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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
Sep
10
ENCORE’S ‘CRIMSON PETAL’ REVIVES GLORY OF THE MINISERIES GENRE By David Bianculli
 
 
Encore has decided to bet big on TV’s biggest programming form, showcasing new and classic miniseries, beginning with the new The Crimson Petal and the White – a brilliant beginning...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Aug
24
CONVENTION COVERAGE AIN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE By David Bianculli
 
 

This year’s presidential political conventions are unprecedented in at least two unfortunate respects: the inclusion of a political film that’s negative, not positive, and the decision, by the broadcast networks, to show fewer convention hours than ever before…

 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Aug
17
BBC AMERICA’S ‘COPPER’ INVENTIVELY EXPLORES THE WILD WILD EAST By David Bianculli
 
 
Copper, the newest TV series from Tom Fontana and Barry Levinson, feels and looks like a Western – but it’s actually set in New York City, during the Civil War, in a violent neighborhood called Five Points. And regarding Copper, I, too, have five points…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Aug
12
CLOSING THOUGHTS ON THE 2012 OLYMPICS CLOSING CEREMONY By David Bianculli
 
 

The Closing Ceremony to the 2012 Olympic Games in London, like the Opening Ceremony, were unmistakably, sometimes inexplicably British. Like the Games themselves, I loved some elements, was baffled by others, but watched regardless…

 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Jul
31
NO, MR. BOND, I EXPECT YOU TO WATCH By David Bianculli
 
 

I saw the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger when Encore televised it earlier this month, and I’ll see it again when it’s repeated July 31. I can’t help myself. For me, it’s one of those irresistible spider-web movies: a film that ensnares me every time it’s on TV…

 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Jul
19
EMMY SNUBS OF ‘JUSTIFIED’ AND ‘LOUIE’ ARE… UNJUSTIFIED By David Bianculli
 
 

Louis C.K.’s sad-sack comic persona on FX’s Louie is used to being treated shabbily – but Louie shouldn’t be. Nor should another FX series, the brilliant drama Justified, yet both were snubbed by Thursday’s Emmy nominations. What the FX is going on here?

 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Jul
19
2012 EMMY NOMINATIONS: THE COMPLETE LIST By David Bianculli
 
 
A complete list of Emmy nominations — every category, every nominee...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Jul
12
AMC’S ‘BREAKING BAD,’ ONCE AGAIN, BREAKS BRILLIANTLY By David Bianculli
 
 

The stunningly unexpected flash-forward prologue opening this final season of AMC’s Breaking Bad warns of rough roads ahead. So does Mike’s icy assessment of Walter, said to his face in front of Jesse: “You are trouble. I’m sorry the kid here doesn’t see it…”

 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Jun
30
LOUD BOOS TO CNN AND FOX NEWS, BUT THREE CHEERS FOR STEWART, COLBERT AND SORKIN By David Bianculli
 
 

Cable news outlets got the U.S. Supreme Court health care decision embarrassingly wrong — but cable entertainment programs, in criticizing their rush to judgment, got it spectacularly right...

 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Jun
29
HOORAY! FINALLY, MORE EPISODES OF SHOWTIME'S 'EPISODES' By David Bianculli
 
 

Season 2 of Showtime’s Episodes arrives this weekend, returning with more installments of one of TV’s most entertaining — but underappreciated — comedies. Its secret: central characters about whom you genuinely care…

 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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