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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
 
 
2016
Jun
9
E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL By David Bianculli
 
 
This movie was made way back in 1982, when special effects were much more rudimentary – but this Steven Spielberg fantasy film still works on every level. Road test it on someone very young, and watch.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Jun
9
THE KING AND I By David Bianculli
 
 
With the Tony Awards coming Sunday, it’s time to get in the mood by watching some classic movie musicals. And TCM has a small slew of them tonight (a slewette, perhaps), starting at 8 ET with this 1956 film version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein hit musical. Yul Brynner won an Oscar for playing the petulant king, and Deborah Kerr co-starred in one of the most iconic cinematic ball gowns this side of Gone with the Wind. Oh, and the song “Shall We Dance?” It’s been an infan
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Jun
9
THE EIGHTIES By David Bianculli
 
 
The third time may be the charm: The episode scheduled to show tonight, on the AIDS crisis, has been pre-empted twice now, but it’s on the roster again tonight.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Jun
9
ORPHAN BLACK By David Bianculli
 
 
Rachel and Sarah may have been enemies up to this point, but the latest medical revelations suggest the two have to work together to survive – whether they like it or not.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Jun
9
THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW By David Bianculli
 
 
Tonight’s scheduled guests: Kelsey Grammer, Tamsin Greig (the wonderful actress from Episodes, pictured), Salma Hayek, and musical guest Alicia Keys.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Jun
8
THE SHINING By David Bianculli
 
 
Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 version of the Stephen King horror novel is shown tonight by Sundance – and it’s one of those movies I can’t help watching, whenever it’s on. I stay tuned to watch just one more classic scene, but The Shining, in Kubrick’s hands, is almost nothing but classic scenes. Jack Nicholson stars.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Jun
8
A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE By David Bianculli
 
 
If Elia Kazan had never filmed this 1951 movie version of the Tennessee Williams Broadway play, and captured, like a bug in amber, Marlon Brando’s volatile and sensitive performance as Stanley, we might have never measured the true worth of Brando’s impact on generations of actors to follow. But thanks to this film, which also stars Vivien Leigh and Kim Hunter as Blanche and Stella, respectively, it’s astoundingly obvious.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Jun
8
2016 NBA FINALS By David Bianculli
 
 
Game 3. The defending champions, the Golden State Warriors, have dominated the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first two games, and done it so handily and easily that the games weren’t even close. The Warriors beat the Cavaliers, in the first two games, by a total margin of 48 points. How bad is that? Really bad. For the first two games of a championship series, it’s the largest, and thus the worst, losing margin in the history of the NBA Finals. So what can change tonight? Home-court adv
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Jun
8
THE AMERICANS By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON FINALE: Every week of this season has been so tense, I’m worried about what sort of cliffhanger we’re going to be left with – especially with a super-deadly pathogen on the loose, and with Paige still reeling about watching her mother kill a man who was attacking them.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Jun
7
ANTHONY BOURDAIN’S ‘PARTS UNKNOWN’ DISHES OUT FOOD, POLITICS, AND THE MEANING OF LIFE By Alex Strachan
 
 
Where’s the beef? Anthony Bourdain is about to tell you, this weekend, as Parts Unknown puts the finishing touch on its seventh season as one of CNN’s most reliable mainstays...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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