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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
 
 
2013
Feb
24
JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!: AFTER THE OSCARS By David Bianculli
 
 
Even before Kimmel got his earlier time-slot promotion from ABC, he was given – and made the most of – a ripe post-Oscar showcase each year. You have to wait until your local news is over, but it’s worth it. Kimmel has made it a tradition to use the days leading up to the Oscars to enlist celebrities to appear in his short filmed sketches, which tend to go viral instantly. Tonight’s sketch: a fake movie trailer for a movie called Movie: The Movie 2V – a sequel, or p
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Feb
23
'DOWNTON ABBEY' AND THE MOTHER OF ALL TROPES By Eric Gould
 
 
This year's Downton Abbey finale was all the talk this week, and we're not immune. It finished with one of the more rehashed plot devices known, but we love it anyway...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Feb
23
ON THE WATERFRONT By David Bianculli
 
 
More Oscar-winning movies and performances from TCM. This one, from 1954, won Best Picture, and Marlon Brando and Eva Marie Saint won for Best Actor and Supporting Actress, respectively. Brando’s performance also won the adoration, and emulation, of the next half-century of actors. Watch it tonight, and see why.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Feb
23
KILLING BIN LADEN By David Bianculli
 
 
As a pre-Oscars treat, Discovery Channel has shuffled its lineup tonight to repeat two documentaries tied to this year’s Best Picture nominees. The first is this one, which gives a nonfiction retracing of the same steps presented in Zero Dark Thirty, about the search for Osama Bin Laden. And then there's the second...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Feb
23
ARGO: INSIDE STORY By David Bianculli
 
 
And here’s part two of Discovery Channel’s special pre-Oscars doubleheader: A one-hour special in which the CIA’s Tony Mendez, among others, recounts the real-life events leading to the daring escape of six Americans during the 1978 Iran hostage crisis. This version is a repeat of the little-remembered, now-topical special, but with new narration, provided by Argo co-star Bryan Cranston.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Feb
23
PATHS OF GLORY By David Bianculli
 
 
Here’s a rare chance, on TV, to see Stanley Kubrick’s 1957 anti-war masterpiece, a story of three soldiers court-martialed for cowardice during WWI, and the colonel (Kirk Douglas) who defends them against the unfair, unwarranted charges. Stanley Kubrick was a great director, even at the start of his career, and this gripping drama, with its brutal battle scenes and cold courtroom ones, proves it.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Feb
23
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE By David Bianculli
 
 
This is a repeat of the most recent strong installment this show has mounted – from last December, when Martin Short was hosted, and Paul McCartney was musical guest. The best part? Unexpectedly, when McCartney appeared with Short in a comedy sketch, playing a musician who wasn't performing to Short's expectations.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Feb
23
HOLY CRAP, LOIS, I'M HOSTING THE OSCARS! By 
 
 
That’s right ladies and gentlemen, Seth MacFarlane, creator of TV's Family Guy, American Dad! andand the feature film, Ted, is hosting the Academy Awards...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Feb
22
'OUT THERE' BRINGS SMALL TOWN FRINGE, AND FUR, TO IFC By Eric Gould
 
 
The new animated comedy shoots pretty straight, travels some coming-of-age territory, and keeps the gross-out stuff, thankfully, to a minimum...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Feb
22
MOYERS & COMPANY By David Bianculli
 
 
Here’s a tip that won’t cost you 15 or 20 percent or more: This weekend’s new edition of Moyers & Company features Bill Moyers focusing on restaurant workers who marched on Washington to protest low wages. Leading the charge was Moyers’ guest, Saru Jayaraman (pictured), co-founder of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United. Also on tonight’s show, a clearly related topic: Economist Richard Wolff advises Moyers, and viewers, on how to fight for economic justi
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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