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DAVID BIANCULLI

Founder / Editor

Bianculli's Blog

ERIC GOULD

Associate Editor

The Cold Light Reader

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Assistant Editor

Dateline Donovan
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All Along the Watchtower

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Ed Martin's TV Mix

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TVWW ARCHIVE

Contributors Archive
 
 
2020
May
12
1990: 'THE FAMOUS TEDDY Z' FIZZLES ON CBS By TV WW
 
 
On this day in 1990, CBS aired the final episode of The Famous Teddy Z...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
11
1997: CBS PRESENTS 'MARIO PUZO'S THE LAST DON' By TV WW
 
 
On this day in 1997, CBS presented the first installment of the miniseries Mario Puzo's The Last Don...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
11
HAVE A GOOD TRIP: ADVENTURES IN PSYCHEDELICS By David Bianculli
 
 
DOCUMENTARY PREMIERE: Netflix is describing this debut film by comedy writer and producer Donick Cary as a documentary, but it seems assembled and intended more for entertainment than elucidation. Hosted by Nick Offerman, it’s basically a parade of celebrities telling of their personal experiences with LSD, mushrooms, peyote and other hallucinogenics, starting with Sting, and continuing with everyone from Sarah Silverman (who describes the foamy and bubbling hot chocolate served to her whi
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
11
INDEPENDENT LENS: "REWIND" By David Bianculli
 
 
This extremely personal film was crafted by former child actor Sasha Neulinger, whose father, Henry Nevison, also was a filmmaker (the reason for the different last names is covered in this documentary). This biographical study came about when Neulinger, troubled by unsettling memories and feelings from his childhood, asked his dad if he had saved any film or videotape from those years. His dad provided him with 200 hours of home video footage, and agreed to be interviewed by his son for what be
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
11
AMY SCHUMER LEARNS TO COOK By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: Like many of us, Amy Schumer is stuck at home, waiting out the initial wave of this deadly pandemic. And like many of you, she’s sequestered in her house with her spouse. But her husband, Chris Fischer, happens to be a James Beard Award-winning chef. And with so much time on their hands, and so much culinary talent in his, Schumer cooked up the idea for a TV show emanating straight from her Martha’s Vineyard home, and sold it to The Food Network. Its simple, explanat
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
11
PBS' 'ASIAN AMERICANS' EXPLORES EXTRAORDINARY DETERMINATION AGAINST EXTREME PREJUDICE By David Hinckley
 
 
Long before the phrase “Chinese flu” gave some folks the green light to harass Asian Americans, a lot of other folks had been doing it anyway...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
11
THOUGHTS ON PBS' 'ASIAN AMERICANS' FROM THOSE WHO LIVED IT By Mike Hughes
 
 
As Mike Nakayama tells it, enlisting in the military “was not a deeply thought-out decision.” Soon he was in Vietnam, heading into the jungle to induce firefights...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
10
'I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE' IS A GRIM TALE WITH STRONG PERFORMANCES – ESPECIALLY MARK RUFFALO By David Hinckley
 
 
HBO’s new miniseries I Know This Much Is True might cheer you up, but only by comparison...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
10
DISNEY FAMILY SING-ALONG: VOLUME II By David Bianculli
 
 
SPECIAL: The first volume of this Disney Family Sing-Along snuck up on me, but I’m prepared to recommend this one. It’s like one of those increasingly familiar socially distanced specials, in which celebrities check in from their respective homes to entertain – this time by singing, and leading viewers in song. Except that most of the songs here are familiar Disney tunes, and many of the on-screen participants are very familiar faces from the ever-expanding Disney emp
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
10
FEEDING AMERICA COMEDY FESTIVAL By David Bianculli
 
 
SPECIAL: When I said these socially distanced entertainment specials were “increasingly familiar,” I wasn’t exaggerating. In fact, tonight there are two of them competing for viewers in the same time slot. This one, a charity benefit for Feeding America, is co-hosted by organizer Bryon Allen, Tiffany Haddish, Kenan Thompson, and Billy Crystal. Pre-recorded comedy bits are provided by, among others, Kevin Hart, Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, and George Lopez. Other part
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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