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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
 
 
2020
Apr
15
1990: 'IN LIVING COLOR' LAUNCHES ON FOX By David Bianculli
 
 
In Living Color debuted on this day in 1990...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Apr
15
'MRS. AMERICA,' FILLED WITH STRONG PERFORMANCES, TELLS THE STORY OF THE ERA By David Hinckley
 
 
Watching the ambitious new production, Mrs. America, is like watching a ballgame whose outcome you already know. Your interest will likely be directly proportionate to how you felt about that outcome...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Apr
15
'THE INNOCENCE FILES' TELLS THE STORY OF THE WRONGS IN THE JUSTICE SYSTEM TRYING TO BE RIGHTED EVERY DAY By David Hinckley
 
 
The most idealistic view of American justice remains the assertion of Benjamin Franklin in 1785 that it would be better to let a hundred guilty persons go free than to let one innocent person suffer. Things haven't always worked out that way...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Apr
15
THE WOMEN BEHIND THE WOMEN OF 'MRS. AMERICA' By Mike Hughes
 
 
Back in 1972, American society seemed to be transforming. "You just had the Civil Rights Act and the Pay Equity Act," said Cate Blanchett...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Apr
15
MRS. AMERICA By David Bianculli
 
 
MINISERIES PREMIERE: This FX on Hulu miniseries – which you can find only on Hulu, with the first three episodes premiering today – is one of the best-acted new dramas I’ve seen this year. It’s a story of the growth of, and opposition to, the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s, and the cast of actors assembled to play the female principals is wonderful. Not only does Cate Blanchett play anti-women’s-liberation protester Phyllis Schlafly, but Rose Byrne from Da
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Apr
15
THE BIG INTERVIEW WITH DAN RATHER By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: Former CBS News anchor Dan Rather has been hosting this one-on-one interview series on AXS for quite a while now – and the former newsman starts off Season 8 by interviewing a former News man. Specifically, Huey Lewis, whose band, Huey Lewis and the News, was all the rage (or a measurable part of the rage) back in the glory days of MTV.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Apr
15
WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: First it was a weird and wicked movie, a sort of faux documentary about vampires, a cross between Dracula and The Office (and apologies, vampires, for using the word “cross”). Then it was an FX spinoff TV series, with some of the same players, but with exactly the same warped and very funny sensibility. And now comes Season 2, with the vampire clan still transplanted uncomfortably in the United States – and with some of them a
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Apr
15
BROCKMIRE By David Bianculli
 
 
Both Hank Azaria and Amanda Peet are going all out this season, pushing their respective skill sets to deliver performances that are as amusing as they are uncomfortable. Azaria, delivering his lines with rapid-fire, angry spin and spittle, may be TV’s most caustic character since Dabney Coleman’s Buffalo Bill – and as aggressively unlikable as John Cleese’s Basil Fawlty. In other words, this is a character, and a performance, not to miss, and not likely to be forgotten.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Apr
15
BIANCULLI'S FAMILY BINGES By TV WW
 
 
David takes a quick dive into some of the binge options for families with children at home...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Apr
14
SESAME STREET: ELMO'S PLAYDATE By David Bianculli
 
 
SPECIAL: There are millions of shut-in families, I’m certain, who can really, really use this right now. The Sesame Street folks have produced a new special for families, and especially youngsters, to watch, which acknowledges, and explains, the social distancing brought on my coronavirus concerns, while working hard to entertain. Last weekend, Saturday Night Live did a great job of doing the latter. Remember how soothing that was, to watch Tom Hanks and company, dancin
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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