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
 
 
2015
Jun
5
JURASSIC PARK By David Bianculli
 
 
The sequel Jurassic World opens next weekend. In the meantime, here’s a prime-time look at the 1993 Jurassic Park movie that changed cinematic special effects forever. I remember taking my kids to a midnight showing the day it opened – my son would have just turned nine years old – and I envied his being able to witness that movie at his age. Twenty-two years later, I still marvel at it. Steven Spielberg directed, and Laura Dern, Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum starred. The real st
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jun
5
APOLLO 13 By David Bianculli
 
 
This 1995 movie, directed by Ron Howard, is a superb film, an action thriller with far more thrills than action, and one of the smartest epic dramas you’ll ever see. And what performances: Tom Hanks, Gary Sinise, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon, Ed Harris – all of them are great, and every one, for this fact-based drama, has precisely the right stuff.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jun
5
ONE DIRECTION “WHERE WE ARE” LIVE FROM SAN SIRO By David Bianculli
 
 
There’s only one person I know who will be really excited to know that this 2014 concert documentary film is receiving its TV premiere tonight – or, at least, would have been really excited not too long ago. So Sarah, this is for you.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jun
5
REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER By David Bianculli
 
 
After a few weeks off, Bill Maher returns tonight, with such scheduled guests as Lewis Black and Rep. Rick Lazio.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jun
4
'AQUARIUS' AND TV'S HELTER SKELTER VIEW OF THE '60S By Alex Strachan
 
 
Primetime TV’s ongoing fascination with the ‘60s continues, though, to mixed effect. Aquarius, an Altmanesque look at Charles Manson from the perspective of an ensemble of acolytes, misfits and hangers-on...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jun
4
JAWS By David Bianculli
 
 
It’s officially summer. It is for me, anyway, once I get to dive in and watch Jaws with the windows open. Tell me again about the U.S.S. Indianapolis, Quint….
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jun
4
WAYWARD PINES By David Bianculli
 
 
I think of this series as Wayward Script – and you almost, but not quite, owe it to yourself to stick with the show long enough to see why. You won’t believe it. Which, in the long run, is precisely the problem…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jun
4
AQUARIUS By David Bianculli
 
 
If you’re really, really into this show, you can visit the NBC website and watch the entire first season – which is a rarity for network television, and a way for NBC to try and combat the instant availability of entire seasons of new series on Netflix and elsewhere. Nobody’s asking me, but my advice to NBC, and to anyone else trying to compete in this vast and tricky TV universe, is to make better shows. The rest, like the audience, will follow… For his take on the show
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jun
4
2015 NBA FINALS By David Bianculli
 
 
Game 1: It’s the Cleveland Cavaliers vs. the Golden State Warriors, in an NBA Championship series that has plenty of drama, and talent, on both sides. Ought to be a good one, from start to finish – and this is one contest that really could go the full seven games.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jun
4
HANNIBAL By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: All the principals are back for this new season, but not all at once. Tonight’s season premiere, for example, is all about Hannibal’s relocation abroad, with his former therapist, played by Gillian Anderson, in tow. Also along for the ride: Hannibal’s unlucky captive, played by Eddie Izzard, whose part gets a little smaller each week – at least in terms of net body weight.
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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