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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

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All Along the Watchtower

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Uncle Barky's Bytes

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TV That Matters

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Open Mike

ED MARTIN

Ed Martin's TV Mix

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Aerial View

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MNtv

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TV Feeds My Family

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TV Eye

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Must-Click TV

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Raised On MTM

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TVWW ARCHIVE

Contributors Archive
 
 
2013
Apr
9
COUGAR TOWN By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON FINALE: TBS ends its first season of showing this inherited series, formerly on ABC, by presenting two fresh episodes back to back. Since there’s a season finale to celebrate, expect even more drinking than usual by the characters on this sitcom. If that’s even possible.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
9
BILL BRIOUX'S VISIT WITH A TRUE DISNEY PRINCESS By Bill Brioux
 
 
Annette Funicello will endure as a cheerful icon of Disney innocence, but also as a brave example of dignity and hope. It's a legacy that will forever hold her banner high...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
8
KATIE CHATS WITH THE WOMEN OF 'THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW' By Eric Gould
 
 
Katie Couric's talks with The Mary Tyler Moore Show actresses Mary Tyler Moore, Valerie Harper, Betty White, Cloris Leachman and Georgia Engel...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
8
ANNETTE FUNICELLO: 1942-2013 By Ed Bark
 
 
Annette’s fellow Mouseketeers also had their moments. But her attributes, both talent-wise and otherwise, took her to another level that never really leveled off...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
8
THE VOICE By David Bianculli
 
 
Both The Voice and American Idol swapped out some members of the judges’ panels this season, and the results couldn’t be more different. On Idol, Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj don’t even speak to one another, except in the language of silent disapproving eyerolls. Meanwhile, on The Voice, the judges all make fun of one another, but good-naturedly: Usher gets gently ridiculed for his sexy seated posture, Shakira lobs insults at all her male cohorts, and everyone despairs at how n
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
8
ROXIE HART By David Bianculli
 
 
If you liked the musical Chicago, you have to see this. It’s the 1942 non-musical version of the same basic tale, starring Ginger Rogers as a dark-haired Roxie Hart, and Adolphe Menjou as her flashy attorney, Billy Flynn. As docudramas go, it’s pretty loose with the facts: Hart, after all, is based on the story of accused murderess Beulah Annan, so even the names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent. But entertaining? Absolutely – and Rogers clearly revels in playin
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
8
NCAA 2013 MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP By David Bianculli
 
 
Michigan beat Syracuse to make it to this year’s championship game, and Louisville – the team with, by now, one of the most compelling sports stories in recent years – staged a furious comeback to steal victory from impressive underdogs Wichita State. For Louisville, it’s the first title game since 1986. For Michigan, it’s the first since 1993. For everybody watching, it should be an emotional, exciting game. March Madness? For this title game, it’s more like
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
8
TOP OF THE LAKE By David Bianculli
 
 
It’s Episode 5 of this miniseries – and Sundance provided only the first four episodes for preview, so I’m as much in the dark about what happens next as you are. But with Elisabeth Moss at this mystery drama’s center, I’m happy to wander around in the dark and be led wherever Top of the Lake wants to take me.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
8
INSIDE COMEDY By David Bianculli
 
 
David Steinberg’s guests tonight, on this breezily entertaining talk show about comedy, are Bill Maher and Robert Klein. I haven’t seen this one in advance, but I know for a fact – from interviewing Maher for my Smothers Brothers book – that those guys were instrumental in inspiring young Maher to want to try comedy. Let’s see if Steinberg, who has a strong link to the Smothers Brothers, goes down that particular conversational avenue.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
7
CALL THE MIDWIFE By David Bianculli
 
 
As Season 2 continues, this series import continues to show why it deserves as large and rabid a following as that of Downton Abbey. It’s such a bubbly concoction of humor and drama, of high and lows, that each week it serves up a TV cocktail – with a kick. Watch tonight, and you’ll see what I mean. Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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