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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
Feb
17
THE ODD COUPLE By David Bianculli
 
 
Neil Simon’s Broadway comedy smash hit is turned into a fabulous movie, starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau as mismatched roomies Felix and Oscar. The performances are as breezy and delightful as Simon’s script, and that’s saying a lot. There’s one joke in here, delivered by Matthau’s Oscar about the nagging notes Felix leaves around the apartment, that may be the most perfectly written line of comedy dialogue in Broadway and movie history. You’ll know it
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Feb
17
MODERN FAMILY By David Bianculli
 
 
Let’s hear it for the economic rebirth of small businesses: In tonight’s episode, Gloria (Sofia Vergara) begins to market her hot salsa in local stores. The life-sized cut-out of her used to sell her product, though, is considered by some customers almost as hot as her salsa – which doesn’t sit at all well with husband Jay (Ed O’Neill).
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Feb
17
AMERICAN CRIME By David Bianculli
 
 
The same game continues to spread, online and elsewhere: In tonight’s episode, Anne (Lili Taylor) finds her private medical records released online, the latest shaming attempt aimed in her direction.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Feb
16
THE NEW YORKER PRESENTS By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: Can The New Yorker translate to a newsmagazine TV format? Documentaries, poetry, personal essays, animated cartoons – can a brilliant, creative magazine transfer its long-established spirit to another medium? Tune in and see. This new series begins streaming today, on Amazon. The presentation is classy and literate (what a surprise), the animation is lovely, but the pieces in the opening installment are somewhat uneven. A piece on a paranoid delusion based on The Truman Sh
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Feb
16
NEW GIRL By David Bianculli
 
 
Megan Fox really did well last week, introducing herself as a recurring character, and status quo-shattering roommate, on New Girl. And she’s here again tonight, helping to fill the maternity-leave vacancy of star Zooey Deschanel.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Feb
16
MARVEL'S AGENT CARTER By David Bianculli
 
 
Agent Carter is still recovering from last week’s very serious wounds, so she has to send someone else to go under cover and infiltrate a party – and she sends Jarvis and Dottie (James D’Arcy, Bridget Regan), who get to show off their dance moves. It’s one of two episodes presented tonight, back to back.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Feb
16
THE GRINDER By David Bianculli
 
 
Another guest star appearance on tonight’s schedule: Maya Rudolph returns as the psychologist who is treating Dean – and not treating him very well, to hear Dean (Rob Lowe) tell it.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Feb
16
AMERICAN CRIME STORY: "THE PEOPLE V. O.J. SIMPSON By David Bianculli
 
 
Episode 3. This episode is called “The Dream Team,” and it’s the one where the defense takes the field – proving, as did Super Bowl 50, that even the highest-profile football player on offense can’t hope to win without a strong defense. Courtney B. Vance joins the team as Johnnie Cochran, and, within moments, changes the approach to the O.J. Simpson case – and, quite possibly, its result.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Feb
16
BLACK PANTHERS DOCUMENTARY EXPLORES CONFLICT AND PROGRESS, INSIDE AND OUT By David Hinckley
 
 
The Black Panthers saw themselves in the 1960s and ‘70s as a voice and a haven for the forgotten. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover saw them as subversive terrorists...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Feb
16
THE ICEMAN COMETH AGAIN: THE COOLEST DEAD GUY IN THE WORLD By David Sicilia
 
 
A heavily-tattooed, leather-clad drifter carrying drugs and several weapons is whacked. Male, five-foot-two, 110 pounds, approximately forty-five years old. Goes by the name Ötzi the Iceman. Assailant unknown...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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