2021
 
 
 
 
 
 
2020
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2019
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2018
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2017
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2016
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2015
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2014
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2013
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2012
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2011
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2010
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2009
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2008
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2007
 
 
 
 
 
 
2001
 
 
 
 
2000
 
 
 
 
1998
 
 
 
 
1990
 
 
 
 
1989
 
 
 
 
1987
 
 
 
 
1985
 
 
 
 
1982
 
 
 
 
1980
 
 
 

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
 
 
2020
Jun
3
WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS By David Bianculli
 
 
Since this series began, Nadja has blamed everything on witches, and feared their presence and influence at almost every turn. But you aren’t paranoid if they are out to get you – and in tonight’s new installment, a group of witches abducts Laszlo and Nandor. But perhaps their intentions are friendly: After all, nothing says lovin’ like something from the coven…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jun
2
TRIBECA TALKS: FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA AND STEVEN SODERBERGH By David Bianculli
 
 
This particular entry from the currently and virtually staged Global Film Festival called We Are One, available on its website and YouTube channel, comes courtesy of the TriBeCa Film Festival, where the two filmmakers, Francis Ford Coppola and Steven Soderbergh, sat for a panel discussion at the 2019 festival. Back when people sat closely together, and gathered as an audience, and there were festivals. Major topic: the immensely difficult director’s cut restoration of Coppola&rsq
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jun
2
1969: THE LAST TELECAST OF 'PEYTON PLACE' By David Bianculli
 
 
This day in 1969 marked the last telecast of Peyton Place...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jun
1
2005: 'DANCING WITH THE STARS' DEBUTS By TV WW
 
 
On this day in 2005, ABC debuted Dancing with the Stars...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jun
1
THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW By David Bianculli
 
 
Now that its weekend of marathon teaser previews is over, Shout! Factory has added to its website every season and episode of The Carol Burnett Show. These are not, by any means, the original hours in their entirety – ridiculously prohibitive union contracts from musicians and others continue to restrict use of most musical elements. But anyone visiting the Shout! website can take a self-guided tour of what’s left of every episode from all 11 seasons, seeing sketches that h
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jun
1
A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE By David Bianculli
 
 
Two weeks ago, one of my Best Bets was the one-week showing of National Theatre at Home’s production of A Streetcar Named Desire, starring Gillian Anderson as Blanche DuBois. Tonight, TCM presents the brilliant, incendiary 1951 movie version, in which the fragile Blanche is played by Vivien Leigh, with Kim Hunter as her sister, Stella. And at the center of this film, of course, is Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski. Brando’s naturalistic style of acting changed mov
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
31
THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW MARATHON By David Bianculli
 
 
Beginning tomorrow, all 11 hilarious seasons of The Carol Burnett Show, which premiered on CBS in 1967 and ran until 1978, will become available as a streaming offering, for the first time, on the Shout! Factory website and its YouTube channel. To promote and celebrate the launch, Shout! is presenting a 48-hour marathon of Carol Burnett Show programs, sampling highlights from the entire run. This is day two – and despite the frequent short interruptions and piecemeal ap
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
31
AN ACCIDENTAL STUDIO By David Bianculli
 
 
DOCUMENTARY PREMIERE: In Philadelphia on WHYY-TV, this pledge-break documentary special, about the formation and history of George Harrison’s Handmade Films, is broadcast tonight at 9 p.m. ET. In your city, it may already have run, or may run any time through the month of June. But not only will you get snippets from Monty Python and the Life of Brian, Mona Lisa, and The Long Good Friday, but you’ll get Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, and Harrison, too. Check local
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
31
KILLING EVE By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON FINALE: The body count on this third season of Killing Eve has been both deadly and deceptive. In the past two episodes, I’ve presumed three important characters to have died, only to learn later that all three have survived their brutal assassination attempts – at least for now. But tonight’s the Season 3 finale, and with Villanelle’s two most recent killer-manager handlers convalescing in adjacent hospital beds, the door is open, during regular visiting
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
31
LAUREL CANYON By David Bianculli
 
 
DOCUMENTARY PREMIERE: This new two-part Epix documentary looks at the music and politics and social changes emanating from the particular California location of Laurel Canyon in the 1960s and 1970s. The musicians profiled, and influences tracked, include Joni Mitchell, The Mamas & the Papas, The Doors, Linda Ronstadt, The Eagles, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. For a full review, see David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower. 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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