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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

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All Along the Watchtower

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Uncle Barky's Bytes

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TV That Matters

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Ed Martin's TV Mix

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TV Feeds My Family

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TVWW ARCHIVE

Contributors Archive
 
 
2013
May
26
DOCTOR WHO: THE DOCTORS REVISITED – THE FIFTH DOCTOR By David Bianculli
 
 
Actually, by tuning in a few hours earlier – beginning at 6 p.m. ET – you can get up to speed on all the Doctors leading up to tonight’s new special saluting the Fifth Doctor, Pete Davison. (Salutes to Doctors 1-4 are repeated in half-hour installments from 6-8 p.m. ET.) The Fourth Doctor, the popular Tom Baker, was a tough act to follow, and Davison inherited the role with a different approach entirely. This special shows how – then shows some episodes from his original
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
May
26
SMASH By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES FINALE: There’s no denying that this show lost both steam and direction in Season 2, thanks to a new show-runner, and a dwindling lack of support from NBC. After burying this season on Saturday night, it now televises the final two episodes as a Sunday night finale – but on Memorial Day weekend. Even so, it builds to a finale worth watching: a faux version of the Tony Awards, in which the two musicals developed and partly presented on this show are vying for a Best Original Mu
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
May
26
BEHIND THE CANDELABRA By David Bianculli
 
 
Michael Douglas stars as Liberace, and Matt Damon as one of his malleable young secret lovers, in this new HBO Films dramatization about a portion of the showy entertainer’s onstage and offstage life. Steven Soderbergh directs, and manages to capture both the boldly audacious outrageousness of Liberace’s Vegas performances and the quiet insecurities of his behind-the-scenes demeanor and lifestyle. Behind the Candelabra may sound like an excuse for mere attention-getting stunt casting
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
May
26
MAD MEN By David Bianculli
 
 
I’m a week behind on Mad Men – so I have to catch up before tonight’s show. But based on the promos, which famously reveal almost nothing anyway, poor Don (Jon Hamm) isn’t having too good a time of it, when the time is the summer of 1968. And neither, apparently, is poor Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser).
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
May
26
LIBERACE TALKS ABOUT HIS 'PRIVATE WORLD' By Ed Bark
 
 
Show business had many flamboyant entertainers, but they couldn’t hold a candle, or a candelabra, to Liberace...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
May
25
RESERVOIR DOGS By David Bianculli
 
 
Reservoir Dogs is an adult now – 21 years old. And though that somehow makes me feel a lot more ancient, watching Quentin Tarantino’s breakout movie, even now, makes it still seem fresh. Harvey Keitel and Tim Roth, in particular, are great, and Michael Madsen’s Mr. Blonde is truly unforgettable. He may even be unwatchable, except through the cracks between your fingers.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
May
25
MAGIC MIKE By David Bianculli
 
 
Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey play male strippers in this 2012 comedy-drama – which I highlight here because it’s directed by Steven Soderbergh, who tomorrow presents his latest film, HBO’s Behind the Candelabra biopic about Liberace. So consider this an appetizer to Sunday’s main meal, with both Memorial Day weekend courses serving lots of beefcake.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
May
25
FRIENDLY PERSUASION By David Bianculli
 
 
Gary Cooper, four years after starring in the seminal High Noon, starred as a Quaker farmer in this 1956 drama by William Wyler. It’s set in 1860s Indiana, so maybe it’s a Western – but mostly, it’s a thoughtful, gorgeously photographed character study of a tight-knit family and some tough times. Dorothy McGuire, Anthony Perkins and Marjorie Main co-star.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
May
25
THE ULTIMATE BBQ COOKOUT COUNTDOWN By David Bianculli
 
 
Chew on this: This new prime-time ABC offering features the stars of ABC’s The Chew traveling the country seeking some of the best cookout BBQ. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to the search, other than to introduce The Chew crew to those who have never seen the show (which is mostly everybody) – but if you tune in, you will get to see, for example, Mario Batali showing up to check out the fare at a Talladega tailgate party.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
May
25
ORPHAN BLACK By David Bianculli
 
 
Tonight is the penultimate episode for this initial season of Orphan Black – and by now, it’s tricky to decide which characters should be rooted for, and which ones should be rooted against. Tonight, for example, one character cages another and threatens her at gunpoint – and both roles are played by Tatiana Maslani.
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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