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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
 
 
2019
May
27
HISTORICAL ROASTS By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: Back in the 1970s, Steve Allen hosted an intriguing PBS series called Meeting of Minds, in which he hosted a dinner party populated by performers impersonating historical figures. (The opener featured Theodore Roosevelt, Cleopatra, Thomas Paine and St. Thomas Aquinas breaking bread together.) Today on Netflix, deceased talk-show guests are featured once again – but this time in a roast format, hosted by Comedy Central roastmaster general Jeff Ross. Guests of honor, each &l
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
May
27
2019 STANLEY CUP FINALS By David Bianculli
 
 
Game 1 of this year’s Stanley Cup Final is an alliterative affair: It’s the Blues vs. the Bruins, the culmination of a wild playoff race that began with all the division winners being eliminated in the first round – with all the long-shot wild-card teams advancing instead. That’s the first time that happened in NHL history, so this year’s tournament is a contest where almost anything can happen. Let’s see…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
May
27
BIOGRAPHY: "CHRIS FARLEY: ANYTHING FOR A LAUGH" By David Bianculli
 
 
DOCUMENTARY PREMIERE: The latest edition of Biography is devoted to former Saturday Night Live repertory cast member Chris Farley – who, like his SNL idol John Belushi, was an outrageously original and energetic comic talent, became a big TV and movie star, and died way too young.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
May
27
THE HOT ZONE By David Bianculli
 
 
MINISERIES PREMIERE: This new three-part miniseries, based on the book by Richard Preston, stars Julianna Margulies as a dedicated scientist confronted with identifying and controlling the Ebola virus when an outbreak threatened to occur in the U.S. in 1989. (Spoiler Alert: It didn’t. But Ebola is back in the headlines, so set your paranoia on Stun.) The miniseries continues tomorrow and concludes Wednesday on National Geographic, so it’s fairly well-contained.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
May
26
FINALE FEVER – EXPECTED AND UNEXPECTED By David Hinckley
 
 
If you’re looking for a proposition that can bring a polarized nation together, here’s a candidate: No one likes to see his or her favorite TV show end...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
May
26
2019 NATIONAL MEMORIAL DAY'S CONCERT By David Bianculli
 
 
LIVE SPECIAL: This is the 30th anniversary of this televised holiday concert on PBS, a Memorial Day eve event held to honor the troops. Always one of the most proudly patriotic TV events on the calendar, this year’s lives festivities include appearances by Alison Krause, Patti LaBelle, Sam Elliott, Joe Mantegna and Colin Powell. Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
May
26
KILLING EVE By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON FINALE: Season 1 of Killing Eve ended with a stunning surprise, an intimate and unexpected stabbing. Tonight is the Season 2 finale – and while Villanelle (Jodie Comer) and Eve (Sandra Oh) have been working the same case, ostensibly for the same people, I wouldn’t be surprised by another tectonic shift in their relationship before this episode is over.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
May
26
THE PINK PANTHER By David Bianculli
 
 
Viewers and critics often talk of a performer “stealing” a scene in a film, or an entire movie – and that’s precisely the case with this 1963 comedy, which stars David Niven as a suave jewel thief. The jewel he’s planning to steal is the pastel-shaded diamond of the title – called the “pink panther” – and the notorious, mysterious thief is known only as “The Phantom.” The Pink Panther, as a cartoon character, sprang to life (and a
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
May
26
GAME OF THRONES: THE LAST WATCH By David Bianculli
 
 
SPECIAL PREMIERE: Game of Thrones ended last Sunday, with viewers still debating the effectiveness of the finale, and HBO still lamenting the loss of its biggest franchise. To that latter point, HBO tonight fills the time slot formerly occupied by Game of Thrones with this behind-the-scenes special. I especially like the title, The Last Watch, because, for Thrones fans, that’s precisely what this is. Until, that is, the inevitable spinoffs begin spinning off. Meanwhile, we have an illusion
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
May
26
BILLIONS By David Bianculli
 
 
Wendy and Taylor keep marching towards their respective climactic encounters – while, elsewhere, Axe and Wags prepare for their own new, pivotal power struggles.
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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