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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
Dec
16
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP DARTS By David Bianculli
 
 
Whenever I travel to another country, I like to check out the local TV and watch what passes for entertainment there. In Germany, it’s very serious. In England, it’s much more bizarre and oddly comforting than you might suspect. I first watched a British baking show over there – and also watched a darts tournament, and was captivated. Now you can see why, as BBC America packages the current World Championship Darts contest for U.S. consumption. And don’t imagine grizzled
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Dec
16
MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET By David Bianculli
 
 
This is one movie that’s appropriate to show any time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, because that’s when it takes place. The setting: New York City. The plot: a department-store Santa, played by Edmund Gwenn, claims to be the real deal – and a young girl, played in this 1947 holiday film by a sweet and tiny Natalie Wood, believes him. Maureen O’Hara and John Payne co-star. The store, by the way, is Macy’s, and this movie, over the decades, has generated more fr
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Dec
16
SINGIN' IN THE RAIN By David Bianculli
 
 
This 1952 musical probably is the best movie musical ever made, and has the added bonus of telling the story of Hollywood’s transition from silent pictures to the sound era. I just showed it again in my film class, as I do every semester, after teaching all about silent movies. It’s such a fun transition, and Debbie Reynolds, who was 19 when she filmed it, is about the age of my students, so they tend to relate to that as well. And then, of course, there’s Gene Kelly and the sp
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Dec
16
THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW By David Bianculli
 
 
Tonight’s guests include Jessica Chastain, Jack Black, Rebel Wilson, Dawn French, Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart. Now that’s a guest roster. And it’s one couch, no waiting…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Dec
16
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE By David Bianculli
 
 
Tonight’s guest host is Kevin Hart, who also can be seen earlier (and taped, from earlier this week) on tonight’s The Graham Norton Show. Musical guest: the Foo Fighters.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Dec
15
JEAN-CLAUDE VAN DAMME IS HIMSELF AND ‘JEAN-CLAUDE VAN JOHNSON’ ON AMAZON PRIME By David Hinckley
 
 
I admit it: Back in the day, I was a sucker for Jean-Claude Van Damme movies. I make no excuses. I just was...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Dec
15
WORMWOOD By David Bianculli
 
 
MINISERIES PREMIERE: This new miniseries is from Errol Morris, who blew up the standard notion of the documentary form with his brilliant The Thin Blue Line almost 30 years ago, is still at it, and still going strong. Like The Thin Blue Line, this new production, Wormwood, is richly photographed and impeccably researched. It’s mostly a documentary, with lots of archival footage and freshly conducted interviews, but it also features recreations and dramatic interpretations, starring Peter S
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Dec
15
MARVEL'S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. By David Bianculli
 
 
A few things have become apparent as this season of S.H.I.E.L.D. continues to develop. One is that Daisy (Chloe Bennet), in this future time line, is accused of being responsible for destroying the Earth with her literally earthshaking mutant powers as Quake. Another is that the surviving ruling class, in this same future time line, busies itself by trading gladiators in a “fight club”-type circuit. And tonight, stepping into that ring with her powers ready to be unleashed, is Daisy
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Dec
15
THE EXORCIST By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON FINALE: This is the Season 2 finale for this series. And if it’s anything like the Season 1 finale, it’ll reveal a string of shocks and twists, and point to yet another new direction for Season 3. And there will be a Season 3 – Fox executives just renewed the show earlier this week for 2018. Perhaps the Devil made them do it…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Dec
14
THE BIG BANG THEORY By David Bianculli
 
 
In tonight’s new episode, Amy and Halley celebrate birthdays – but because of the people planning those birthdays, things don’t exactly go as smoothly as they could.
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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