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DAVID BIANCULLI

Founder / Editor

Bianculli's Blog

ERIC GOULD

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The Cold Light Reader

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Dateline Donovan
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TVWW ARCHIVE

Contributors Archive
 
 
2020
May
10
1983: 'LAVERNE & SHIRLEY' ENDS ITS EIGHT-SEASON RUN By TV WW
 
 
This day in 1983 marked the final telecast of the Happy Days spinoff, Laverne & Shirley, on ABC...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
9
1992: 'THE GOLDEN GIRLS' ENDS ITS RUN ON NBC By TV WW
 
 
On this day in 1992, The Golden Girls wrapped its seventh and final season...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
9
THE KING AND I By David Bianculli
 
 
SPECIAL: Only through this weekend, the streaming service Broadway HD is presenting – free, and without any need to sign up for a subscription – a special showing of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I, the Lincoln Center production starring Kelli O’Hara and Ken Watanabe. This production was filmed for TV in 2018 at the Palladium Theatre, when the company was on a brief, special visit to London. Co-stars include Ruthie Ann Miles, who won a Tony for her su
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
9
DOWNTON ABBEY By David Bianculli
 
 
You’ve seen the series – now see the movie. Just as many movies are adapted from TV series as TV series are adapted from movies: the cash-in-on-name-recognition trick definitely is a two-way street. But the 2019 film Downton Abbey, which picks up the narrative of the acclaimed TV series in the year 1927, is a special case. It’s written by Julian Fellowes, the same guy who wrote the series, so it’s got creative integrity and pedigree. And it also has Hugh Bonnevi
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
9
UNICEF WON'T STOP By David Bianculli
 
 
SPECIAL: Talk about paying it forward. In 1947, Helenka Pantaleoni co-founded UNICEF USA, and served as its president for the next 25 years. Now, in 2020, her granddaughter, actress Téa Leoni, is co-producing this special, a charity event for UNICEF first responders, scientists and others supported internationally by the organization. (The actress has been a UNICEF ambassador for almost 20 years, so this is no “new” pet cause.) Entertainment lined up for this streaming event i
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
9
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON FINALE: This just in, as they say… NBC has just announced that Saturday Night Live will be ending its current season with tonight’s episode. Usually, the show runs through May, but this third “At Home” edition, presenting sketches and musical guests and a guest host, all performing from separate, isolated home locations, will be this series’ final original production until fall. Previous “At Home” installments were broadcast on April 11
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
9
BREWSTER MCCLOUD By David Bianculli
 
 
In 1970, Robert Altman broke into the big time by directing MASH, the hit movie (later to be adapted as an even more popular TV series, with asterisks added) starring Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould. The film was so popular, Altman was given the green light to do whatever he wanted to do next – and what he wanted to do next, later that same year in 1970, was this bizarre, weirdly charming allegorical story. Bud Cort, who had appeared in MASH in a small role, and who
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
8
DEAD TO ME By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: The first season of this Netflix series, which stars Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini as two women with what you might call complicated pasts, was one of last year’s more pleasant surprises. As a dual character study, it was impeccable. As a comedy, it was so dry and patient, it was easy to forget it was a comedy, until something Applegate’s understandably acerbic character said made you laugh out loud. As a mystery, and even as a drama, it could pu
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
8
THE EDDY By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: Damien Chazelle, the Oscar-winning La La Land director, once again presents a story built around a love of music and, yes, another jazz club. But The Eddy, an eight-episode drama series presented today by Netflix, is vastly different. La La Land was a movie musical, giddy in its occasional flights of fancy amid the more grounded love story it was telling. The Eddy is reality-based in its love of music and the local community flavor, more l
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
8
REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER By David Bianculli
 
 
Among tonight’s virtual interview guests is someone with whom Bill Maher should have a spirited discussion indeed: Libertarian presidential candidate Justin Amash. I still remember Maher and Michael Moore dropping to their knees to beg Ralph Nader to stop his pursuit of the presidency as a third-party candidate in 2004 (pictured). They feared Nader might siphon off enough votes to allow the Republican incumbent to defeat the Democratic challenger. And he did: Nader persisted, John Kerry wa
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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