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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
21
THE 'EMPIRE' SERIES FINALE IS HERE. MAYBE. By David Hinckley
 
 
Things have rarely gone smoothly on Fox’s soapy and boisterous Empire, and that now includes its sort-of final episode...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Apr
21
LET'S GO CRAZY: A GRAMMY SALUTE TO PRINCE By David Bianculli
 
 
SPECIAL: This musical salute to Prince, who died four years ago today, was taped January 28, when artists could still get together in the same venue, and people could still sit shoulder to shoulder and watch them. Renditions of Prince songs will be played by, among others, Morris Day and The Time, Sheila E., The Revolution, Usher, Mavis Staples, John Legend, Chris Martin, H.E.R., The Foo Fighters, Common, and Earth, Wind & Fire. The program is hosted by Maya Rudolph, who, in this special CBS
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Apr
21
FRONTLINE: "CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC" By David Bianculli
 
 
DOCUMENTARY PREMIERE: Miles O’Brien produced this last-minute addition to the Frontline lineup. It’s a documentary both about how the current pandemic began and spread, and how the media covered it, and governments reacted to it, at the start. Talk about the rough first draft of history. Here we go – but here, at least, you’re most likely to get the true Sgt. Friday Dragnet approach. Just the facts, ma’am. For a full review, see David Hinckley's
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Apr
21
BIANCULLI'S BINGES: HULU EDITION By TV WW
 
 
TVWW Resident David Bianculli takes a quick dive into some of the Hulu binge options now available...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Apr
21
PBS'S "FRONTLINE" EPISODE ON THE 'CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC' EXAMINES THE U.S.'S FEDERAL AND STATE RESPONSES TO COVID-19 By David Hinckley
 
 

Finding a TV program about the coronavirus pandemic is about as hard as, um, turning the TV set on. But for a good compact update, sorting out many of the conflicting claims and arguments, it’s worth checking out Frontline’s Coronavirus Pandemic...

 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Apr
20
JANE RUSSELL DOUBLE FEATURE By David Bianculli
 
 
The TCM Classic Film Festival home edition is over, but that doesn’t mean TCM is through offering clever program packages to its viewers. Jane Russell continues to be TCM’s Star of the Month, so Mondays in prime time are devoted to her movies. Tonight comes a Jane Russell double feature that’s also a Hair Color double feature: 1953’s Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (co-starring Marilyn Monroe, whose musical standouts include her iconic “Diamonds Are a Girl’
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Apr
20
BETTER CALL SAUL By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON FINALE: We knew that Bob Odenkirk’s Jimmy McGill, a.k.a. Saul Goodman, couldn’t die in the desert two weeks ago. We also knew he couldn’t die when being threatened by a bigwig cartel thug last week. He has to survive, to be able to go on to his exploits as already dramatized in Breaking Bad. But Rhea Seehorn’s Kim Wexler? Now Saul’s wife? That’s a completely different story. Kim was never even mentioned, much less seen, in Breaking Bad&nb
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Apr
20
THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA By David Bianculli
 
 
MINISERIES FINALE: This David Simon-Ed Gross TV miniseries version of the Philip Roth novel ends tonight. Spoiler Alert: If you read the novel, don’t expect things to end with one happy climax after another.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Apr
20
DISPATCHES FROM ELSEWHERE By David Bianculli
 
 
This is the penultimate episode of this series as well, which I don’t like to contemplate. After next week, it won’t be the same fabulous evening of television: no Better Call Saul, no The Plot Against America, and no Dispatches from Elsewhere. Oh, well. The Mamas & The Papas warned us, long ago: “Monday, Monday, so good to me / Monday morning, it was all I hoped it would be / Oh, Monday morning, Monday morning couldn’t guarantee / T
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Apr
20
THE LEGENDARY MICHAEL JORDAN IS CELEBRATED IN 'THE LAST DANCE' By David Hinckley
 
 
Sports fans are finding no shortage of classic sports programming on their TV sets these days. In fact, that’s about all they’re finding, and it’s getting, so to speak, a little old. The Last Dance raises the bar...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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