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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
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All Along the Watchtower

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Uncle Barky's Bytes

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TV That Matters

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Ed Martin's TV Mix

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TV Feeds My Family

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TVWW ARCHIVE

Contributors Archive
 
 
2016
Nov
29
FLASH SUPERHERO CROSSOVER By David Bianculli
 
 
This is Part 2 of this week’s four-part, four-show DC Superheroes crossover event on the CW. If this interconnected gimmick draws a lot of viewers to this program tonight, then the CW will have a Flash mob on its hands.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
29
THIS IS US By David Bianculli
 
 
Is it too late for this drama series to deal with the fallout from Thanksgiving dinner? Not at all – not when it’s still dealing, in some scenes, with holiday frictions from decades earlier.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
29
MARVEL'S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. By David Bianculli
 
 
This is a superhero drama on TV tonight, but it’s not part of the DC Comics universe crossover on the CW. It’s part of the Marvel universe crossover on ABC, where this show tries to keep its big-picture plots in alignment with the larger Marvel stories being told on the big screen in The Avengers movies and elsewhere. And this season, on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., has been all about the character of Ghost Rider. Maybe too much about Ghost Rider, if you ask me.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
29
DRUNK HISTORY By David Bianculli
 
 
Comedy Central is giving away its shot, by giving viewers access to the plot of the Broadway musical hit Hamilton while giving shots to its lyricist and creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda. It's an all-Hamilton version of Drunk History, with Alia Shawkat and Aubrey Plaza as Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, and with additional appearances by Dave Grohl, Tony Hale, and Bokeem Woodbine.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
29
THIS CAN’T BE MUCH SIMPLER: ‘THIS IS US’ By David Hinckley
 
 
It’s way too common for a TV show to start off strong and soon be running on empty. But a select few shows have a less dynamic opening and then get good. This season, that small group includes NBC’s This Is Us...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
28
MUST-SEE TV REDEFINED: NETFLIX SURVEY REVEALS WHICH EPISODES DRAW VIEWERS IN FOR KEEPS By Alex Strachan
 
 
We all know about binge-viewing. It’s the business model that drives streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime, in the same way — not so long ago — it was the driving force behind DVD box sets...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
28
CUBA’S MARIELA CASTRO – THE PRESIDENT’S DAUGHTER – IS TRYING TO TEACH TOLERANCE By David Hinckley
 
 
The promise that Marxism would level the playing field of human dignity never quite worked out for the LGBTQ community in Cuba. Until they found a friend in a high place: Mariela Castro, a member of the National Assembly and also, oh yes, the daughter of President Raul Castro...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
28
THE VOICE By David Bianculli
 
 
Another live show, another night in which the remaining contestants sing to survive – and the talent pool has been so deep this cycle, there are only one or two eliminations left before the cuts really begin to hurt.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
28
SUPERGIRL SUPERHERO CROSSOVER By David Bianculli
 
 
With Greg Berlanti producing or supervising so many of CW’s DC Comics series and spinoffs at the moment, someone had the bright idea – or, at least, the cross-promotional cash-in concept – of connecting all the series into a same-week, every-show story. So there are four stops on the CW superhero route to complete this particular week’s story line – starting tonight with and on Supergirl. Tomorrow, the story continues on The Flash, then moves to Wednesday on Arrow,
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
28
GREY GARDENS By David Bianculli
 
 
TCM’s November salute to documentaries has saved some of the best for some of the best for last, with three outstanding documentary films presented late night tonight. At 11 p.m. ET, the stay-up-or-record-it action begins with 1975’s Grey Gardens, the fascinating visit with the eccentric Bouvier mother-daughter recluses Edith Bouvier Beale and Edith “Little Edie” Bouvier Beale. This particular documentary already has inspired two inspired offshoots: the Grey Gardens docud
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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