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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
 
 
2020
May
11
PBS' 'ASIAN AMERICANS' EXPLORES EXTRAORDINARY DETERMINATION AGAINST EXTREME PREJUDICE By David Hinckley
 
 
Long before the phrase “Chinese flu” gave some folks the green light to harass Asian Americans, a lot of other folks had been doing it anyway...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
11
THOUGHTS ON PBS' 'ASIAN AMERICANS' FROM THOSE WHO LIVED IT By Mike Hughes
 
 
As Mike Nakayama tells it, enlisting in the military “was not a deeply thought-out decision.” Soon he was in Vietnam, heading into the jungle to induce firefights...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
11
1997: CBS PRESENTS 'MARIO PUZO'S THE LAST DON' By TV WW
 
 
On this day in 1997, CBS presented the first installment of the miniseries Mario Puzo's The Last Don...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
10
1983: 'LAVERNE & SHIRLEY' ENDS ITS EIGHT-SEASON RUN By TV WW
 
 
This day in 1983 marked the final telecast of the Happy Days spinoff, Laverne & Shirley, on ABC...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
10
'I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE' IS A GRIM TALE WITH STRONG PERFORMANCES – ESPECIALLY MARK RUFFALO By David Hinckley
 
 
HBO’s new miniseries I Know This Much Is True might cheer you up, but only by comparison...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
10
DISNEY FAMILY SING-ALONG: VOLUME II By David Bianculli
 
 
SPECIAL: The first volume of this Disney Family Sing-Along snuck up on me, but I’m prepared to recommend this one. It’s like one of those increasingly familiar socially distanced specials, in which celebrities check in from their respective homes to entertain – this time by singing, and leading viewers in song. Except that most of the songs here are familiar Disney tunes, and many of the on-screen participants are very familiar faces from the ever-expanding Disney emp
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
10
FEEDING AMERICA COMEDY FESTIVAL By David Bianculli
 
 
SPECIAL: When I said these socially distanced entertainment specials were “increasingly familiar,” I wasn’t exaggerating. In fact, tonight there are two of them competing for viewers in the same time slot. This one, a charity benefit for Feeding America, is co-hosted by organizer Bryon Allen, Tiffany Haddish, Kenan Thompson, and Billy Crystal. Pre-recorded comedy bits are provided by, among others, Kevin Hart, Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, and George Lopez. Other part
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
10
THE SIMPSONS By David Bianculli
 
 
There’s a special musical treat tucked into this new episode of The Simpsons. Among the week’s guest stars are, or is, Weezer. And if you ever wondered how the theme to The Simpsons would sound if played by Weezer, the answer arrives tonight. And the answer, to borrow a phrase from Larry David, is: “Pretty, pretty good…”
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
10
WORLD ON FIRE By David Bianculli
 
 
This is the penultimate episode of this WWII drama, and things don’t look especially good in Europe at the moment: In this installment, Paris falls. Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
10
KILLING EVE By David Bianculli
 
 
Last week, Killing Eve delighted me – by finally, if briefly, reuniting Villanelle and Eve on a massively emotional and physical bus ride (physical in the sense of beating each other up, as well as embracing). But also, it delighted me by opening with Henry Hall and His Orchestra’s “The Teddy Bears’ Picnic,” a song I first heard, and loved, when it was used in the soundtrack of the BBC miniseries The Singing Detective.
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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