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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
 
 
2016
Dec
17
THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW By David Bianculli
 
 
Tonight’s guests, on this new edition, include Carrie Fisher – and if anyone’s going to get the Star Wars princess to talk even more freely than she does in her new memoir, The Princess Diarist, it’s Graham.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Dec
17
WHITE CHRISTMAS By David Bianculli
 
 
This 1954 holiday film stars Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye as a song-and-dance duo who become romantically involved with a sister act, and team with them to help save a Vermont inn that’s otherwise on the way out. The ladies are played by Vera-Ellen and George Clooney’s aunt, Rosemary Clooney.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Dec
17
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE By David Bianculli
 
 
Tonight’s guest host is Casey Affleck, currently showcased in a breakout role in the movie Manchester by the Sea. Musical guest: Chance the Rapper.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Dec
16
PBS’ LIDIA BASTIANICH COOKS FOR – AND WITH – VETS DURING HER ‘HOLIDAY FOR HEROES’ By David Hinckley
 
 
Frankly, it shouldn’t be difficult for a professional chef to serve a holiday meal that military combat veterans would appreciate...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Dec
16
THE 'MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE' IS BACK ON AMAZON By David Hinckley
 
 
If it’s any consolation to fans of Amazon’s dark, mysterious and fascinating Man in the High Castle, the actors don’t know where it’s going, either...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Dec
16
THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: For the new second season of The Man in the High Castle, the involvement of executive producer Frank Spotnitz reportedly has been reduced, which is a bad sign. But this season, there’s a new addition to the cast: the talented Stephen Root (one of my favorite things about the delightful O Brother, Where Art Thou?), playing the very elusive and mysterious title character. He’s seen for the first time on this series – and even though he’s real, the realities
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Dec
16
BARRY By David Bianculli
 
 
This 2016 biographical movie premieres today on Netflix, starring Devon Terrell as the young Barack Obama, seen here as an earnest and argumentative college student, just entering Columbia University at the start of the Reagan era. This movie is directed by Vikram Gandhi of HBO’s Vice – which ought to give you a sense of his in-your-face approach to the film’s politics and personal conflicts. But look at it this way, as a partnership of sorts you thought you’d never see:
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Dec
16
THE OA By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: This new eight-part series was announced by Netflix only earlier this week, and drops today like a surprise Beyoncé album, all at once with little advance warning. It stars Brit Marling as a young woman named Prairie, who’s seen in the opening scene – captured on video from a camera phone – as she walks to the edge of a bridge and slides off. She survived the fall – but somehow, survived a lot more, too, including experiences that are a lot more my
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Dec
16
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE By David Bianculli
 
 
NBC and its Universal parent company, which also owns USA, has a lock on TV rights to It’s a Wonderful Life – which is why it’s showing up on USA tonight, one of its rare prime-time appearances during the holidays. This delightful 1939 James Stewart movie is controlled by the corporations and money men – which makes the scenes with the bankers in this film even more disturbing and ominous.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Dec
16
THE EXORCIST By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON FINALE: Season 1 of The Exorcist ends with this series already having served up more than its share of surprises – including the revelation (stop reading here if you’re behind, and care) that Geena Davis’ lead character turns out to be the grown-up Regan from the original Exorcist movie. And now, after last week’s show, she’s been possessed again, by the same old evil spirit of Pazuzu.
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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