No, you're not imagining things...that's an actual seal giving the "thumbs up" in our new TV Worth Watching® Seal of Approval!! (Inside his very own TVWW lifesaver.) OK, so maybe we're walking on our hands here, but we have tons of recommendations of the best that TV has to offer. And after 35 years of separating the minnows from the big ones, that's an impressive kettle of fish...
2012
Aug
13
TRILOGY OF TERROR: SPECIAL EDITION By David Bianculli
 
 
On March 4, 1975, a few months before Steven Spielberg’s Jaws terrorized moviegoers nationwide, this ABC telemovie provided another giant scare from a relentless set of teeth...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Aug
6
JOSEPH CAMPBELL AND THE POWER OF MYTH WITH BILL MOYERS By David Bianculli
 
 
This 1988 PBS presentation is so powerful, and so inspirational, it has the potential to change your life, and the way you look at it...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Jul
30
DEADWOOD: THE COMPLETE SERIES By David Bianculli
 
 
—Unfortunately, The Complete Series of HBO’s Deadwood is only three seasons long...Fortunately, those three seasons gave us one of the best-written, best-performed dramas in TV history...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Jul
23
PEE-WEE’S PLAYHOUSE: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION By David Bianculli
 
 
This 1986-91 CBS series, starring Paul Reubens as his hyper alter ego Pee-wee Herman, is one of the last great children’s series – and the one most likely to excite, as well as enchant, 21st century youngsters watching it for the first time...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Jul
16
ROCKY & BULLWINKLE & FRIENDS: THE COMPLETE SERIES By David Bianculli
 
 
The packaging on this set is tough on the DVD discs, and it’s annoying that the original opening and closing music and credits are replaced by the ones substituted in the original home-video releases.  But hey – there are 18 discs here, presenting...That makes it worth owning right there...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Jul
9
THE MISSLES OF OCTOBER By David Bianculli
 
 
2012 is the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the 38th anniversary of this superb made-for-TV movie, a behind-the-scenes play-by-play account (based in part on Bobby Kennedy’s Thirteen Days)...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Jul
3
THE PRISONER: THE COMPLETE SERIES By David Bianculli
 
 
This surrealistic miniseries import slipped onto CBS in the summer of 1968 – stunning viewers then, and amazing them ever since. Forget the ill-conceived recent remake. This is the original, starring Patrick McGoohan as a British secret agent who resigns on principle, only to wake up in a remote island community – “The Village” – from which there is no escape...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Jun
24
THE WEST WING (THE COMPLETE SERIES) By David Bianculli
 
 
Arguably the last great drama series from broadcast TV before cable stole the momentum and the spotlight, The West Wing definitely was the last great drama of the 20th century: It premiered on NBC in September 1999. Created by Aaron Sorkin, whose new TV drama was just unveiled by HBO...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Jun
18
DUEL: COLLECTOR'S EDITION By David Bianculli
 
 
Fledgling filmmaker Steven Spielberg made this 1971 made-for-TV movie thriller under absurdly intense conditions. Based on a Richard Matheson short story published in Playboy earlier the same year, Spielberg filmed it on location in little more than three weeks – yet emerged with a tense, influential masterpiece...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Jun
13
TWIN PEAKS: THE COMPLETE SERIES By David Bianculli
 
 
ABC’s 1990-91 audacious Twin Peaks, co-created by David Lynch and Mark Frost, peaked early and ended sloppily, but contained within its two seasons of eccentric television is an astounding amount of unfettered, unduplicated storytelling genius...