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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
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All Along the Watchtower

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Uncle Barky's Bytes

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TV That Matters

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Ed Martin's TV Mix

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TV Feeds My Family

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TVWW ARCHIVE

Contributors Archive
 
 
2021
Feb
28
THE WALKING DEAD By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES RETURN: The “bonus” episodes of this season begin showing up tonight, with the big anticipated event being the return of Maggie and her “reunion” with Negan, who once bashed in the skull of her husband Glenn. Nehan has since been “rehabilitated,” but bygones? That’s hardly likely…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2021
Feb
28
STANLEY TUCCI: SEARCHING FOR ITALY By David Bianculli
 
 
The first two episodes of this new food and travel series, filmed before the pandemic, have been delicious. Tucci is such a warm guide, and knows Italy and Italian well enough, to lead us to tantalizing restaurants and culinary treats. In Rome, he even took us to a restaurant proudly specializing in animal hearts and livers and brains and intestines – and somehow, didn’t make it seem offal. Tonight, Bologna!
 
 
 
  
 
 
2021
Feb
28
ALLEN V. FARROW By David Bianculli
 
 
In this second hour of this new HBO documentary, the video “testimony” recorded by Mia Farrow, in which daughter Dylan, at age 7, answers questions about Woody Allen’s alleged abusive behavior, is included.  Whether it answer more questions than it poses, however, depends upon your opinion about several other factors. Personally, I’m concerned by the apparent one-sidedness of this account. Both sides should be heard and evaluated, obviously – but Alle
 
 
 
  
 
 
2021
Feb
28
SHAMELESS By David Bianculli
 
 
Last week’s “best of” special look back was all about Fiona – played by Emmy Rossum, who departed the show last year. Tonight’s is about the paternal central character of the show, Frank Gallagher, the singularly unpredictable and usually unreliable patriarch played so brilliantly, for so long now, by William H. Macy.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2021
Feb
28
LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER By David Bianculli
 
 
There hasn’t been a week all year, so far in 2021, that hasn’t been almost crushingly newsworthy. And with what the Senate did – and failed to do – this week, and with Donald Trump making the first major political appearance of his post-presidency, the streak continues. And tonight, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver tries to condense, explain and evaluate it all.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2021
Feb
28
1983: CBS AIRS THE FINAL, RECORD-SETTING EPISODE OF 'M*A*S*H' By David Bianculli
 
 
On this day in 1983, M*A*S*H's concluding episode, "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen," attracted 77 percent of all TV viewers...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2021
Feb
27
1979: 'THE CURSE OF DRACULA' RISES ON NBC By TV WW
 
 
On this day in 1979, NBC introduced one of TV's lesser-known vampires, Michael Nouri's Count Dracula from The Curse of the Vampire...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2021
Feb
27
DEAN MARTIN ROASTS MARATHON By David Bianculli
 
 
These Dean Martin specials, which Decades collects tonight in an all-weekend marathon, are anything but politically correct, so be forewarned. But they’re fascinating, to me, because no matter how many hundreds or thousands of paid customers are crammed into the Las Vegas venues for these Las Vegas celebrity roasts, the people on the dais essentially are performing only for each other. And what makes them laugh, in these vintage TV specials, is illuminating as well as sometimes surprising.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2021
Feb
27
DANCES WITH WOLVES By David Bianculli
 
 
Kevin Costner ascended quickly in Hollywood, and leveraged his clout aggressively and intelligently. After his breakout supporting role in 1985’s Silverado as the irrepressible Jake, he spent the next few years playing leading men who no less magnetic. In successive years from 1987 to 1989, Costner played the incorruptible Eliot Ness in The Untouchables, the poetic veteran baseball player in Bull Durham, and the obsessed farmer in Field of Dreams. Th
 
 
 
  
 
 
2021
Feb
27
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE By David Bianculli
 
 
Nick Jonas, without the other Jonas Brothers, is the musical guest tonight – and, in this new installment, he’s also the guest host.
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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