2021
 
 
 
 
 
 
2020
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2019
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2018
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2017
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2016
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2015
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2014
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2013
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2012
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2011
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2010
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2009
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2008
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2007
 
 
 
 
 
 
2001
 
 
 
 
1998
 
 
 
 
1990
 
 
 
 
1989
 
 
 
 
1987
 
 
 
 
1985
 
 
 
 
1982
 
 
 
 
1980
 
 
 

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
Dec
26
HERE'S MY TOP 10 TV LIST OF 2008 -- WHAT'S YOURS? By David Bianculli
 
 
Before giving my list of the Top 10 TV shows of 2008, I'm asking for yours. The readers of this website are so discerning and tasteful (you're here, aren't you?), I thought it would be fun, maybe even enlightening, to ask for YOUR Top 10 lists...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Dec
24
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE TWO-WAY: TERRY GROSS INTERVIEWS ME ON TODAY'S "FRESH AIR" By David Bianculli
 
 
Sometimes I provide TV reviews for "NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross." Sometimes I guest host. And very rarely, I get to do something that's an awful lot of fun: Have an on-air conversation with Terry herself. On today's Fresh Air, Terry and I talk about the year in TV. There's a lot to talk about, and it takes up most of the hour...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Dec
22
TV HOLIDAYS ARE FESTIVE AGAIN: LETTERMAN IS BACK WITH HIS ANNUAL CHRISTMAS SHOW By David Bianculli
 
 
Last year, the writers' strike put a Scrooge-like end to David Letterman's annual late-night Christmas show. Tuesday night at 11:35 ET, on a fresh edition of "Late Show with David Letterman," it's back. Darlene Love will sing, Jay Thomas will tell his Lone Ranger story, and Jay and Dave will toss footballs at the giant meatball atop the tree. And I'll be watching, and grinning...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Dec
19
NOT ENOUGH SHOPPING DAYS LEFT UNTIL CHRISTMAS... BUT HERE'S ONE GREAT LAST-SECOND DVD GIFT IDEA, AND MANY OTHERS By David Bianculli
 
 
This is the last weekend before Christmas -- so it's the last chance, here at TV WORTH WATCHING, for us to trumpet our easy shopping lists of great DVDs, holiday-related and otherwise. Find the dogs with the Santa hats on the home page, click, and shop. There's still time to have them rush delivered in time for the holiday. (The gifts, not the dogs). And here's my foolproof, last-second, under-$10 recommendation for the perfect DVD gift...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Dec
18
THE PASSWORD IS... UNFORTUNATE By David Bianculli
 
 
Tonight at 8 ET, after a run of summer specials, CBS launches "Million Dollar Password" as a weekly series. Because of the way the show is revamped, and what it means for TV in the future, the password is... "Unfortunate"...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Dec
16
WITH NBC PRESENTING "MOMMA'S BOY" AT 10, A LENO ALTERNATIVE IS BETTER By David Bianculli
 
 
Here's what NBC executive Jeff Zucker told "Broadcasting & Cable's" Ben Grossman recently, defending the decision to program a Jay Leno talk show weeknights at 10 p.m. ET next year. The reduced number of available hours in prime time, he said, would make competition tougher, and, by inference, the programs better...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Dec
11
"THE SHIELD," BOSTON LEGAL" ENDED BEAUTIFULLY -- BUT FOR TV DRAMA, WHAT'S NEXT? By David Bianculli
 
 
First the FX drama "The Shield" ended, perfectly. Then, two weeks later, the ABC comedy-drama "Boston Legal" ended, perfectly. And that same day, NBC announced, far from perfectly, it would replace all weekday 10 p.m. ET programming with a new Jay Leno talk show...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Dec
10
NOW THAT LENO HAS LANDED, WHAT'S NEXT? SOME THOUGHTS... By David Bianculli
 
 
Now that Jay Leno has landed -- and landed at a surprising place, in prime time on NBC -- the other players in the late-night wars of 2008-09 can begin planning their moves...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Dec
9
LENO IN PRIME TIME? GOOD FOR BUSINESS, BAD FOR TV By David Bianculli
 
 
I had intended to devote today's column to ABC's "Boston Legal" finale (thoroughly delightful), then to Craig Ferguson's remembrance of his mother on CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (touchingly emotional). Both deserve fuller attention...But today's breaking-news topic, trumping the others, is NBC's reported decision to turn over its 10 p.m. hour each weeknight next fall to a new talk show hosted by Jay Leno.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Dec
8
THE SHOW WITH THE MOST FAMOUS BALCONY SCENES SINCE "ROMEO & JULIET" ENDS TONIGHT By David Bianculli
 
 
December 8, 2008 9:21 AM ABC's Boston Legal, one of the braver and more delightful TV series of the past five years, ends tonight, with a two-hour episode that concludes with one last scene on the balcony. And that's only fitting, since this David E. Kelley series has done more for the balcony scene than any drama since Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet... Last week's episode had Carl, the attorney played by John Larroquette, complaining that there was nothing on TV worth watching, especially
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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