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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

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Uncle Barky's Bytes

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TV That Matters

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Open Mike

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Ed Martin's TV Mix

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TV Feeds My Family

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Must-Click TV

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Raised On MTM

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Crossing Jordan

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TVWW ARCHIVE

Contributors Archive
 
 
2020
May
26
PERRY MASON By David Bianculli
 
 
HBO will be coming out with a brand-new version of Perry Mason next month, starring Matthew Rhys from The Americans as a younger, pre-courtroom Perry Mason. But tonight, MeTV presents the 1962 episode of the original CBS Perry Mason, starring Raymond Burr, in the only episode in which Mason lost a case.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
26
1969: DICK CAVETT DEBUTS IN PRIMETIME By TV WW
 
 
On this day in 1969, talk show host Dick Cavett made the leap to primetime...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
25
1988: SNOW FALLS ON 'ST. ELSEWHERE,' CREATING A FINALE TO REMEMBER By TV WW
 
 
On this day in 1988, TV viewers saw one of the most famous — and perhaps the most debated — series finales in TV history...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
25
WAR MOVIE MARATHON By David Bianculli
 
 
Throughout this Memorial Day weekend, TCM has filled its schedule, day and night, with war movies. On this final day of its tribute to soldiers, veterans and the fallen, TCM presents quite a variety, from entertaining action films (1963’s The Great Escape at 11:15 a.m. ET, 1967’s The Dirty Dozen at 2:15 p.m. ET) to somber films following returning wounded veterans as they try to readjust to civilian life (1946’s The Best Years of Our Lives, picture
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
25
MONDAYS WITH MICHELLE OBAMA By David Bianculli
 
 
This weekly series of national read-alongs has been extended, and for this Memorial Day edition, host Michelle Obama makes room for two more children’s books to be read aloud, with illustrations shown, for young viewers. Both of today’s selections come with punctuation attached: Oh, The Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss is one selection, and Can I Be Your Dog? by Troy Cummings, which will be read by a “very special guest,” is the other. Mondays with
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
25
GRANT By David Bianculli
 
 
MINISERIES PREMIERE: Today through Wednesday, the History channel presents Grant, a three-night, six-hour examination of Ulysses S. Grant, who led the Union Army during the Civil War and afterward became the 18th President of the United States in 1869. Grant is a combination of standard documentary elements and reenactments, with British actor Justin Salinger portraying the hard-driving, hard-drinking general – and with the executive producers behind the project in
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
25
'GRANT' RELATES THE STORY OF A SUCCESSFUL GENERAL AND RELUCTANT PRESIDENT By David Hinckley
 
 
Restoring the reputation of Ulysses S. Grant may not sit high on your history priority list. Even if it doesn’t, the three-night miniseries Grant...makes for a compelling watch and a surprisingly interesting story...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
25
KNOWING THE MEANING OF 'BARKSKINS' IS JUST THE BEGINNING OF THIS FASCINATING DRAMA By David Hinckley
 
 
If you want a clue to where a new series called Barkskins is going, it helps first to figure out what “barkskins” means...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
24
WAR MOVIE MARATHON By David Bianculli
 
 
All day today, and tomorrow, TCM’s war movies marathon continues – and there are films worth catching today. My favorite, though, arrives after midnight tonight. Specifically, at 12:30 a.m. ET, when the 1927 film Wings is shown – a silent war movie that won the first Best Picture Oscar, and that is amazing because of its aerial photography. Oh, and also because of co-star Clara Bow (pictured), who really was luminous here.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
24
2020 NATIONAL MEMORIAL DAY CONCERT By David Bianculli
 
 
For the first time, and for obvious reasons, this annual concert tribute to the military and its veterans is being held not on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol, but as a virtual celebration. The bad news: This circumstance allows for a lot less pomp. The good news: It allows for a bigger roster of celebrity attendees, which now is scheduled to include George Clooney, Gwyneth Paltrow and others. Joe Mantegna and Gary Sinise, who hosted last year’s in-person concert, do the same for this virt
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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