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
 
 
2013
May
1
RISKY BUSINESS By David Bianculli
 
 
It’s been 30 years now since Tom Cruise slid across that floor in his stocking feet — but this movie still has charm and energy to spare, and makes it clear why Cruise cruised to stardom so quickly, and has stayed there ever since. Rebecca De Mornay co-stars, as the female escort who complicates his life, and jeopardizes his college admission status.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
May
1
MODERN FAMILY By David Bianculli
 
 
There’s a Career Day exhibition at school in tonight’s new episode, but there’s a lot of show and tell at home, as well. For example, Mitchell and Cam enlist a visiting Haley (Sarah Hyland) to play the role of the Tooth Fairy – a role she really takes to heart.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
May
1
60 MINUTES SPORTS By David Bianculli
 
 
Among the reports shown tonight, in this new Showtime edition of this 60 Minutes spinoff, are an entertaining Lesley Shahl profile of R.A. Dickey – and a piece on a usually ignored sport, big in the U.K. but not so much here. Namely, darts.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
May
1
THE AMERICANS By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON FINALE: The entire season has been building, cleverly, to tonight’s season finale, with agents from both sides of the Iron Curtain circling each other and getting ever closer to discovering each other’s identities. Stan (Noah Emmerich) has commissioned arists sketches that may help him get closer to Elizabeth (Keri Russell, pictured) and Phillip (Matthew Rhys) – even though they could hardly be closer, since they live across the street.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
30
'INSIDE AMY SCHUMER': MAYBE OUTSIDE IS CLOSE ENOUGH By Eric Gould
 
 
Amy Schumer seems happy enough to ride the one trick pony, playing the good-looking, wholesome girl with a cowboy mouth...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
30
THE DUST BOWL By David Bianculli
 
 
PART 2 of 2. This concluding half of Ken Burns' Dust Bowl documentary actually gets around to the Dust Bowl you thought this nonfiction film was about, after a first-part primer about previous dust storms and agricultural and environmental missteps. But that early groundwork served as the necessary roots system to make tonight's conclusion blossom - and, ironically, an abundance of groundwork, and a lack of roots system, is what led to the Depression-era Dust Bowl in the first place. Fascinating
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
30
NEW GIRL By David Bianculli
 
 
Tonight’s new episode is a flashback one, taking each character, including Zooey Deschanel’s Jess, back to the time when he or she lost his or her virginity. Set the “Awkward” dial to 11 – and enjoy.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
30
GRIMM By David Bianculli
 
 
NEW DAY: Viewers, to their credit, weren’t ready for NBC’s Ready for Love, a dating reality show that the network canceled after only a few viewings. And at NBC, the inventory is as thin as the quality, so instead of replacing Ready for Love with something new to follow The Voice, it’s moving Grimm from Fridays, where it’s been banished this season. This isn’t necessarily a recommendation, but by moving this show to Tuesdays, the evening, for NBC, is both a little m
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
30
FRONTLINE: "TOP SECRET AMERICA" By David Bianculli
 
 
Tonight’s installment is an updated version of an earlier report, Top Secret America, detailing the country’s war on terror since 9/11. It’s updated to include the Boston Marathon bombings, putting that attack in a wider context of home-soil terrorism. Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
30
INSIDE AMY SCHUMER By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: Standup comic Amy Schumer gets her own series – one in which she tries, to quote a recent profile in The New York Times, to do her own Louie. That’s a commendable goal, but a tough landing to stick. For a full review, see Eric Gould’s Cold Light Reader.
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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