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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
Jan
15
GRACE AND FRANKIE By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: This is Season 6 for this Netflix series – a long stretch for that streaming service, with one more season of Grace and Frankie in the wings down the road – and Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin still are going strong. So are the guest stars and supporting players, including stalwarts Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston, and last season’s addition, Peter Gallagher. This season, he’ll be joined by Mary Steenburgen, the woman playing his wife on NBC’s&n
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jan
15
NOVA: "THE PLANETS: JUPITER" By David Bianculli
 
 
This new edition of Nova comes midway through Season 46 of this PBS science show’s long history, and it looks at the long, long history of Jupiter itself. How, why and when did it get to be the largest planetary body in our solar system? And what role did it play in forming the planets around it – and, maybe, in killing Earth’s dinosaurs? It’s not exactly a smoking gun, but Nova, in addressing that last question, presents what may be a smoking asteroid
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jan
14
JEOPARDY!: THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME By David Bianculli
 
 
The three Jeopardy! champions who have won the most prize money in the history of this long-running quiz show are Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter, and James Holzhauer. Last week, they began competing against one another in doubleheader prime-time Jeopardy! mega-contests. Cumulative points from each night of double-decker games results in a winner for that evening – and the first player to claim three wins gets the all-time crown. Last week, three nights of contests were telev
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jan
14
DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL DEBATE: DES MOINES By David Bianculli
 
 
Tonight’s live event on CNN is the seventh Democratic debate presenting hopeful contenders for that party’s nomination for presidential candidate – and because of the Democratic National Committee’s evolving and increasingly disqualifying rules, the field of debaters has narrowed significantly. The first debate, split into two equal presentations, made room for 20 contenders. And now, on stage, there are six. Tom Steyer’s millions of dollars in TV ads in Iowa have w
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jan
14
INSIDE THE NFL By David Bianculli
 
 
The weekend’s divisional playoffs went pretty much as expected: the higher-ranked teams, given an extra week of rest and to plan, conquered the previous week’s wild-card winners rather easily. The Vikings, after beating the Saints in their wild card match, lost Saturday to the 49ers. The Texans, after beating the Bills, lost Sunday to the Chiefs. And the Seahawks, after beating the Eagles, lost Sunday to the Packers. Two of the three victories were decisive, with only the Seahawks-Pa
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jan
13
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP By David Bianculli
 
 
These “final” college bowl games – especially this one – were created and designed to end all the bickering, at the end of each college football season, about which team actually was the overall best, and the reigning champ until the following year’s bowl games. I’m not sure it actually solved much, and neither are many other sports fans. But here we are: the so-called “national championship” game, this year between No. 1-ranked LSU and No. 3-ranke
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jan
13
THE NEW POPE By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: This sequel to The Young Pope, which also starred Jude Law, brings John Malkovich into the fold and to the fore – but like its predecessor, this series is much stronger on spectacle and visuals than scriptwriting and logic. It might be worth seeing, if you’re curious to know how both Marilyn Manson and Sharon Stone are worked into this story line. But only if that’s the case… 
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jan
13
ED BARK'S 'UNCLEBARKY.COM' CANCELS ITSELF, GOES INTRO RERUNS By Ed Bark
 
 

Ed Bark finally has written his farewell column. He didn't get a chance in 2006 when he and the Dallas Morning News parted ways leading to the launch of Unclebarky.com. TVWW premiered the following year under similar circumstances...

 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jan
13
AT TCA, JOHN LANDGRAF ANNOUNCES EXPANSION OF THE FX UNIVERSE By Roger Catlin
 
 
The proliferation of television programming has gotten so out of hand in recent years that the man who coined the phrase "peak TV" isn't even making his semi-annual charts tracking its growth anymore...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jan
13
'MASTERPIECE' BRINGS JANE AUSTEN'S UNFINISHED 'SANDITON' TO LIFE By Mike Hughes
 
 
Let's credit Andrew Davies for consummate patience. He's the master adapter, an expert on turning British classics – especially ones by Jane Austen – into TV scripts...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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