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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
Sep
29
SARAH PALIN MAY BE SLIPPING, BUT KATIE COURIC AND TINA FEY ARE SOARING By David Bianculli
 
 
The trajectory of Sarah Palin has been both accelerated and extreme. When she steps to the podium Thursday to debate Joe Biden, it'll be only a month since she was introduced to the nation... Since then, her political stock has risen and fallen with a rapidity that makes Wall Street look stable...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Sep
26
"DEXTER" RETURNS -- SHOWTIME'S KILLER SHOW IS BACK, AND IS THRILLING By David Bianculli
 
 
Showtime's "Dexter" series, starring Michael C. Hall as a serial killer who targets and kills other serial killers, begins its third season Sunday night at 9 ET. Please seek it out, and dive in...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Sep
25
MCCAIN BAILS ON TOMORROW'S DEBATE -- AND ON LAST NIGHT'S "LETTERMAN" By David Bianculli
 
 
Yesterday Republican presidential nominee John McCain not only announced he was temporarily suspending his campaign in order to return to Washington and focus on the financial crisis, but he backed out, at the very last minute, of a scheduled appearance on Wednesday's "Late Show with David Letterman" on CBS...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Sep
24
MORE PREMIERES, MORE SEASON RETURNS, MORE YAWNS By David Bianculli
 
 
If the broadcast networks are hoping to get us excited that they're back with new shows and fresh episodes of old ones, tonight's lineup isn't exactly an enticing pile of bait...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Sep
23
NETWORK SERIES PREMIERE, BUT PBS SHINES WITH "AMERICAN MASTERS" By David Bianculli
 
 
Two new series premiere tonight: "The Mentalist" on CBS, which is okay, and "Opportunity Knocks" on ABC, which I'll see tonight for the first time as it airs nationwide...But there's an additional option: the first two-hour chunk of a five-hour, three-night PBS "American Masters" documentary on the history of Warner Bros...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Sep
22
EMMYS THE DAY AFTER: GOOD WINS, BAD HOSTS, DULL PRESENTERS, NICE SURPRISE By David Bianculli
 
 
When Tommy Smothers was given his honorary Emmy last night, in recognition of his having unduly removed himself from the list of winning writers on the final 1968-69 season of "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour," that was my favorite moment of the entire night...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Sep
19
EMMY VOTING PROCEDURES BETTER, BUT STILL TRICKY TO PREDICT By David Bianculli
 
 
Changes to the voting procedures for the Emmy Awards, in both nominations and final tallies, have improved things by widening the field and reducing the rote reappearance of certain nominees. But problems remain, and so does the unpredictability...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Sep
17
THREE QUIRKY NEW DVD SETS, ALL WORTH WATCHING (AND OWNING) By David Bianculli
 
 
One of the best TV series on the air right now, one of the classic children's series of all time, and a super-obscure import from England all have been released on DVD -- and all three qualify as TV WORTH WATCHING...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Sep
16
TUESDAY'S ONE-TWO-THREE PUNCH OF QUALITY TV: "HOUSE," "FRINGE," "SHIELD" By David Bianculli
 
 
Tonight, as the Fox series "Fringe" settles into its regular time slot, TV gives us a way to enjoy three straight hours of gripping, unpredictable, quality television simply by making one channel change...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2008
Sep
15
"SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE" RETURNS BRILLIANTLY -- FOR FIVE MINUTES By David Bianculli
 
 
Expectations for the 34th-season opener of NBC's "Saturday Night Live" were high, and the show delivered brilliantly. For five minutes. Once the opening sketch was over, SNL, for a variety of reasons, tanked more than it floated, and never again soared...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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