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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
 
 
2008
Nov
27
FOR THANKSGIVING, TV WORTH WATCHING WILL SPARE A TURKEY: "ROSIE LIVE!" By David Bianculli
 
 
The original plan today was to review last night's Rosie Live!, Rosie O'Donnell's attempt to revive the variety-show format on NBC. But since today is Thanksgiving, and the show was such a turkey, TV Worth Watching has decided to spare it...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Nov
26
THE VARIETY SHOW DESERVES TO BE REINCARNATED -- BUT IS ROSIE ITS SAVIOR? By David Bianculli
 
 
Tonight at 8 ET, in a very rare attempt to revive the TV variety show format, Rosie O'Donnell is hosting a one-hour live special on NBC, smack in the middle of prime time. I concur completely with her passion that this is a genre worth reviving -- but I doubt whether Rosie, despite her enthusiasm and clout, is the person to do it...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Nov
25
FX'S "THE SHIELD" ENDS AS IT BEGAN, WITH A KILLER EPISODE By David Bianculli
 
 
The FX series The "Shield" shook up viewers, and all of TV, when it burst onto the scene in 2002 -- with the show's purported hero, Michael Chiklis' rogue cop Vic Mackey, knowingly and ruthlessly killing an undercover officer...six years later, the show goes out the way it goes in -- with a killer episode...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Nov
24
EVEN SWEEPS DON'T KEEP CABLE FROM DEMANDING ATTENTION By David Bianculli
 
 
Last night the broadcast networks presented one of their biggest guns of the November ratings sweep: Fox's two-hour telemovie, "24: Redemption." But over on cable, some of the regular weekly offerings were even more satisfying -- including the season finales of HBO's "True Blood" and "Entourage"...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Nov
21
ABC MOWS DOWN "DAISIES," FOX PRESENTS BITE-SIZED TASTE OF "24" By David Bianculli
 
 
"Pushing Daisies," the best new series ABC has presented in two years, has been cut down by the network. Obviously, and stupidly, ABC loves it not...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Nov
20
"PUSHING DAISIES" NEEDS ABC'S SUPPORT NOW MORE THAN EVER By David Bianculli
 
 
Last night's episode of ABC's superbly sublime "Pushing Daisies" tied, in the preliminary ratings, with NBC's supremely stupid "Knight Rider." Not good. For Daisies, it was a series low in terms of viewers, but close to a series high in terms of writing and acting...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Nov
19
ABC'S "PUSHING DAISIES": AN ENDANGERED FLOWER THAT MUST BE PROTECTED By David Bianculli
 
 
The latest episode of ABC's "Pushing Daisies" airs tonight at 8 ET, and its fate may be determined by the number of viewers who tune in. So please, please watch -- but shame on ABC for not supporting and nurturing this excellent series more lovingly...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Nov
17
THE BEST, AND WORST, OF CURRENT TV COMMERCIALS By David Bianculli
 
 
Most TV ads are eminently, instantly forgettable, but once in a while, one appears that's either really good or really bad. On television right now, there are stellar examples of both...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Nov
14
RICKY GERVAIS SCORES COMEDICALLY AND TECHNOLOGICALLY -- LOOK MA, NO HANDS! By David Bianculli
 
 
There isn't much to look forward to in this very weak November sweeps month, but here comes something great: The new HBO standup special, "Ricky Gervais: Out of England"...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Nov
13
NBC PRODUCT PLACEMENT STOOPS TO ANOTHER EGREGIOUS LOW By David Bianculli
 
 
How low will NBC stoop in its enthusiasm for in-program scripted product placement? As low as "Knight Rider" and its ubiquitous Mustang, we all know that. But last week on "My Name Is Earl," NBC sank even deeper into the bottom of the barrel...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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