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
 
 
2020
Feb
17
MCMILLIONS By David Bianculli
 
 
This is episode three of this new HBO documentary miniseries about the Monopoly contest scam at McDonald’s. If each episode represented one side of the board, we’d be around Illinois Avenue by now. And still with a while to go before passing go. So be patient.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Feb
16
UNDERSTANDING THE STRENGTHS AND THE WEAKNESSES OF 'WASHINGTON' By David Hinckley
 
 
The History channel is taking the occasion of George Washington's 288th birthday to remind us that the Father of Our Country wasn't always the perfect American...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Feb
16
FROM DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN – A MINISERIES ABOUT 'WASHINGTON' By Mike Hughes
 
 
Doris Kearns Goodwin had been working her way through the presidents. Her books had traced the lives of Kennedy, Johnson, Lincoln, Taft, and two Roosevelts...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Feb
16
'WAR OF THE WORLDS' OR HOW TO SURVIVE AN ALIEN ATTACK By David Hinckley
 
 
The good news is that when most of the human race drops dead in the latest War of the Worlds, they don't haul themselves back to their feet a few minutes later as zombies...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Feb
16
THE FIFTH SEASON OF 'OUTLANDER' DEBUTS ON STARZ By David Hinckley
 
 
Outlander opens its fifth season with all the stylish elegance and buoyant spirit of a rom-com...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Feb
16
ZOEY'S EXTRAORDINARY PLAYLIST By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: Technically, this is the show’s re-premiere, because the first episode was previewed on NBC in a prime-time “sneak preview” last month, then available since then as a  streaming offering. But tonight, NBC repeats the premiere, then unveils a new episode, which furthers the story, and deepens the characters around Zoey – especially herfather, played touchingly by Peter Gallagher.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Feb
16
EL CAMINO: A BREAKING BAD MOVIE By David Bianculli
 
 
Here’s another re-premiere of sorts. This movie sequel to Breaking Bad, following Aaron Paul’s Jesse from the moment he sped away from the compound where he had been imprisoned, premiered as a Netflix movie. Tonight, it shows up on AMC, capping a weeks-long repeat run of all of AMC’s Breaking Bad episodes. And tune in to AMC a few hours before this movie to see the final episodes of Breaking Bad, some of the best episodic TV drama hours ever presen
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Feb
16
THE CIRCUS: INSIDE THE CRAZIEST POLITICAL SHOW ON EARTH By David Bianculli
 
 
This Friday, it’s the Nevada caucus – and so far this political season, the word caucus, for Democrats, hasn’t exactly been a synonym for competency. Has this week been any better in the buildup to the third state providing delegates for the 2020 presidential race? Follow the Circus correspondents, and see… And meanwhile, on the home front in Washington, D.C., the controversy over the Roger Stone sentencing continues to escalate.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Feb
16
DUNCANVILLE By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: Another new Sunday night Fox cartoon series premieres tonight – and if the animated faces aren’t familiar, the voices, and the show’s creators, should be. Duncanville is co-created by Amy Poehler (who also provides the voices of Annie and the show’s protagonist, 15-year-old Duncan), Mike Scully (writer-producer on The Simpsons and Parks and Recreation), and Julie Thacker (also of The Simpsons). And its vocal stars i
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Feb
16
THE OUTSIDER By David Bianculli
 
 
Last week, Holly (Cynthia Erivo) came face to face with the evil she’s been pursuing – or, at least, found him in the passenger seat of her car. Meanwhile, Julianne Nicholson stole the episode as the widow Glory, reacting with angry disbelief when finally learning of Holly’s theory that a legendary spirit was victimizing local kids. And Ben Mendelson, the cop caught in the middle, doesn’t know what to think. What I think is that this adaptation of Stephen King’s sto
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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