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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
 
 
2014
Dec
4
THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART By David Bianculli
 
 
Tonight’s interview segment may as well be an episode of Directors’ Showcase. The host is Jon Stewart, director of Rosewater. His guest is Angelina Jolie, director of Unbroken. Remember when neither of them was a hyphenate?
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Dec
4
2009: TVWW'S DAVID BIANCULLI GUESTS ON 'LATE LATE SHOW' By Christy Slewinski
 
 
On this day in 2009, TV Worth Watching founder David Bianculli came out of his legendary basement bunker to discuss his book Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on CBS' The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Dec
3
1995: ABC OFFERS THE MUSICAL 'BYE, BYE BIRDIE' By Christy Slewinski
 
 
On this day in 1995, ABC presented a telefilm version of the Broadway musical Bye Bye Birdie...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Dec
3
DEAR DIARY: TOMORROW 'PETER PAN' IS ON - AGAIN! By David Bianculli
 
 

On Thursday, Dec. 4, NBC presents Peter Pan Live!, a live musical telecast. I reviewed it the last time NBC performed it live – in 1960…

 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Dec
3
CHRISTMAS IN ROCKEFELLER CENTER By David Bianculli
 
 
This used to be a local TV special for New York only, until it went national years ago – and now, it’s an official part of the network television holiday season. Here it is, once again, with the massive tree being lit for the first time this year.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Dec
3
SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT By David Bianculli
 
 
In this 1955 Ingmar Bergman film, Fredrik is a turn-of-the-century lawyer, married to his young wife, Anne, who, after years of marriage and at age 19, remains a virgin. After a night at the theater, Fredrik reconnects with an actress who is his former mistress, the glamorous Desiree Armfeldt, and their lives all intertwine. Sounds a little like A Little Night Music? It should. That 1973 musical – book by Hugh Wheeler, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim – was based on this movie, w
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Dec
3
NOVA: "FIRST MAN ON THE MOON" By David Bianculli
 
 
Astronaut Neil Armstrong was very protective of his own celebrity and biography, and very careful about which details of his life he shared, and with whom. Tonight’s new Nova interviews friends and colleagues, some speaking for the first time, to gain insight into the man who first stepped on lunar soil. Or lunar dust, or whatever it is. Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Dec
3
NASHVILLE By David Bianculli
 
 
In this new episode, Rayna (Connie Britton) agrees to let TV cameras into her home to film a Christmas special – with all the accompanying pomp, circumstance and complications. As part of the festivities, she and Luke (Will Chase) sing “Baby It’s Cold Outside.”
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Dec
3
AMERICAN HORROR STORY: FREAK SHOW By David Bianculli
 
 
It’s getting to be almost like a themed season of Survivor on this show, with the tribes divided into men vs. women. Or strong vs. weak. Or, maybe, two heads are better than one.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Dec
2
AMERICAN MASTERS: "BING CROSBY REDISCOVERED" By David Bianculli
 
 
This new career biography of Bing Crosby, by Robert Trachtenberg, shows how effortlessly the crooner made it all seem, becoming a fixture on radio, in movies and on TV appearances, while maintaining a less than devil-may-care attitude about it all. This study is a bit too fawning, overall, but it doesn’t skimp on either the achievements (the first singer to use amplification properly in recordings, the one whose “White Christmas” single sold more than any other, ever) or the ac
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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