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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
 
 
2009
Sep
17
GUEST BLOG #52: TOM BRINKMOELLER ON A NEW WAY TO APPRECIATE OLD TV By Tom Brinkmoeller
 
 
[Bianculli here: With the new fall TV season about to arrive, contributing columnist Tom Brinkmoeller checks out the revamp of a website devoted to old TV, and the preservation of its oral history. Warning: The site, like the columnist, may prove addictive...]
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Sep
17
WATCH THIS: RICKY GERVAIS' ORIGINAL 'OFFICE' By Diane Werts
 
 
Ricky Gervais is now a comedy cottage industry, but he was nobody back in 2001 when he co-created and starred in the original British version of The Office. Find out why he's been hot stuff ever since, as the show gets another go...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Sep
15
GUEST BLOG #50: P.J. BEDNARSKI ON LENO, THE DAY AFTER By P.J. Bednarski
 
 
America may still be able to fall asleep watching Jay Leno. His 10 p.m. premiere showing on NBC Monday night was a showcase for bad television and an embarrassment for a network trying so hard to create a marketing "event" that it forgot Leno's talents: A powerful gimmick in the variety show/talk show toolbox is real or illusionary spontaneity, not a video screen featuring a "surprise" appearance by Oprah Winfrey. God, that was painful...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Sep
14
CLICK HERE: A TV BLOG TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE (BUT IT IS!) By Diane Werts
 
 
If there's one thing I really hate, it's reading a TV blog entry I wish I'd written. And if there's one thing I really, really hate, it's reading one of those every day. Too bad for me...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Sep
14
TV HISTORY ALL OVER THE PLACE: LARRY GELBART FRIDAY, "BONANZA" SATURDAY, LENO TONIGHT By David Bianculli
 
 
TV history seems to be everywhere all of a sudden. News broke Friday of the death of Larry Gelbart, whose TV triumphs go back to the Golden Age with Sid Caesar. Saturday marked the 50th anniversary of the Ponderosa clan. And tonight, Jay Leno takes the TV talk show into very significant virgin territory...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Sep
11
GO FIGURE: ELLEN ON 'IDOL'? By Diane Werts
 
 
So Ellen DeGeneres is replacing Paula Abdul on American Idol. I don't get it. Do we really want to hear jokes while contenders' performances are being assessed? Or are producers thinking Ellen will bring warm-and-cuddly support?...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Sep
10
GUEST BLOG #49: ED MARTIN CHECKS INTO CW'S NEW "MELROSE PLACE" By Ed Martin
 
 
There hasn't been a column written about The CW's continuation of the '90s pop-culture fave Melrose Place that did not include a mention of Heather Locklear. Everyone seems to think that if Locklear would agree to reprise her role of ferocious businesswoman Amanda Woodward on the new show, its future would look brighter...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Sep
9
BEATLES FANS, REPEAT AFTER ME: "NUMBER NINE, NUMBER NINE, NUMBER NINE..." By David Bianculli
 
 
Today is September 9, 2009. It's no coincidence, given how much stock Yoko Ono Lennon puts in numerology, that this is the day the Beatles and their surviving heirs have selected to release the biggest batch of Beatles merchandise in a generation -- Or, to quote the opening moments of "Revolution No. 9" from The Beatles, a.k.a. the White Album: "Number nine, number nine, number nine..."
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Sep
4
15 TV THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO THIS MONTH By David Bianculli
 
 
This TV season hasn't generated a lot of buzz, but there are plenty of reasons to come back to the TV set. This month alone, without breaking a sweat or making an exhaustive list,or including AMC's ongoing "Mad Men," I counted 15. Here they are, in order of telecast. Mark your calendars, and plan accordingly...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Sep
2
NEWS NEWS: DIANE SAWYER STEPS UP By Diane Werts
 
 
The early bird gets the anchor slot. Charles Gibson, Katie Couric, Tom Brokaw and Barbara Walters way back when, and now Diane Sawyer -- all morning-show hosts who made the leap to anchoring their networks' evening newscasts...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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