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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

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Uncle Barky's Bytes

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TV That Matters

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Open Mike

ED MARTIN

Ed Martin's TV Mix

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Aerial View

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MNtv

BILL BRIOUX

TV Feeds My Family

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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
 
 
2017
Apr
4
IZOMBIE By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: For this Season 3 opener, iZombie reboots its basic direction, by revealing, to Liv (Rose McIver) and to viewers, that Seattle is the home city for a lot more zombies than originally suspected. And while that changes the overall arc of this program’s plot, the core remains as entertaining and simple as always: Allow McIver, as “controlled” zombie Liv, to ingest some brains every week, and temporarily absorb both the memories and personalities of the corpse in q
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
4
PRISON BREAK By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES RETURN: This is not a recommendation. After eight years off the air, Fox’s Prison Break is back. And so are Wentworth Miller and Sarah Wayne Callies, even though his character was  dead by the time the 2009 finale was over. They and Dominic Purcell are back, and no, this new Prison Break is not a prequel. It’s just an absurdly improbable waste of time – more tattoos, more unswallowable coincidences, and more overacting by Robert Knepper as T-Bag. This new version is
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
4
MARVEL'S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. By David Bianculli
 
 
Mallory Jansen already has played two roles on this series – an eventually life-threatening Life Model Decoy android named Aida, and the woman Agnes, on whom Aida’s “design” was based. Tonight, as surviving members of S.H.I.E.L.D. are plugged into the alternate-reality matrix known as “the Framework,” Jansen adopts a third role as well: Madame Hydra, a.k.a Viper.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
4
THE AMERICANS By David Bianculli
 
 
The Americans has had a great run, last season and this one, in dealing with parental issues: specifically, how Soviet sleeper agents Elizabeth and Philip (Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys), living and working in Reagan-era America, have dealt with their teen daughter’s coming of age, and learning that her parents are spies. Tonight, the show doubles down on that idea, as Philip’s now-grown son, from a previous relationship back in Russia, makes his way to America – and into the conc
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
3
SOME OF THE NEW AMAZON PILOT CROP SHOULD BEAR FRUIT By Eric Gould
 
 
Continuing with their development model, the streaming channel has recently released its annual crop of pilots, and there are two which should find audience interest...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
3
THE AFTERMATH OF THE MASS SHOOTING AT SANDY HOOK IS ADDRESSED ON PBS’ ‘NEWTOWN’ By David Hinckley
 
 
When Kim Snyder decided to make a documentary on the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., she didn’t want simply to plunge back into the darkness...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
3
BREAKING BAD MARATHON By David Bianculli
 
 
This is the second of two Monday marathons of old, carefully selected Breaking Bad episodes shown by AMC in anticipation of the coming Season 3 of Better Call Saul – my favorite current TV series. These are the best episodes featuring Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman, the leading character in progress in this show’s Better Call Saul prequel, and Giancarlo Esposito as drug (and fast-food chicken) kingpin Gus Fring. He’s an actor, and a character, who will make his first Better Call
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
3
WHO IS HARRY NILSSON (AND WHY IS EVERYBODY TALKIN’ ABOUT HIM?) By David Bianculli
 
 
This 2010 documentary profile of Harry Nilsson, an engrossing and enlightening piece of work, is written and directed by John Scheinfeld, who probably got interested in this story, and this famously reclusive and impulsive musical star, when working on his 2006 documentary, The U.S. vs. John Lennon. Lennon and Nilsson became (very) fast friends – they were together, drunk, the night Lennon heckled the Smothers Brothers during their infamous comeback nightclub appearance. But Nilsson, who p
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
3
THE STUFF OF LEGEND By Eric Gould
 
 
Amazon has released their annual crop of new pilots and one, The Legend of Master Legend starring John Hawkes (Deadwood, Winter’s Bone) should be a sure-fire audience favorite... Turn's out the show is based on the self-styled real-life superhero in Orlando, Florida...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Apr
3
THE VOICE By David Bianculli
 
 
Beginning tonight, we’re at the Knockout Rounds – single performances that determine whether contestants move on, unless judges “steal” the losing competitors at the end by adding them to their respective rosters. That wrinkle adds to the drama, but there’s plenty of that already, as the singers try to absorb and reflect the advice given them by their judges and guest mentors.
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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