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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
 
 
2013
Nov
1
HAVEN By David Bianculli
 
 
Duke (Eric Balfour) and Nathan (Lucas Bryant) come out swinging in tonight’s new episode, which is called “Crush” – and, for the record, is about scrunching things, not falling in love with them. Although, given the behavior of Duke and Nathan regarding Emily Rose’s Audrey a.k.a. Lexie, maybe it’s both.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Nov
1
HIS GIRL FRIDAY By David Bianculli
 
 
Here’s another classic screwball comedy from TCM tonight. This one, from 1940, is directed by Howard Hawks, and stars Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell in an especially saucy version of the Ben Hecht play The Front Page. Anyone who’s ever stepped foot in a newspaper newsroom loves this movie. But how many people are stepping into newspaper newsrooms these days? Sigh.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Nov
1
LIFE-AFFIRMING: SHOWTIME'S 'TIME OF DEATH' By Ed Bark
 
 
Showtime entertainment president David Nevins says,  “Death is the most universal topic there is, and yet its examination is largely taboo in our culture"...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
31
VENTURA AT 20,000 FEET By Eric Gould
 
 
Here’s a Jim Carrey Ace Ventura reference to the 1963 Twilight Zone episode “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” written by Richard Matheson... It’s Halloween, yet Carrey doesn't even need a costume for the impression to work...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
31
IT'S THE GREAT PUMPKIN, CHARLIE BROWN By David Bianculli
 
 
Originally televised by CBS in 1966, this is one of the two perfect Charles M. Schulz Peanuts specials – the other, of course, being the first, A Charlie Brown Christmas. And like that one, this is, at bottom, a cartoon about the value and strength of faith. This time it’s epitomized in Linus’ belief that the Great Pumpkin will visit him on Halloween, a faith that puts him, for a while, in a rough patch.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
31
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE By David Bianculli
 
 
This prime-time special is a compilation of Halloween skits from past shows – and since there are nearly 40 years from which to draw, it ought to be filled with many more treats than tricks.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
31
VINCENT PRICE MARATHON By David Bianculli
 
 
All over the TV cable and satellite spectrum today, you can see marathons of spooky movie franchises: the Halloween movies on AMC (beginning at 10 a.m. ET), most of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies on Syfy (beginning at 9n a.m. ET), even the Saw movies on IFC (beginning at 3:45 p.m. ET). But for Halloween purists, one better place, especially if there are younger eyes still watching, is TCM’s lineup of classic horror films starring Vincent Price. The action starts at 8 p.m. ET with 1961&
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
31
GHOSTBUSTERS By David Bianculli
 
 
This 1984 supernatural movie comedy may be the ultimate post-Halloween TV treat. Enjoy it with kids, and have marshmallows or Smores ready to enjoy at the climax. Bill Murray stars, Dan Aykroyd is wonderful, and Sigourney Weaver is great – especially when she’s possessed.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
31
THE RETURNED By David Bianculli
 
 
MINISERIES PREMIERE: This eight-part miniseries from France is a lot of things even Sundance’s promos won’t tell you. First, it’s subtitled – but don’t let that deter you. Second, it unfolds so deliberately, revealing its surprises and shocks so meticulously and patiently, that to give even the most basic summary would rob The Returned of some of its fun, and wonder, and eerieness. The less you know about this eight-part psychological thriller going in, the better,
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
31
SUNDANCE'S 'THE RETURNED' IS MUST-SEE TV - BUT I WON'T SAY WHY By David Bianculli
 
 

The Returned, which Sundance Channel launches in the U.S. on Halloween night, is a creepy, eerie, hauntingly memorable miniseries. But you’ll have to trust me on that…

 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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