2021
 
 
 
 
 
 
2020
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2019
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2018
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2017
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2016
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2015
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2014
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2013
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2012
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2011
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2010
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2009
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2008
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2007
 
 
 
 
 
 
2001
 
 
 
 
2000
 
 
 
 
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
 
 
2020
May
15
BLACKLIST By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON FINALE: What to do when coronavirus considerations put an end to on-location, and on-set, TV production? Well, Blacklist, to finish out its season, took a completed script and adapted and tweaked it a bit, allowing for scenes and a subplot regarding a graphic novel – which, in turn, allows producers of this episode to have actors record dialogue remotely, then flesh out those scenes, without relying on any flesh, by animating them, graphic-novel style.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
15
“BRAVERY AND HOPE: 7 DAYS ON THE FRONT LINE” By David Bianculli
 
 
SPECIAL: This CBS News Special examines the pandemic crisis by  staying in one place for one week, and embedding its journalists with critical care providers at a hospital hit with a sudden influx of patients showing signs of COVID-19. The hospital is New York City’s Montefiore Medical Center’s Moses Campus, which at the time CBS was there was overwhelmed with nearly 700 patients – 80 percent of whom were diagnosed with COVID-19. If you wonder what such an o
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
15
GREAT PERFORMANCES: "BERNSTEIN MASS" By David Bianculli
 
 
Leonard Bernstein’s Mass was commissioned by Jackie Onassis to open the Kennedy Center in 1971. As opening nights go, that’s not too shabby. And tonight’s Great Performances, in addition to recounting the history of this durable work, presents a recent production, starring Paulo Szot as the celebrant. Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
15
FRIDAY NIGHT IN WITH THE MORGANS By David Bianculli
 
 
This is one of AMC’s instant series – a sort of "What can we put on easily, televised from people’s homes, that will fill an hour of TV and help promote a franchise series we’re not producing at the moment?" This one takes Jeffrey Dean Morgan, one of the stars of the past few seasons of The Walking Dead, playing casual country farmhouse, socially distanced talk-show host, along with his wife, Hilarie Morgan. Tonight’s show features comic Jim Gaffigan and h
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
15
THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW By David Bianculli
 
 
Among tonight’s not-in-person guests: Sandra Oh, from sister BBC America series Killing Eve, and Stanley Tucci.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
15
FROM BEYOND By David Bianculli
 
 
This 1986 horror film is based on a story by H.P. Lovecraft, and it’s a wild ride in terms of its special effects, its imaginative premise (parasitic entities from another dimension leak into ours and feed on and generate abnormal impulses), and one performance in particular. Barbara Crampton, as part of a research team dispatched to investigate a scientist’s sinister and apparently deadly experiments, has scenes here which are unforgettable. At least for me, for the last 34 years an
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
15
1979: THE END OF 'STARSKY AND HUTCH' By David Bianculli
 
 
Starsky and Hutch wrapped up its four-season run on this day in 1979...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
14
1973: 'ROWAN & MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN' ENDS ITS RUN By David Bianculli
 
 
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In ended its run today in 1973...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
14
FAME: LIVE FROM LONDON'S WEST END By David Bianculli
 
 
Here's a special streaming event that’s already begun, but that slipped by me – yet it’s still available for a while, so I’ll mention it here. The website BroadwayHD released, a few days ago, a filmed performance of the 30th anniversary West End production of the stage production of the musical Fame, which began as a movie in 1980, and continued as an NBC series in 1982. (Think of it as the original Glee – because it was.) This recent F
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
May
14
PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION: LIVE By David Bianculli
 
 
SPECIAL: Here’s another limited-window streaming TV event well worth seeking out. For a few days only, from tonight through Sunday, the Prince estate is hosting a “watch party,” a charity event supporting the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 response. It’s not a brand new concert, or TV offering: Prince and the Revolution: Live captured the band on stage at Syracuse, NY in 1985, during Prince’s Purple Rain tour, and previously was avail
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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