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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
 
 
2009
May
28
JAY LENO LEAVES "TONIGHT," "PUSHING DAISIES" RETURNS, AND ALAN ALDA DROPS A "M*A*S*H" NOTE By David Bianculli
 
 
Looking ahead to the weekend, and back to what may be the season's most obscure in-joke TV Extra: Between Jay Leno leaving "The Tonight Show," "Pushing Daisies" returning to ABC and Alan Alda making a "M*A*S*H" joke on 30 Rock, there's a lot to cover. So let's get right to it...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
May
27
CONAN'S PROPER APPROACH TO NBC'S "TONIGHT SHOW": REVERENT IRREVERENCE By David Bianculli
 
 
Conan O'Brien participated in a conference call with TV reporters, critics and bloggers yesterday, and one thing stood out above all else. He described talking to designers about the new "Tonight Show" set he envisioned when he takes over as host next week, and he distilled his concept down to one word: "Elegant." That, right there, says NBC's "Tonight Show" is in good hands...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
May
26
GUEST BLOG #19: TOM BRINKMOELLER ENDS TVWW CONTEST, TAKES A POWDER By Tom Brinkmoeller
 
 
[Bianculli here: Memorial Day weekend is over, and so is Tom Brinkmoeller's TV WORTH WATCHING contest. He'll take over from here, to explain and award the winner...]
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
May
22
GUEST BLOG #18: TOM BRINKMOELLER LAUNCHES A TV WORTH WATCHING CONTEST OF HIS OWN By Tom Brinkmoeller
 
 
[Bianculli here: Contributing writer Tom Brinkmoeller does two things in his latest column. One, he starts out by referring to my Extras, the in-jokes I collect that are hidden in TV shows -- which I mention only because, next week, I'm devoting a column to my favorite Extra in years (one which, so far, seems to have gone unnoticed).]
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
May
19
FOX GETS BUOYANT HEAD START ON FALL SCHEDULE, WITH "GLEE" By David Bianculli
 
 
More people will be watching tonight's performance final of "American Idol" than almost any TV offering shown this year. Here's hoping they keep their TV sets tuned to Fox immediately afterward, because tonight's advance taste of "Glee," one of its new fall series, isn't just a sneak peek. It's a sneak peak...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
May
18
GREAT NEWS FOR QUALITY TV: "DOLLHOUSE," OTHERS GET FALL RENEWALS By David Bianculli
 
 
The broadcast networks unveil their 2009-10 TV schedules officially this week, but word already is leaking out about some of the survivors and casualties. The most pleasant surprise of all: Fox has renewed Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse" for a second season...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
May
14
THE DAY AFTER: ALREADY, I'M LOST WITHOUT "LOST" By David Bianculli
 
 
I had the same reaction last year. The second ABC's "Lost" ended, with a jaw-dropping cliffhanger, I did the math, perused the TV horizon, and sighed a sigh of mournful resignation. Already, I'm lost without "Lost"...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
May
13
CW'S "EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS" DESERVES REPRIEVE FOR ITS "SOPRANOS" CLIFFHANGER By David Bianculli
 
 
Several shows are "on the bubble" this season, still unsure of their fates as the broadcast networks finalize their fall schedules for next week's upfront presentations to advertisers. All they can do is sit and wait -- and present the best season finales possible, in hopes of earning a reprieve by inspiring confidence that the best may be yet to come...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
May
12
"STAR TREK" TVWW CONTEST PRIZES BOLDLY GO TO TWO DIFFERENT WINNERS By David Bianculli
 
 
Okay, I'm proud of myself on this one. Before throwing it open to guesses from readers, I estimated the opening-weekend box office for the new Star Trek movie at $80 million. The final tally? $79.2 million. But close, under my own rules, means guessing closest without going over. That means one of you won instead...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
May
11
BREAKING NEWS: WAS THE FIX IN ON NBC'S "CELEBRITY APPRENTICE"? TAKE YOUR OWN SMELL TEST By David Bianculli
 
 
I've already written one column today about why I thought Annie Duke, rather than Joan Rivers, should have won the just-concluded edition of NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice." But now, the day after that finale, comes some news about Rivers and her next TV project, the timing of which smells awfully fishy...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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