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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

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Open Mike

ED MARTIN

Ed Martin's TV Mix

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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
13
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE By David Bianculli
 
 
Earlier this week in Manhattan, Melissa McCarthy – who’s the host of tonight’s SNL – was seen, and photographed, propelling herself through city streets, right around Trump Tower, on a “mobile podium” dressed as White House press spokesperson Sean Spicer. And after the week of events we’ve all dealt with, this week’s show had better be up to the occasion. McCarthy will be, that’s a given. But the writing, tonight, needs to be especially sharp
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
12
I LOVE DICK By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: Jill Soloway of Transparent brings another intentionally and creatively provocative TV series to Amazon. This one takes the 1997 novel by Chris Kraus, told through a series of letters written by an infatuated yet infuriated artistic woman to a self-centered yet charismatic intellectual figure named Dick, and turns it into a playful comedy-drama, with Kathryn Hahn as the central protagonist, and Kevin Bacon as the embodiment of the self-satisfied artist, running an arts program i
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
12
ANNE WITH AN E By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: I adored the 1985 PBS version of Anne of Green Gables, a delightful miniseries produced and exported by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC, working with Netflix, is behind this new version as well. It’s renamed Anne with an E, and it’s excellent to a T. Lucy Maud Montgomery’s 1908 novel, more than a century old, still casts a potent spell, and still is suitable (make that fabulous) entertainment for the entire family. And now, as adapted by Moira Wa
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
12
MASTER OF NONE By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: Aziz Ansari returns, after too long an absence, with Season 2 of his impressively distinct and comically honest situation comedy. It begins in Italy, where Ansari’s Dev has gone to get over a bad breakup and enroll in cooking school – and goes from there. My only complaint is that Netflix has started churning out so many series these days that the return of Master of None, on a day when Netflix also launches Anne with an E, may get lost in the mix. At least for today
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
12
THE GRADUATE By David Bianculli
 
 
This is the year, though not the week, that The Graduate premiered 50 years ago. It changed my life then, and I’ve adored it ever since – so any time it’s in prime time, uninterrupted and unedited, as it is here, it’s worth celebrating, and certainly TV worth watching. Plastics.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
12
REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER By David Bianculli
 
 
What else do you need to know? Bill Maher’s top-of-show scheduled guest this week is Adam Schiff. A year ago, this politician was very much unknown. These days, he’s very much the opposite – and what a week to have him on!
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
12
AMAZON'S 'I LOVE DICK' EXPLORES MARRIAGE, ART AND ATTRACTION By David Hinckley
 
 

Up for another round of “No, no, what do you really think and how do you really feel?” Then you’ll want to spend Friday diving into Amazon’s new I Love Dick, an adaptation of Chris Kraus’s satiric 1997 novel...

 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
12
'I LOVE DICK' TAKES AMAZON INTO A THOROUGHLY ADULT BOOKSTORE By Ed Bark
 
 
Basically twisted, but very daringly so, Amazon Prime’s I Love Dick has a title that in fact fits like a customized condom...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
12
NETFILX'S NEW 'ANNE' MATCHES UP WITH THE GOOD ONES By David Hinckley
 
 

The sun rose in the East this morning, so it must be time for Anne of Green Gables to get adapted again. Happily, the new edition that arrives on the streaming service Netflix Friday, titled Anne With An E, is a good one...

 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
May
11
THE TWILIGHT ZONE MARATHON By David Bianculli
 
 
We’re used to seeing Twilight Zone marathons on certain holiday weekends, but Syfy is slipping in an unexpected mini-marathon, starting early this morning. At 1 a.m. ET, the mini-marathon begins with the famous “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” episode starring William Shatner (pictured), followed at 1:30 a.m. ET by the equally famous episode “To Serve Man.” Other episodes are shown until 11 a.m. ET, and they include a bunch of Twilight Zone all-stars. You might want to se
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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