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
 
 
2018
Apr
18
AS 'SCANDAL' ENDS, A LOOK BACK AT SHOWS GONE TOO SOON – OR NOT By David Hinckley
 
 
Thursday’s final episode of Scandal, high-octane though it no doubt will be, reminds me of an odd truth about television series: More of them run too long than end too soon...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Apr
18
THE VOICE By David Bianculli
 
 
Here’s the third of three straight nights of the live playoffs – when the saves and steals are rare, and the competition even more elevated.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Apr
18
RIVERDALE By David Bianculli
 
 
This is weird, but its lineage makes sense. Roberto Agierre-Sacasa, executive producer of this dark interpretation of the Archie comics world, also was co-author of the screenplay of the 2013 film remake of the Stephen King horror classic Carrie. So when he and his writing and producing cohorts decided to write an episode about the Riverdale kids putting on a high school musical, they naturally decided on doing an amateur production of Broadway’s Carrie: The Musical. After all, Riverdale a
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Apr
18
CASABLANCA By David Bianculli
 
 
This 1942 Humphrey Bogart classic is one of those movies you just presume – or at least I presume, anyway – that everyone has seen by now. But what college teaching has taught me, among many other things, is that the only way to ensure a classic retains its classic status is to be reintroduced continually to the new generation. So if you’re reading this, and have yet to experience this deservedly iconic film, watch it tonight. I promise, it’ll be the start of a beautiful
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Apr
18
POV: "BILL NYE: SCIENCE GUY" By David Bianculli
 
 
Another thing I’ve learned by teaching college students is that today’s college kids consider Bill Nye a sort of rock star. His Disney Channel series, Bill Nye the Science Guy, is a beloved memory of their childhood. And now Nye is aiming to teach adults, especially deniers of the human impact on climate change, and this documentary both chronicles and examines those efforts. Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Apr
18
THE AMERICANS By David Bianculli
 
 
This is the first of this season’s episodes I haven’t seen in advance – but I can’t wait, because the Cold War of the late 1980s is beginning to hit very close to home in the Jennings household. Philip has been asked to spy on Elizabeth, his own wife – and tonight, he might have very good reason to do precisely that.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Apr
18
FULL FRONTAL WITH SAMANTHA BEE By David Bianculli
 
 
Every week, I note what a crazy news week it’s been, and how much material these news-examining comics, whether Samantha Bee or John Oliver, have to work with. One day, very soon, I’d like to not be able to write that – but not today, it seems. Not this week. And, need I point out, it’s only Wednesday.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Apr
17
IN TIMES OF TURMOIL, THE BIG FOUR BROADCAST NETWORKS ARE MORE DEVOTED THAN EVER TO SAME OLD/SAME OLD By Ed Bark
 
 
Believe it or not, these are unprecedented times of stability, familiarity, and continuity...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Apr
17
'CIVILIZATIONS' REVEALS THE HISTORY OF HUMANITY By David Hinckley
 
 
It’s hard to imagine biting off a bigger, denser chunk of human history than PBS does with its ultra-ambitious new nine-part series Civilizations...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2018
Apr
17
'MCCAIN' OFFERS UP A BALANCED APPRECIATION OF THE SENATOR By Gerald Jordan
 
 
The Frontline documentary, McCain, is offered as a coda to director Michael Kirk’s look at the Republican Party’s plunge into sharp-elbowed attacks on reason and political compromise...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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