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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

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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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Open Mike

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Ed Martin's TV Mix

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TV Feeds My Family

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Must-Click TV

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Raised On MTM

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Crossing Jordan

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TVWW ARCHIVE

Contributors Archive
 
 
2020
May
3
BILLIONS By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: Season 5 takes much of the opening episode to find its footing and get moving – but from then on, Billions delivers with a powerful punch, as always. Damian Lewis and Paul Giamatti, trying to secure their respective power bases, pursue new goals and face new adversaries. Corey Stoll shows up early, and stands eye to eye with Lewis’ Axe, just as formidably and ruthlessly. Other players in the first two episodes include Polly Draper from thirtysomething&
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
3
PENNY DREADFUL: CITY OF ANGELS By David Bianculli
 
 
In this second episode, we get to see even more of Natalie Dormer, whose character is demonically shape-shifting her way to a probable Emmy nomination. She’s not only playing the evil demon whose bet with her more pious “sister” sets the whole plot in motion, but Dormer also plays three other, strikingly dissimilar roles. Note them all, and have fun. She certainly is.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
3
RUN By David Bianculli
 
 
Last week, Archie Panjabi was injected into the story, as an executive left behind by Domhnall Gleeson’s on-the-run lifestyle guru – and finding not only him, but his impulsive runaway companion from the past, played by Merritt Wever. They don’t know yet that Panjabi’s character knows them both… but tonight, back on the train and still on the run, they find out.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
3
LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER By David Bianculli
 
 
Last week, Last Week was in repeats, if that particular sentence parses okay for you. So this week on Last Week, John Oliver gets his first chance, if he so chooses, to address President Trump’s bleach remarks. Personally, I hope Oliver so chooses… There’s old news, and there’s fake news, but funny news is welcome at any time. Especially at this time.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
3
2000: 'PARTY OF FIVE' WRAPS UP By TV WW
 
 
On this day in 2000, Fox aired the season finale of Party of Five...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
2
1986: THE FINAL EPISODE OF 'THE FALL GUY' By TV WW
 
 
This day in 1986 marked the final telecast of the ABC series, The Fall Guy...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
2
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY By David Bianculli
 
 
There are good movies to watch today on TV, if you have the time and inclination. Let’s begin with Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 sci-fi masterpiece, which begins in prehistoric times, ends in posthistoric ones, and surprises and confounds throughout. What a movie. More than 50 years later, it’s never been surpassed.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
2
SINGIN' IN THE RAIN By David Bianculli
 
 
How many times have I recommended this 1952 musical comedy already this year? Every time TCM has shown it, I’m guessing, because this Gene Kelly musical is so iconic, and so perfect. Arguably, with this 2001: A Space Odyssey and Singin’ in the Rain double feature, TCM is showing movies that represent the pinnacle achievements of their respective cinematic genres: the best sci-fi movie, and the best musical. And when Debbie Reynolds was tapped to co-star in Si
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
2
KELLY'S HEROES By David Bianculli
 
 
TCM is the best network at showing old movies, but it doesn’t have a monopoly on the concept. Tonight on Sundance, for example, that network presents a showing of 1970’s Kelly’s Heroes, a WWII comedy-drama starring Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, Donald Sutherland and Don Rickles (now there’s an odd quartet) as soldiers who recognize an opportunity to rob a Nazi bank of gold bars in the heat of battle.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
2
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE By David Bianculli
 
 
Last weekend, I wrote about NBC’s scheduled repeat of SNL – recommending that viewers tune in even though it was a rerun from March 7, the last show televised before the pandemic changed the rules, at least for a while, about social gatherings in New York. Daniel Craig was the host, and the premiere of his latest James Bond film had just been postponed, one of the first artistic “victims” of COVID-19. I noted that the program, from only a month before, captured
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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