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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

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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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Open Mike

ED MARTIN

Ed Martin's TV Mix

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Aerial View

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MNtv

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TV Feeds My Family

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Must-Click TV

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Raised On MTM

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Crossing Jordan

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TVWW ARCHIVE

Contributors Archive
 
 
2020
Jul
21
ARGO By David Bianculli
 
 
This 2012 movie tells of the amazing true story in which, during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1979, six Americans slipped away as the U.S. embassy in Tehran was overrun. Where did they go? How did they keep their presence hidden from an increasingly hostile populace? And how, with the help of the a particularly audacious plan by the CIA, did they stage a dangerous effort to evade capture and return home? The climax of this movie is disappointingly over-hyped with the addition of a dramatic
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jul
20
JEOPARDY! By David Bianculli
 
 
The bad news: The pandemic has stopped production on almost all TV shows, or drastically altered the way TV shows are produced now and in the near future. The good news: With so much air time available to fill, and so little new programming available to fill it, networks and streaming services, and even program syndicators, are beginning to think outside the box. And, in some cases, to look inside the box, and pull out interesting items from its own long-shelved inventory. The venerabl
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jul
20
SPARTACUS By David Bianculli
 
 
This 1960 costume pic was written by blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo, directed by Stanley Kubrick, and starred Kirk Douglas. Co-stars include Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton, Jean Simmons, and Tony Curtis.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jul
20
REAR WINDOW By David Bianculli
 
 
AXS makes it three in a row, scheduling a landmark Alfred Hitchcock movie for the third straight week. First The Birds from 1963, then Psycho from 1960 – and tonight, reaching even more into the past, is 1954’s Rear Window, starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly. The photography is stunningly breathtaking. So is Kelly.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jul
20
1950: 'THE ARTHUR MURRAY PARTY' BEGINS By TV WW
 
 
This day in 1950 marked the start of the Golden Age of Television's answer to Dancing with the Stars: Arthur Murray Party Time — which was later renamed The Arthur Murray Party...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jul
19
1991: 'HI, HONEY, I'M HOME' PREMIERES ON ABC By TV WW
 
 
This day in 1991 marked the debut of the sitcom Hi Honey, I'm Home!...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jul
19
THE TIDE OF SHARK-CENTRIC PROGRAMMING BEGINS WITH SHARKFEST 2020 ON NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL AND NATGEO WILD By David Hinckley
 
 
Nat Geo's annual plunge into the world of sharks, appropriately titled SHARKFEST, keeps getting bigger – and yet its core mission remains exactly what it has always been and probably always will be...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jul
19
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF! By David Bianculli
 
 
James Garner starred in this 1969 film after establishing his peculiar brand of cowardly hero in TV’s Maverick, and before adopting a modern variation of it in another classic TV series, The Rockford Files. This film plays on the same basic vibe, but that shouldn’t take away from just how perfect Garner is at playing this type of character. In Support Your Local Sheriff!, he plays a guy who accepts the job of small-town sheriff only on a whim and for a d
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jul
19
PERRY MASON By David Bianculli
 
 
In last week’s episode, Perry (Matthew Rhys) lost his mentor – but this week, because of that void, he finds his path. And that path leads to him becoming a lawyer, which allows him to consider taking on his very first court case. Which, as we already know by now, is a high-profile, highly complicated murder trial involving, as its victim, a baby.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jul
19
UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA WITH W. KAMAU BELL By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: Season 5 of W. Kamau Bell’s CNN show continues to take risks as well as stances – and tonight, in an extended season premiere, he takes on the topic of systemic racism in general, and white supremacy in particular.
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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