Let's hear it for the Golden Globes. No, seriously. The much-maligned Hollywood Foreign Press Association by and large did an intelligent job of picking and choosing the best television has to offer in nominations announced late last week...

2011

Dec

'ONE LIFE TO LIVE' FACES ITS OWN DEATH WITH A DOOZY OF A STORYLINE By Ed Martin

ABC Daytime's One Life to Live -- a show with more creative energy coursing through it than much of what passes for bigger-budget prime-time fare -- won't breathe its last until Jan. 13. But the show is already giving itself a grand send-off...

2011

Dec

THE MODERN LIFE: WELL LIVED, WELL DESIGNED By Eric Gould

One of the many successes of AMC's much-honored Mad Men is its art direction. And now here's a documentary about two American designers who directly shaped the postwar modernism that's such an integral, sexy part of that series...

2011

Dec

DIFFICULT TO BE BOWLED OVER BY SOME OF THESE COLLEGE FOOTBALL SHOWDOWNS By Gerald Jordan

Bernie Madoff guessed wrong. His Ponzi scheme would have yielded bucks just as big as the millions he bilked, and he would have been able to hide in plain sight, had he done just one simple thing: corral investors to sponsor college football bowl games...It's true...

2011

Dec

BOOKS FOR YOUR FRIENDS, WRITTEN BY MINE By David Bianculli

As one final push for holiday gift suggestions, this weekend I'm recommending a handful of new books (and one e-book) I like a lot. And all of these 2011 books, in addition to being excellent reads, have one other thing in common: They're all written by friends of mine. Descriptions of the books, and the friendships, follow...

2011

Dec

GOOD GRIEF! 'CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS' ALMOST MISSED ITS CHANCE TO BECOME A TV TRADITION By David Bianculli

We've gotten a lot of response to our coverage this month of ABC's treatment, and occasional mistreatment, of A Charlie Brown Christmas -- and we're not through yet. Want to hear how the special almost was killed by CBS the very year it premiered, way back in 1965? Of course you do... This story comes courtesy of the Cincinnati Enquirer and its TV critic, John Kiesewetter, a good journalist, and good guy, who just repeated his own vintage Peanuts story, the same trick I pulled just the oth

2011

Dec

'FEAR FACTOR': CALL OUT THE INSTIGATORS, BECAUSE THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE AIR By David Bianculli

NBC's Fear Factor is back on the air -- and, at the same time, polluting it. During Monday's two-hour comeback premiere, Fear Factor presented an outrageously gross stunt that showed everyday people, eager to do just about anything for money, wallowing in a giant vat of animal waste. And then I thought -- wait a minute. I've seen that before...

2011

Dec

ONE CHRISTMAS RERUN WORTH REPEATING: GET 'THE POINT'? By David Bianculli

Back in February, I wrote and posted a column noting the 40th anniversary of one of the greatest family TV specials ever made. I'm repeating that column today because, when it comes to recommending unusual and inexpensive gifts for children, I can't think of many better choices than to get right to The Point...

2011

Dec

TODAY ON NPR'S 'FRESH AIR': MY KILLER INTERVIEW WITH 'DEXTER' STAR MICHAEL C. HALL By David Bianculli

On today's (Monday's) Fresh Air with Terry Gross on NPR, I interview Michael C. Hall, the talented star of Showtime's Dexter (and, before that, HBO's Six Feet Under). One thing you won't hear in the interview, though, is something we were talking about briefly when we weren't recording: his plans for the holidays, while visiting New York. It turns out he plans to take his mother to a Broadway show, but can't get seats for the one he wants. To put it another way: Dexter would kill for a pair of tickets to The Book of Mormon...

2011

Dec

“SMOTHERS BROTHERS COMEDY HOUR” TO HIT THE BIG SCREEN By About TVWW

(from Archive of American Television) George Clooney and Smokehouse Pictures are set to produce a movie about Smothers Brothers Tom and Dick, in an adaptation of David Bianculli’s book, "Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour." The film will follow the controversy surrounding the Smothers Brothers’ short-lived television variety show, which debuted in 1967 and was abruptly canceled by CBS in 1969...

Posts 21-30 of 43

1 2 3 4 5

New From TVWW

PBS' 'Frontline’ Examines Pension Promises and — Spoiler Alert — Finds the Math Doesn’t Add Up

The Decadence of ‘Versailles’ Comes to Ovation

Prescribing Mamie Gummer in 'Emily Owens, M.D.'

Looking for a Free Ride? HBO Can Deliver

'Pass the Biscuits' Part of the Hatfield-McCoy Pop-Culture Legacy

Dispatches From TVWW

'Extinction: The Facts' is a Sobering Call to Action

How 'Mayans' Has Been Influenced by the Show's Creator Elgin James

For Whom the Bell Tolls: Ken Burns and Lynn Novick Take on Ernest Hemingway, the Man and the Myth

In the Final Season, Sutton Foster's Liza is Now the Genuine Version of Her 'Younger' Self

Season 2 of 'City on a Hill' Returns with Kevin Bacon, Aldis Hodge, and Boston Corruption