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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
 
 
2012
Dec
21
FRINGE By David Bianculli
 
 
A fresh episode this close to the holidays? Yes, because Fox can’t burn off these final hours of Fringe quickly enough, even though, currently, it’s the network’s best drama. In tonight’s episode, Walter (John Noble) and the others try to jog the memory of a Boy Observer to glean more clues about how to save, and change, the world. Is it just me, or does this series have more memory-loss issues than The Golden Girls?
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
21
CHRISTMAS WITH THE MORMON TABERNACLE CHOIR By David Bianculli
 
 
Mormons haven’t made the news much since Election Day – but here’s a prime prime-time showcase: the Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s annual music special of Christmas carols and sacred music, straight from Salt Lake City. Featured this year: actress Jane Seymour. Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
21
SNL THROWBACK: 'IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE' LOST ENDING By Eric Gould
 
 
The gold-standard holiday film, It's a Wonderful Life, used to be wallpaper on Christmas Eve, running non-stop on multiple channels until NBC got the rights...Here's Dana Carvey and SNL's 1986 version of a lost ending that explains what happens when the Baileys discover that Old Man Potter (Lionel Barrymore) has the missing $8,000...Turns out, they go street on him.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
20
1979: CBS DEBUTS THE 'DALLAS' SPINOFF, 'KNOTS LANDING' By Christy Slewinski
 
 
This day in 1979 marked the debut of the Dallas spinoff, Knots Landing...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
20
PROJECT NIM By David Bianculli
 
 
This 2011 documentary is as unsettling as it is fascinating. It’s about a chimpanzee who, in the Seventies, was raised almost as a human child, living in the upper West Side of New York City. Director James Marsh interviews many participants anew, and uses lots of “home movies,” to examine the rights, and wrongs, of such a social experiment.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
20
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO By David Bianculli
 
 
Now that Daniel Craig is back as Bond in Skyfall, here’s another opportunity to see him in a recent, very effective dramatic role, one that has him playing someone much more vulnerable. And with a much stronger partner: in this case, played by Rooney Mara, who shines, somewhat darkly, in the title role.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
20
BURN NOTICE By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES RETURN: It’s back, for reasons I don’t quite understand, with a pre-Christmas double feature of fresh episodes. But here they are nonetheless – and a welcome diversion, when so many dramatic series are spending the rest of the year in reruns. Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar star.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
20
THE LEMON DROP KID By David Bianculli
 
 
This Bob Hope comedy takes place around Christmas, so it qualifies for TCM’s holiday screening month – but Bob Hope on film is a treat any time. He’s a clear comedy precursor to Woody Allen, and though he excels in buddy comedies with Bing Crosby, he more than holds his own here as well. In this 1951 comedy, he pays a man who runs afoul of a powerful gangster and has to scramble to repay some money.  Lots of money, very quickly. Marilyn Maxwell co-stars as the gangster&rsq
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
20
JERSEY SHORE By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES FINALE: This is not, not, not, not a recommendation. But it is definitely worth noting that, at long last, this horrid MTV series comes to an end. I always took Jersey Shore as one of the signs of the impending apocalypse – but maybe, since this revolting reality show concludes tonight, we may all live to see past tomorrow.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
19
FIVE TV SHOWS YOU SHOULD WATCH BEFORE THE MAYAN APOCALYPSE By David Bianculli
 
 
According to doomsday theorists, the Mayan Apocalypse is imminent – scheduled to arrive Friday, Dec. 21. Here are five TV shows you should watch now, just in case…
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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