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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
 
 
2015
Dec
5
SUNSET BOULEVARD By David Bianculli
 
 
Here’s a movie that was made just four years after It’s a Wonderful Life, so this is its 65th anniversary. William Holden was a young movie star then – and Gloria Swanson wasn’t, which makes her role in this 1950 classic even more fitting, and creepy. They did, indeed, have faces then.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Dec
5
DOCTOR WHO By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON FINALE: Clara is dead, the Doctor is fuming, and in tonight’s Season 9 finale of the modern Doctor Who series, the Doctor returns to his homeland of Gallifrey – but with vengeance, more than nostalgia, in mind. Clara, just before her death, had ordered the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) not to seek revenge for what was about to happen to her – but will he listen?
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Dec
5
THE RETURNED By David Bianculli
 
 
Last season, the creepiest thing about The Returned was one returnee in particular – the mostly silent little kid. Tonight, in Season 2, he’s back at center stage. And he’s no less creepy…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Dec
5
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE By David Bianculli
 
 
Ryan Gosling guest hosts this new episode, with musical guest Leon Bridges.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Dec
4
MUSICALLY AND COMEDICALLY, BILL MURRAY'S NETFLIX SPECIAL LEAVES US WITH THE CHRISTMAS BLUES By Ed Bark
 
 
It seemed to be a fair assumption that A Very Murray Christmas would find the host grooving and goofing on the holiday season by reprising his smarmy Saturday Night Live lounge singer, Nick Ocean...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Dec
4
A VERY MURRAY CHRISTMAS By David Bianculli
 
 
SPECIAL: For the holidays, Netflix is trying its hand at yet another programming form established by broadcast TV networks: the Christmas special. Bill Murray is the host, and while that might scream sarcasm and satire, A Very Murray Christmas actually plays it very straight – and enjoyably so. For full reviews, listen to my report on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, or my Bianculli’s Blog right here. Or, for another TVWW perspective, see Ed Bark’s Uncle Barky’s By
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Dec
4
THE AMAZING RACE By David Bianculli
 
 
CYCLE FINALE: I’ve given up on this series as being too repetitive over the years, a common curse of even the most watchable tenured reality competition series. But one of our TVWW contributors insists, quite persuasively, that The Amazing Race still matters. For his take, see Alex Strachan’s TV That Matters. And for the show itself, tune in CBS tonight at 8 p.m. ET for the finale to this latest global race.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Dec
4
TAXI DRIVER By David Bianculli
 
 
Martin Scorsese’s 1976 film, written by Paul Schrader, really is one of the key movies from the Seventies – a moody masterpiece that contains some indelible performances, and some even more unforgettable set pieces and sequences. Robert De Niro, as loner Travis Bickle, captures with frightening credibility the ramp-up of a societal outcast to acts of violence – which is even more pertinent, and frightening, today than it was four decades ago. And watch for the supporting perfor
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Dec
4
THE WHO LIVE IN HYDE PARK By David Bianculli
 
 
As part of its 50th anniversary tour, surviving members of The Who literally banded together for a concert in London’s Hyde Park, transmitted live to select cinemas worldwide in October. That’s the concert event shown here tonight, complete with a Tommy medley and, no avoiding it, the anthemic “My Generation” and its immortal line, “Hope I die before I get old.”
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Dec
4
THE KNICK By David Bianculli
 
 
Thackery (Clive Owen) is very busy tonight. He introduces a new "cure" to patients in his inebriation ward -- and also, at long last, gets to perform plastic surgery on poor Abby (Jennifer Ferrin).
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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