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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
 
 
2017
May
31
THE F WORD WITH GORDON RAMSAY By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: Once again, strutting chef Gordon Ramsay has taken a successful entry from his string of hit British cooking shows and adapted it for American viewers, starring again in the process. This time it’s based on The F Word, a sort of one-hour “food variety” series, encompassing interviews, taped field pieces, and a one-off cooking competition, that premiered in the U.K. a dozen years ago. It finally ends up stateside, but with one distinctive difference: Except for
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
31
THE CARMICHAEL SHOW By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: Jerrod Carmichael has established this sitcom as this generation’s equivalent of a Norman Lear topical comedy, with an issue-of-the-week approach to topics and character reactions. Season 3 opens by continuing this practice and doing so with an issue that has caused its share of controversy even here at TVWW: a rape joke (lesson learned). Actually, the setup is serious, as a friend of Maxine’s reveals her prior sexual assault on social media – but as her post i
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
31
NOVA: "POISONED WATER" By David Bianculli
 
 
One reviewer has called this new episode of Nova, about the history of the degradation of the quality of water fed to the residents of Flint, MI, “probably the most concise, compelling retelling yet of what happened in Flint.” And that opinion matters, because it comes courtesy of the Detroit Free Press. Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
31
FOOD: DELICIOUS SCIENCE By David Bianculli
 
 
Part 2 of 3. Tonight’s concluding installment, “We Are What We Eat,” breaks down foods into key components, then breaks down some of the cooking methods to explain exactly how the preparation of certain foods alters what happens to them in the process, and how those results affect us afterward. Watch, in particular, for a segment on baking, where it’s explained how the chemical reaction sparked by kneading breads leads to the production of gluten, and the chemical reactio
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
31
FARGO By David Bianculli
 
 
Last week, Ray Stussy (Ewan McGregor) went down the path of revenge, hoping to find and confront, and punish, the thugs who had beaten up his fiancé, Nikki Swango (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Instead, he was detoured by twin brother Emmit, who asked for a quick meeting to settle old scores. They did so, but not in the way either had intended – and now Nikki is in severe danger from those same thugs of Varga’s, without Ray there to help her. And Varga (David Thewlis, pictured) is
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
31
FULL FRONTAL WITH SAMANTHA BEE By David Bianculli
 
 
Go ahead, please, Sam. Explain the most recent holiday week to us. I beg you. And dare you.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
31
MATT LAURIA ON HIS 'KINGDOM' CHARACTER, AND THE ONE ROLE HE HAS YET TO PLAY By David Hinckley
 
 
One of the intriguing things about Ryan Wheeler, says Matt Lauria, is that Ryan raises life’s big questions without thinking about them...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
31
TRUMP THE WILD CARD AS ‘HOUSE OF CARDS’ RETURNS By Bill Brioux
 
 
House of Cards is the series that put Netflix on the map...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
31
OY VEY, COVFEFE By Eric Gould
 
 
The Internet might very well be eating its own tail at this point, with satire going viral within hours of breaking political news...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
30
RETURN TO SENDER: REVISITING ‘TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN’ By Alex Strachan
 
 
I hit the wall — literally — in episode three. I may yet stick it out for the entire 18, but as of right now, that looks unlikely...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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