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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
1
CLEVERMAN By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: Well, here’s something you don’t see very often: An Australian sci-fi series written by an Aboriginal, and setting up a near-future premise in which three Aussie populations coexist uneasily: white elites, Aboriginal natives, and a recently discovered third group known as the “hairies” – a humanoid species with exceptional speed and strength. The show’s title refers to one of the Aborginals, who adopts a sort of superhero alter identity. One t
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Jun
1
UP CLOSE AND SATIRICAL By Eric Gould
 
 
The new summer variety series Maya and Marty has premiered, and first impressions of this genre revival were very good. The variety show may yet rise again. Martin Short reprised his old Jiminy Glick character, an unwitting, ingratiating, overweight Hollywood reporter who "compliments" his subjects with a chain of earnest, back-handed insults... and Larry David's inability to do the interview straight was the best part...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
May
31
THE NEW 'ROOTS' STILL HAS PLENTY TO TEACH US By David Hinckley
 
 
Watching the new Roots, which would be one of the best TV things you could do this week, you’re reminded that in at least one important sense, it’s not about slavery at all. It’s about how individuals behave in a world where slavery happens to be an accepted institution...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
May
31
THE TASKMASTERS OF TODDLEROGRAPHY By Linda Donovan
 
 
If you’ve taken anything from a dance class to a Zumba class, you know the difficulty you encountered in learning the choreography...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
May
31
AMERICA'S GOT TALENT By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: Howard Stern is out, and Simon Cowell is in, as the former American Idol super-judge joins returning America’s Got Talent judges Heidi Klum, Mel B and Howie Mandel for Season 11. If that makes the difference between whether you tune in or not, there you go. For me, when it comes to TV, America’s got other options.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
May
31
ROOTS By David Bianculli
 
 
Part 2 of 4. The story of Kunta Kinte continues in this second two-hour installment of the new Roots remake, and tonight presents an entire storyline that was not dramatized in the original. This new version is quite good, and a fascinating exercise in comparison when measured against the 1977 ABC original. For reviews, hear my report for NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross on the Fresh Air website, and read our TVWW contributors’ reviews on Ed Bark’s Uncle Barky’s Bytes and
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
May
31
BREAKING AWAY By David Bianculli
 
 
This 1979 movie, about a quartet of teenage friends growing up in Indiana, is one of my favorite movies. It’s a quiet, beautifully realized character study about a high-school kid obsessed with competitive bicycling – yet it’s so, so much better, and more heartwarming, than that description sounds. Dennis Christopher, Daniel Stern star.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
May
31
MAYA & MARTY By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: Could this be the attempt that finally revives the prime-time variety series? Only time and ratings will tell, but these Saturday Night Live alumni might be more likely than most to pull it off. The title stars are Maya Rudolph and Martin Short, the executive producer is Lorne Michaels, and Kenan Thompson is a regular supporting player. So the talent is here: What matters are the ideas, the variety, and the execution. But is it worth sampling? Absolutely.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
May
30
HISTORY NETWORK'S NEW 'ROOTS' DOESN'T NEGATE THE ORIGINAL By Ed Bark
 
 
No scripted television drama -- before or since -- has hit home harder than the original Roots...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
May
30
PERFECT FOR MEMORIAL DAY -- 'TED TALKS: WAR & PEACE' By David Hinckley
 
 
Our attention to Memorial Day gets spottier as more of our wars fall into grey areas, and PBS reflects that unease with TED Talks: War & Peace...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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