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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
 
 
2017
May
27
THE EIGHTIES MINI-MARATHON By David Bianculli
 
 
MINI-MARATHON REPEAT: Tonight, CNN is planning to pad out some of its Memorial Day weekend schedule by replaying many episodes from its 2016 documentary miniseries The Eighties, beginning with an episode devoted to television in that decade – including the slow but steady and important rise of NBC’s Cheers. I’m one of the people interviewed for that particular episode – but as with almost any special programming scheduled for CNN these days, whether it actually appears de
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
27
NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS By David Bianculli
 
 
TCM’s Memorial Day weekend marathon continues, featuring military-themed movies all day today, tomorrow, and Monday. But tonight, the film schedule takes a deliberate tack towards the lighter side, offering up a series of comedies as a uniform mini-marathon within the larger marathon. First up is 1958’s No Time for Sergeants, the film that actually began as an adaptation of the comic novel presented on live TV. In 1955, on The U.S. Steel Hour, Ira Levin – yes, the eventual auth
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
27
DOCTOR WHO By David Bianculli
 
 
Last week, the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) saved the day again, but lost his eyesight. This week, he continues to fight evil and try to save the human race and the universe – but this time while continuing to be blind. And the problem he faces, this week, is the sudden appearance on a pyramid from nowhere, which heralds a countdown to the end of life as we know it.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
27
X-MEN: APOCALYPSE By David Bianculli
 
 
Last year’s newest entry in the X-Men movie franchise set up a time frame, and new set of heroes and actors playing them, to be able to deal with stories inspired from the Marvel Comics series’ generally agreed-upon most creative dramatic streak. James McAvoy continues to play the “new” Charles Xavier, and Sophie Turner from Game of Thrones plays Jean Grey, whose transition to cosmic darkness will be explored in the next film in the franchise, the already announced X-Men:
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
27
MISTER ROBERTS By David Bianculli
 
 
As another entry in tonight’s comedy mini-marathon of military movies, presented for Memorial Day, TCM presents another uniformed wartime comedy classic: 1955’s Mister Roberts, co-directed by John Ford, who himself served in WWII, and Mervyn LeRoy, who also directed the movie adaptation of No Time for Sergeants. It stars Henry Fonda and Jack Lemmon.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
26
WHEN PUSH CAME TO SHOVE By Eric Gould
 
 
Another day, another viral video of the President – this time from the NATO summit in Brussels yesterday (05/26/17). Seems the Prime Minister of Montenegro was an obstacle to the next photo-op...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
26
ACORN'S 'DELICIOUS' IS A TREAT WORTH SAMPLING By David Hinckley
 
 
The toughest thing with the Brit drama Delicious may be figuring what to call it. For the moment, let’s go with psycho-soap...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
26
DELICIOUS By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: This four-episode limited series – or mini-miniseries, or whatever we should call it these days – is a British import about very unattractive characters (behaviorally, not physically) in a very attractive setting. The setting is Cornwall, where Iain Glen (Jorah Mormont in Game of Thrones) plays a successful chef with two grown kids, an ex-wife whose recipes built his reputation, and a younger second wife who suspects him of cheating on her. And he is – with his
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
26
BLOODLINE By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: It’s Season 3 for Bloodline – and in this episode, the normally reliable character, played by Kyle Chandler, goes off the rails. Or, at least, goes off the road, after a car accident that can best be described as unusual. It involves an alligator…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
26
WAR MACHINE By David Bianculli
 
 
MOVIE PREMIERE: Based on the Rolling Stone article and subsequent book by the late Michael Hastings, this new Netflix movie stars Brad Pitt as Gen. Glen McMahon, a military leader commanding troops in Afghanistan. Clearly based on then-active Gen. Stanley McChrystal, this is a war movie for a war that, at this point, has no end, and no clear winners. Which, arguably, is the moral of War Machine in the first place.
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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