2021
 
 
 
 
 
 
2020
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2019
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2018
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2017
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2016
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2015
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2014
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2013
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2012
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2011
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2010
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2009
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2008
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2007
 
 
 
 
 
 
2001
 
 
 
 
2000
 
 
 
 
1998
 
 
 
 
1990
 
 
 
 
1989
 
 
 
 
1987
 
 
 
 
1985
 
 
 
 
1982
 
 
 
 
1980
 
 
 

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
May
5
'NATALIE WOOD: WHAT REMAINS BEHIND' CELEBRATES HER LIFE RATHER THAN EXAMINE HER DEATH By David Hinckley
 
 
Almost four decades after Natalie Wood died, her family would love to have the world remember a lot more about her films and a little less about her death...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
4
'AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: GEORGE W. BUSH' RECOUNTS THE EVOLUTION OF A PRESIDENT By Mike Hughes
 
 
For four noisy – and kind of cheerful – decades, there was nothing presidential about George W. Bush. But then came the flip side...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
4
STAR WARS MARATHON By David Bianculli
 
 
Beginning at 7:30 a.m. ET, and running all day and into prime time, TBS presents a full day of Star Wars movies. Its programming hook is the date: It’s May 4, an excuse for TBS to promote its Star Wars marathon as “May the Fourth Be With You.” The marathon begins with 1977’s Star Wars: A New Hope, which once was titled, simply, Star Wars. Personally, I worry when network publicity and programming departments stretch so far, and stoo
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
4
NATALIE WOOD SALUTE By David Bianculli
 
 
Tonight’s “Starring Natalie Wood” salute on TCM presents four very watchable, very different movies in prime time. The genres are as varied as the performances: 1961’s Splendor in the Grass kicks things off at 8 p.m. ET, co-starring Warren Beatty in a dour character study about a young woman depressed by her Depression-era life. Then, at 10:15 p.m. ET, comes 1956’s The Searchers, a raw John Ford Western in which Wood plays a girl abducted and &ld
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
4
AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: "GEORGE W. BUSH" By David Bianculli
 
 
This is pure coincidence… but what timing. Over the weekend, President George W. Bush called for an end to partisanship in combating the coronavirus crisis, leading to a combatively reactive tweet by President Trump. But long, long before that, PBS and American Experience had produced and scheduled this new biographical study of George W. Bush himself. Check local listings. For a full review, see David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower, and for background information, see
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
4
THE PRESIDENCY OF 'GEORGE W. BUSH' ON "AMERICAN EXPERIENCE" By David Hinckley
 
 
You might think the presidency of George W. Bush would look markedly different now that we’ve had three-plus years of a very different Republican president, Donald Trump...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
4
'ALL RISE' BECOMES THE FIRST DRAMA TO JUMP INTO THE VIRTUAL POOL By Mike Hughes
 
 
Any experiment – Wright Brothers’ flight, man on the moon, mixing chocolate with marshmallow – will have its problems...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
4
1996: 'SISTERS' ENDS ITS RUN ON NBC By TV WW
 
 
This day in 1996 marked the final telecast of the NBC drama, Sisters...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
3
2000: 'PARTY OF FIVE' WRAPS UP By TV WW
 
 
On this day in 2000, Fox aired the season finale of Party of Five...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
3
MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 LIVE RIFF-ALONG By David Bianculli
 
 
SPECIAL PREMIERE: I’m not sure about this live event, which, in addition to YouTube, also can be found on Facebook, Twitch – and, for all I know, Stutter. No, wait, that’s Shudder, and probably won’t be simulcasting this interactive event sponsored by the current reunion touring company of MST3K, including founding host Joel Hodgson. I’m mentioning this because I love these guys, and this long-running show poking fun at bad old movies. But I’m wary b
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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