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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

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Open Mike

ED MARTIN

Ed Martin's TV Mix

KIM AKASS

Aerial View

MONIQUE NAZARETH

MNtv

BILL BRIOUX

TV Feeds My Family

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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
 
 
2012
May
3
SYFY'S 'TREASURE ISLAND' A TREASURE, INDEED By Mike Donovan
 
 
There have been dozens of film and TV versions of Treasure Island, but SyFy's production — starring Eddie Izzard as Long John Silver — should be the one by which all others are judged...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
May
3
MY 'SHERLOCK 2' REVIEW: COMPLIMENTARY, MY DEAR WATSON By David Bianculli
 
 
Season 2 of the imported Sherlock series begins Sunday on the PBS Masterpiece Mystery series – and once again, this modern-day updating of literature’s most classic sleuth is as clever as its protagonist…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
May
3
MASTERPIECE MYSTERY! SHERLOCK RETURNS By Eric Gould
 
 
The 21st Century reboot of the Sherlock Holmes saga returns for its second season on PBS this Sunday night, May 6th on Masterpiece Mystery! Sherlock, Season 2.  It adapts all the brilliance of Holmes affected deductive powers and his oddball relationship with Dr. Watson, but with all the modern tech tools at their disposal. (Watson is a blogger now.) See David's recommendation here. --EG
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
May
3
1991: WITH ONE SHOT, J.R. BRINGS 'DALLAS' TO AN END By Christy Slewinski
 
 
Today in 1991, a broken and suicidal J.R. Ewing raised a pistol and - off camera - fired a single shot. The ambiguous ending marked the end of CBS' Dallas, one of the most popular prime-time dramas of all time. For 13 seasons...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
May
3
IN COLD BLOOD By David Bianculli
 
 
TCM offers up a killer schedule tonight – true-crime movies – with more to come every Thursday in May. And what a start: Robert Blake, after years as a child actor, burst into adult stardom as the psychopathic loose cannon at the center of Truman Capote’s fact-based story, in this 1967 film directed energetically by Richard Brooks.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
May
3
30 ROCK By David Bianculli
 
 
What do do after last week’s live triumph? Return to the familiar, I guess – this time a sequel of sorts to a previous episode, introducing Tracy Jordan’s attention-hogging wife as the star of her own reality show, “The Queen of Jordan.” And is Susan Sarandon back this week as well. According to the promotional photos, at least, yes.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
May
3
PARKS AND RECREATION By David Bianculli
 
 
And there’s a noteworthy guest star on this fresh NBC sitcom as well. Tonight on Parks, Leslie (Amy Poehler, who also, coincidentally, appeared on last week’s live 30 Rock) squares off, yet again, in an election debate against the incumbent city councilman – played, with a mixture of smarm and cluelessness, by recurring guest star Paul Rudd.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
May
3
THE MENTALIST By David Bianculli
 
 
The title of tonight’s episode, “So Long and Thanks for All the Red Snapper,” plays off a famous Douglas Adams title and quote from his Hitch Hiker’s books. And the plot of tonight’s story is no day at the beach. Actually, it is: There’s the murder of a surfer to investigate. And the investigation leads, somehow, to Lisbon’s ex-fiance, played by Shield and Sons of Anarchy regular Kenny Johnson.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
May
3
THE BOSTON STRANGLER By David Bianculli
 
 
Another true-crime thriller, this one, from 1968, stars Tony Curtis as Albert DeSalvo. Thought to be extremely gruesome at the time, it now seems almost quaint – and is better as a police procedural, really, than a character study. Think of it as an expanded episode of Law & Order: The Previous Generation.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
May
2
1955: WGBH BEGINS BROADCASTING IN BOSTON By Christy Slewinski
 
 
The nation's first public television station, WGBH in Boston, began its broadcasting history today in 1955 with Come and See, a children's program hosted by by Mary Lou Adams and folk singer Tony Saletan. WGBH is considered by some to be PBS' flagship station...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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