DAVID BIANCULLI

Founder / Editor

ERIC GOULD

Associate Editor

LINDA DONOVAN

Assistant Editor

Contributors

ALEX STRACHAN

MIKE HUGHES

KIM AKASS

MONIQUE NAZARETH

ROGER CATLIN

GARY EDGERTON

TOM BRINKMOELLER

GERALD JORDAN

NOEL HOLSTON

 
 
2009
Jun
23
 
 
[Bianculli here: I'm still working under manic deadlines for another week or so (don't ask), so contributing columnist Tom Brinkmoeller bails me out by reviewing a new PBS music and science special, Wednesday's "The Music Instinct: Science and Song." It answers lots of your musical questions -- not necessarily "Who put the ram in the ram-a-lam-a-ding-dong?," but plenty of others. Here's Tom's review...]
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Jun
22
 
 
Talk about timely. National Geographic Channel hit the jackpot scheduling tonight's big documentary premiere. Iran and the West arrives with the middle eastern nation still topping the news nearly two weeks after a presidential election that remains the source of fierce dispute and contentious street protest...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Jun
22
 
 
HBO has just posted the first trailer for The Pacific, its upcoming miniseries companion to its 2001 hit Band of Brothers. The spring 2010 event is from the same production team, led by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Jun
17
 
 
[Bianculli here: TV critics are like treasure hunters, sifting through mounds of worthless junk in search of the occasional sparkling treasure. No wonder contributing writer Tom Brinkmoeller finds lots to like about the long-running PBS series Antiques Roadshow...]
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Jun
16
 
 
There is much to salute about TNT's "HawthoRNe," the new drama series premiering tonight at 9 p.m. ET -- first and foremost, that this program about a dedicated nurse stars Jada Pinkett Smith, making it one of the still-rare weekly series centered around a black lead. But there's much to regret, too, in how ordinary, rather than extraordinary, its first installment comes off..
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Jun
13
 
 
Last year's introductory season of HBO's "True Blood" established the characters, and the swampy Louisiana setting, of the Sookie Stackhouse novels written by Charlaine Harris. "Six Feet Under" creator Alan Ball, adapting the vampire novels for television, amped up the sex and the wit, making it a fun summer TV ride...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Jun
10
 
 
Audience figures for current shows are telling some surprising stories, from a late-night turnaround to some obvious summer losers and winners. Dave has caught "Conan," "Wipeout" is doing surprisingly well, and so is Obama...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Jun
10
 
 
Here is the broadcast networks' prime time lineup for Wednesday, June 10. Try to find some TV worth watching in this. (And no, the week's 17th airing of Law & Order doesn't count...)
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Jun
9
 
 
Completing my book left me a day behind, so watching and reacting to the CBS Tony Awards is a day tardy. But I have to do it anyway, because the closing number by Neil Patrick Harris, as wickedly funny as anything served up by a real musical in years, deserves praise, annotation, and a revisit...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Jun
8
 
 
It's been 15 years since I conducted my first interview for my book on the Smothers Brothers, and over a year -- May 1, 2008 -- since my 100-page proposal sold the idea to Simon & Schuster/Touchstone, for a book to be published this November. This morning I emailed the final chapter to my astoundingly patient, but understandably nervous, editor...