the 9-1 Houston Texans face the 4-6 Detroit Lions. The second game, at 4 p.m. ET on Fox, is the traditional Thanksgiving Day Dallas Cowboys game, this time with the 5-5 Cowboys going against the 4-6 Washington Redskins, in a quarterback contest pitting Tony R
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Nov
22
LONESOME DOVE By David Bianculli
 
 
Part 4. This is the gripping emotional conclusion of this superb 1989 Western miniseries – and it’s the episode in which Tommy Lee Jones, after bringing taciturn behavior to an entertaining new high, rides reluctantly into the spotlight, if not the sunset.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Nov
22
PUNKIN CHUNKIN By David Bianculli
 
 
No, this isn’t a roly-poly baby spinoff of Honey Boo Boo. It’s Science Channel’s annual revelry in which it basically loses its gourd – or, at least, launches it. It’s a celebration of catapults and other scientific apparatus used to launch pumpkins over long distances. And if it sounds like a total waste, note, at least, that a portion of the proceeds to go scholarships and charities.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Nov
22
BAD25 By David Bianculli
 
 
Spike Lee directed this 2012 documentary, which marks the silver anniversary of Michael Jackson’s 1987 Bad album. Included in this 90-minute documentary: interviews with producer Quincy Jones and others, and lots of rehearsal footage and video clips.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Nov
22
1995: TNT PRESENTS 'THE WIZARD OF OZ IN CONCERT' By TV WW
 
 
Today in 1995, TNT presented a magical musical version of the classic children's tale, The Wizard of Oz...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Nov
21
1980: THE NATION DISCOVERS WHO SHOT J.R. By Christy Slewinski
 
 
This day in 1980 marked the resolution of one of television's most famous cliffhangers: Who Shot J.R.?
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Nov
21
MAUDE'S DILEMMA REVISITED By Noel Holston
 
 
It’s hard to imagine laugh lines that flip about abortion in a prime-time entertainment show today, but Maude’s most famous episode actually aired without creating a huge stir in November 1972...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Nov
21
GONE WITH THE WIND By David Bianculli
 
 
An unquestioned cinematic classic – and, in this showing, presented in prime time, and at one sitting. Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable star in this 1939 epic about the Civil War South. And though tomorrow is another day, it’s not televised tomorrow – so if you’re interested, watch it now.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Nov
21
LONESOME DOVE By David Bianculli
 
 
Part 3. If you’ve been watching thus far – and I hope you have – tonight’s installment of this 1989 Western miniseries provides a big surprise, and an even bigger payoff. I can’t believe that Robert Duvall didn’t win an Emmy for his performance here, but he didn’t. (James Woods did, for his fine work in My Name Is Bill W., but still.) Maybe it’s because Part 2 of this miniseries was nominated for the Emmy in the Outstanding Actor category. If it ha
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Nov
21
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD By David Bianculli
 
 
Just yesterday, one of our most faithful readers, Eileen, noted AMC’s presentation of To Kill a Mockingbird, and my omission of it from yesterday’s Best Bets, by saying, “I don’t know how this one slipped through the cracks.” While I truly love the idea of all of us at TVWW looking out for each other, in this case, here’s how: Because I knew that, the very next day, the same superb 1962 movie – every bit as wonderful as Eileen correctly went on to praise
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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