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
 
 
2008
Feb
20
"COMPANY," FROM THEN TO NOW By David Bianculli
 
 
The PBS series "Great Performances," tonight at 9 ET (check local listings), presents a telecast of the 2006 revival of "Company," the groundbreaking Broadway musical by Stephen Sondheim and George Furth. Raul Esparza plays Bobby, the single man surrounded by ambivalently married couples...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Feb
19
CAREFUL, NBC, OR YOUR INITIALS SOON MAY STAND FOR "NOTHING BUT CRAP" By David Bianculli
 
 
There's an old network trick when it comes to promoting truly tacky TV shows: If a new program is mind-numbingly bad or indefensible, don't send preview copies to critics. Fox used to be the champ at that in the reality-show genre, and did it again recently by unveiling "Moment of Truth" without sending advance episodes...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Feb
18
THE WRITERS' STRIKE IS OVER, BUT THE UNSCRIPTED JUNK CONTINUES By David Bianculli
 
 
Two of the judges from "Dancing with the Stars" learn which of their dance teams emerges as victorious in tonight's finale of ABC's "Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann." I couldn't care less. No, wait, I could care less...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Feb
15
ON THE CBS "DEXTER," THERE WILL BE BLOOD... BUT NOT AS MUCH By David Bianculli
 
 
If not for the strike, this wouldn't have happened... but starting Sunday, CBS will be repeating the first season of "Dexter," the daring Showtime series I ranked as one of the Top 10 TV shows of 2007. But it arrives, it should be noted, a little differently...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Feb
14
THE WRITERS ARE BACK: WOW! WOW! WOW! By David Bianculli
 
 
At first, it appeared that Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart hadn't gotten the memo that the writers were back. Otherwise, why start the show by calling it "A Daily Show," Stewart's personal show of support for his missing staffers, rather than the non-strike title The Daily Show?
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Feb
13
VIEWERS HELD HOSTAGE, DAY 100: OUR LONG NATIONAL TV NIGHTMARE IS OVER By David Bianculli
 
 
When Writers Guild of America members voted yesterday to authorize an end to the strike, it had been exactly 100 days, by my count, since the strike began on Nov. 5, 2007. And I'm pretty sure I'm counting correctly, since that was the day, by coincidence, I launched TV WORTH WATCHING...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Feb
12
FIDDLING AROUND WITH "MY GRAMMY MOMENT" By David Bianculli
 
 
When I visited "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" last month to attend the rehearsal of an hour devoted entirely to Ringo Starr, I was impressed enough by one unfamiliar face to consider going up backstage and complimenting her afterward...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Feb
11
TV WRITERS VOTE TOMORROW, AND MAY BE BACK TO WORK WEDNESDAY By David Bianculli
 
 
The end of the Writers Guild of America strike, if it plays out this week as expected, will arrive just in time, and conclude the only way it should: With the membership voting to accept terms, rather than accept the decision of the WGA equivalent of super-delegates...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Feb
8
THE STRIKE MAY BE ENDING - AND HBO'S "INSIDE THE NFL" DEFINITELY IS By David Bianculli
 
 
What happens tomorrow, in separate East and West Coast meetings of active members of the Writers Guild of America, will determine whether the four-month-old strike will be ending very, very soon. My guess is based on a combination of conversations and an urgent Hollywood syzygy, with the Oscars, the upfronts and the May sweeps all dependent upon a swift resolution...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Feb
7
WITH OR WITHOUT WRITERS, LATE-NIGHT SHOWS ARE HITTING HOME RUNS By David Bianculli
 
 
The writers' strike, now officially into month four, could end any day now (for once, that's the same word I'm getting from various sources, who have yet to agree on anything). If these are the waning days - and nights - of the strike, then it ought to be noted that TV's late-night shows have managed to do some especially strong work lately, with or without writers...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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