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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
 
 
2019
Sep
29
LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER By David Bianculli
 
 
Bill Maher had his chance to comment on the week’s news on his live Friday HBO show. Saturday Night Live had its chance, last night. And tonight, in which I suspect will be the best of the three, John Oliver gets his turn…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Sep
28
ISN'T IT ROMANTIC By David Bianculli
 
 
Rebel Wilson stars in this 2019 comedy, playing a woman who suddenly finds herself living in the world of a romantic comedy, and bound by its rules and conventions. Conceptually, it’s similar to 1991’s Delirious, in which John Candy played a TV soap opera writer who gets hit on the head and wakes up inside his own show. In Isn’t It Romantic, Rebel Wilson’s Natalie gets hit on the head during a mugging, and wakes up inside one of the romantic comedies s
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Sep
28
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: Every time SNL starts a new season, I get a little nostalgic, and feel a little older. The original premiere of the first season of Saturday Night Live was the way I talked my way onto the TV critic job for a real newspaper, Florida’s The Gainesville Sun (“Hey, this is a college town, I’m a college student, this new NBC show is aimed at college kids – why not let me review it?”). And now, since tonight marks the Season
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Sep
28
AND OUR FRIENDS ARE ALL ABOARD By David Bianculli
 
 
And Our Friends Are All Aboard– On the week and month that Abbey Roadis re-released on its golden anniversary, it doesn't seem that improper to go from golden to yellow...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Sep
27
THE STORY BEHIND THE 'TRANSPARENT' MUSICAL EPISODE By Mike Hughes
 
 
What can a TV show do when it suddenly loses its star? Most quit, a few push on, and one created a musical...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Sep
27
THE LATEST FROM RYAN MURPHY, 'THE POLITICIAN,' MAKES ITS DEBUT ON NETFLIX By David Hinckley
 
 
When he's not tethered to a real-life story, Ryan Murphy loves to fill his dramas and his characters with sudden quirky turns...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Sep
27
TRANSPARENT: "MUSICALE FINALE" By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES FINALE: Because of off-screen issues related to this show’s star, Jeffrey Tambor, this final chapter of the Transparent story arrives with both something missing and something new. What’s missing is Tambor himself, who was the center of the series as Maura Pfefferman, a trans woman who came out after reaching retirement age. Tambor was being investigated after accusations of having sexually harassed members of the cast and crew, and quit the series. So this final epi
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Sep
27
THE POLITICIAN By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: Ryan Murphy was lured to Netflix with a very lucrative contract, and this new series is the initial result of that new arrangement. Ben Platt from Broadway’s Dear Evan Hansen stars as an ambitious high-schooler who runs for class president, and is faced with all manner of obstacles and opponents while pursuing his goal. Co-stars include some familiar faces from some of Murphy’s previous series – Gwyneth Paltrow from Glee, Dylan McDermott fro
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Sep
27
REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER By David Bianculli
 
 
This is the sort of news week that makes a show like this required viewing. And tonight, Maher has increased the potency even more by scheduling two of his most reliably talkative and provocative guests: author Salman Rushdie and former Massachusetts Democratic Congressional Representative Barney Frank.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Sep
27
THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW By David Bianculli
 
 
Before a new season – Norton’s 26th! – begins next week, Norton and BBC America present this fast-moving retrospective of the season just past. Expect to laugh. A lot.
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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