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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
 
 
2020
Feb
16
WHAT’S EATING AMERICA WITH ANDREW ZIMMERN By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: Each week in this new series, Andrew Zimmern looks at food through a different lens – environmental, political, etc. For this series opener, he looks at immigrant labor and the harvesting of U.S. crops. And that’s of particularly timely interest, not only because of President Trump’s ubiquitous “border well” issue, but because 2020 is the 60th anniversary of Edward R. Murrow’s famous CBS Reports documentary Harvest of Shame
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Feb
16
HOMELAND By David Bianculli
 
 
This eighth and final season of Homeland, based on its first four episodes, is going to end magnificently. Watch tonight’s second installment of 2020 and see why: It’s getting us deeply into the head of Claire Danes’ Carrie – and, these days, that’s a very emotional and unsettling place to be.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Feb
16
SLOW BURN By David Bianculli
 
 
DOCUMENTARY SERIES PREMIERE: This new nonfiction series, based on the Slate podcast of the same name, has the same focus as that podcast’s first season: the Watergate scandal. It also has the same host, Leon Neyfakh, but some elements are new to this Epix TV version, in addition to all the visuals. Among the new interviews here: Roger Stone, who also is featured in other nonfiction programming tonight, in a much more modern context.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Feb
16
CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM By David Bianculli
 
 
I’m loving, absolutely adoring, this season of Curb. I love the new batches of exasperations, and especially love the running subplot about Larry David’s decision to open a “spite store” – a rival coffee shop located next to one operated by a new nemesis. Larry has specific ideas he wants to include – quality scones, for example, and tables with firm bases. And tonight, as Latte Larry’s gets closer to reality, he trains his eye for detail on th
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Feb
16
LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: Oh, I’ve missed you, John Oliver. The comedian returns for Season 7 with a recap of whatever it was that happened this week. And I believe Oliver is the best person on TV to explain what’s been going on this week in the Justice Department, Barr none.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Feb
15
CASABLANCA By David Bianculli
 
 
This 1942 film classic is what movies are all about. A love story told in its time, of its time – it was made and released as WWII was being fought – Casablanca has become a romance movie for the ages. Several generations have embraced it anew, but if that’s going to keep happening, places like TCM will have to keep showcasing this Humphrey Bogart-Ingrid Bergman drama, and reminding people just how special it is. And so will critics like me.  And tonight, we
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Feb
15
SEVEN WORLDS, ONE PLANET By David Bianculli
 
 
You know, by now, how superb this nature series is. And it continues tonight, with an episode devoted to Europe. And you don’t need the Internet to check out these lynx…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Feb
14
THE REMIX OF 'HIGH FIDELITY' ON HULU SHOWS PROMISE By David Hinckley
 
 
It's a relatively safe bet that we won't be hearing any Garth Brooks music on High Fidelity, the TV adaptation of Nick Hornby's marvelous 1995 novel about people who work in a record store...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Feb
14
ROMANCE AND RECORDS ON 'HIGH FIDELITY' By Mike Hughes
 
 
High Fidelity keeps marching across the media landscape. It was a 1995 Nick Hornby novel, a 2000 John Cusack movie, and a 2006 Broadway musical. Now it's a streaming series – a good one – arriving Friday on Hulu...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Feb
14
'UTOPIA FALLS' MIGHT BE A SCI-FI MUSICAL, BUT THERE'S NOTHING NEW HERE By David Hinckley
 
 
Utopian communities of the future work out about as well on television as utopian communities of the past worked out in real life...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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