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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
Nov
5
CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM By David Bianculli
 
 
Last night, Larry David hosted Saturday Night Live. Tonight, he returns to the Curb, in an episode called “The Accidental Text on Purpose.”
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Nov
5
SMILF By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: Frankie Shaw is not only the creator and writer and director of this new Showtime series, but she’s its star as well. And since SMILF (the S stands for Single; for the rest, you’re on your own) is about a single mom trying to make it in a rather judgmental and tough world, it could almost be seen as a spiritual sequel to Lena Dunham’s Girls. Except that the support system for Shaw’s Bridgette Bird is less expansive, and supportive: Her inner circle includ
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Nov
5
LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER By David Bianculli
 
 
Until John Oliver stops making me laugh and think at the same time, I’ll keep pointing out whenever he has a new episode of Last Week Tonight on HBO. So get used to it, because I don’t suspect either of us is stopping soon. Not so long as he keeps pulling out such stunts as seagull puppets...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Nov
5
SHOWTIME'S ‘SMILF’ IS COMEDY WITH A HIGH MISERY INDEX By Ed Bark
 
 
The old “misery loves company” axiom gets a stern test with Showtime’s SMILF (Sunday, 10 p.m. ET)...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Nov
4
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY By David Bianculli
 
 
A marvelous masterpiece of cinema, this 1968 Stanley Kubrick sci-fi film remains a stunning experience to behold. The special and optical effects remain convincing almost 50 years later – and how many genre films can you say that about? But also, the set pieces, from the dawn of man prologue to the star child epilogue, are jaw-droppingly inventive, amazing, and unforgettable.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Nov
4
GET OUT By David Bianculli
 
 
Jordan Peele, of the sketch comedy duo Jordan and Peele, is the writer and director of this wild ride of a movie, which begins like Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and ends somewhere adjacent to The Twilight Zone. Daniel Kaluuya stars as an African-American whose white girlfriend (played by Allison Williams from Girls) brings him on a weekend vacation to meet her parents for the first time. To say any more would be to ruin the fun – but fun it is.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Nov
4
DIRK GENTLY'S HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY By David Bianculli
 
 
Tonight’s episode takes a side trip to a haunted house. Or is it haunted? And is it a side trip, or the main voyage? With this show, half the time you have no idea – and time itself keeps shifting too, as it does tonight, with a cross-time phone call…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Nov
4
THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW By David Bianculli
 
 
Tonight’s scheduled guests include Emma Thompson, who’s provided some of the funniest moments on this long-running talk series, and Adam Sandler, who has his chance tonight.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Nov
4
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE By David Bianculli
 
 
This ought to be good. In this new outing, the first of the November ratings sweeps, the guest host is Larry David, and the musical guest is Miley Cyrus.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Nov
4
TV WORTH WATCHING CELEBRATES 10TH ANNIVERSARY! By David Bianculli
 
 

TV Worth Watching turns 10 years old this weekend – a proper time for a fond look back, and, if you’d like, a chance for you to share your opinions and memories as well…

 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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