2021
 
 
 
 
 
 
2020
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2019
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2018
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2017
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2016
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2015
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2014
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2013
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2012
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2011
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2010
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2009
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2008
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2007
 
 
 
 
 
 
2001
 
 
 
 
2000
 
 
 
 
1998
 
 
 
 
1990
 
 
 
 
1989
 
 
 
 
1987
 
 
 
 
1985
 
 
 
 
1982
 
 
 
 
1980
 
 
 

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
 
 
2015
Dec
6
THE AFFAIR By David Bianculli
 
 
This series, too, is only a few episodes away from its season finale – and the stories told by the various characters here are beginning to unravel. And deepen, as at least one of them admits tonight to not having told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Dec
5
PBS PLEDGE DRIVES WORSE THAN A BAD HABIT By Tom Brinkmoeller
 
 
As a former smoker, I can tell you that what once was acceptable, then shown to be a tar-and-nicotine-paved path to no good, is a tough and awful habit to break...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Dec
5
EVA LONGORIA BUBBLES OVER IN NBC'S 'TELENOVELA' By David Hinckley
 
 
Eva Longoria seems to be having lots of fun in her return to prime-time TV as the star of NBC’s new comedy Telenovela...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Dec
5
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE By David Bianculli
 
 
This movie came out in 1946 – next year will be its 70th anniversary. But it still resonates, and adds cheer to the holiday season, and reminds us what a wonderful actor James Stewart was. Imagining a world without Stewart’s George Bailey in it is tough enough. A world without It’s a Wonderful Life? Impossible.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Dec
5
SUNSET BOULEVARD By David Bianculli
 
 
Here’s a movie that was made just four years after It’s a Wonderful Life, so this is its 65th anniversary. William Holden was a young movie star then – and Gloria Swanson wasn’t, which makes her role in this 1950 classic even more fitting, and creepy. They did, indeed, have faces then.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Dec
5
DOCTOR WHO By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON FINALE: Clara is dead, the Doctor is fuming, and in tonight’s Season 9 finale of the modern Doctor Who series, the Doctor returns to his homeland of Gallifrey – but with vengeance, more than nostalgia, in mind. Clara, just before her death, had ordered the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) not to seek revenge for what was about to happen to her – but will he listen?
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Dec
5
THE RETURNED By David Bianculli
 
 
Last season, the creepiest thing about The Returned was one returnee in particular – the mostly silent little kid. Tonight, in Season 2, he’s back at center stage. And he’s no less creepy…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Dec
5
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE By David Bianculli
 
 
Ryan Gosling guest hosts this new episode, with musical guest Leon Bridges.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Dec
4
MUSICALLY AND COMEDICALLY, BILL MURRAY'S NETFLIX SPECIAL LEAVES US WITH THE CHRISTMAS BLUES By Ed Bark
 
 
It seemed to be a fair assumption that A Very Murray Christmas would find the host grooving and goofing on the holiday season by reprising his smarmy Saturday Night Live lounge singer, Nick Ocean...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Dec
4
A VERY MURRAY CHRISTMAS By David Bianculli
 
 
SPECIAL: For the holidays, Netflix is trying its hand at yet another programming form established by broadcast TV networks: the Christmas special. Bill Murray is the host, and while that might scream sarcasm and satire, A Very Murray Christmas actually plays it very straight – and enjoyably so. For full reviews, listen to my report on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, or my Bianculli’s Blog right here. Or, for another TVWW perspective, see Ed Bark’s Uncle Barky’s By
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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