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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
 
 
2016
Apr
7
THE EIGHTIES: "THE AIDS CRISIS" By David Bianculli
 
 
Last week’s premiere of The Eighties turned out to be the second-highest-rated series premiere in CNN history. (A good sign for those who already are looking forward to The Nineties.) Tonight, an examination of that decade continues, and tonight’s topic is The AIDS Crisis. Young adults, in particular, may be stunned by the ignorant and vehement initial reactions generated by the discovery and identification of HIV and AIDS. Welcome to The Eighties.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Apr
7
WE SAY GOODBYE (PERHAPS) TO 'AMERICAN IDOL' By Ed Martin
 
 
La’Porsha for the win! Even at the last, American Idol can get me (and millions of others) caught up in the excitement of it all...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Apr
6
‘NOVA’ FINDS VIKINGS GOT TO NORTH AMERICA MUCH EARLIER By David Hinckley
 
 
It’s almost as if the Vikings wanted to drive archeologists and historians nuts. Starting more than a thousand years ago, they sailed all over the known world and then found a few worlds that hadn’t been known, at least to Europeans...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Apr
6
AMERICAN IDOL By David Bianculli
 
 
It’s the penultimate episode – not only of the season, but of the series, as American Idol closes in on the finish line of an impressive reality-competition series run. Competing for the shot at being one of the two last Idol contestants standing are Trent Harmon, La’Porsha Renae and Dalton Rapattoni. If life is fair, and the votes, then Renae will not only survive as one of the final finalists, but will win. But no one said life – or Idol -- was fair…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Apr
6
EMPIRE By David Bianculli
 
 
Hakeem gets more and more manipulated by Camilla, who’s played by recurring guest star Naomi Campbell – and the more she gets her claws into Hakeem, that’s the way the Cookie crumbles….
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Apr
6
BROAD CITY By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: Abbi and Ilana (played by Abby Jacobson and Ilana Grazer) are back for another season of Broad comedy. This year, the antics start with a road trip –and did you know (because I didn’t, until recently) that one of this show’s executive producers is Lily Burns, the daughter of documentarian Ken Burns?
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Apr
6
THE AMERICANS By David Bianculli
 
 
No sense hedging here: This is a terrific episode of The Americans, maybe the best yet. It has to do with a botched mission involving fellow Soviet agent Dylan Baker, and the impact it has on Elizabeth, Phillip and their entire spy operation.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Apr
6
REMEMBERING MERLE HAGGARD By Jim Davis
 
 
The country music singer/songwriter died Wednesday (4/6) on his 79th birthday...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Apr
5
'THE WALKING DEAD' FAN COMMUNITY HITS BACK HARD By David Hinckley
 
 

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Spoiler alert! If you haven’t seen the Season 6 finale of The Walking Dead, you may not want to read on.] This may sound unkind, but watching millions of impassioned Walking Dead fans plunge into a collective state of Stage 4 apoplexy has been as much fun as the show itself...

 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Apr
5
'A PLACE TO CALL HOME' REINVENTS ITSELF FOR SEASON 3 ON ACORN By David Hinckley
 
 
A few wishful references to the contrary, the 1950s Australian drama A Place to Call Home won’t make heartbroken fans forget Downton Abbey. But it’s worth watching all on its own...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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