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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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Ed Martin's TV Mix

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TV Feeds My Family

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Must-Click TV

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Raised On MTM

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TVWW ARCHIVE

Contributors Archive
 
 
2013
Oct
9
LOVE AND DEATH By David Bianculli
 
 
This 1975 Woody Allen movie is one of his early ones, but one which showed his growing sophistication as both a filmmaker and a satirist. He directed, wrote and stars in this spoof of sprawling Russian epics, both literary and cinematic. But he also mixes in a lot of jokes referring to Swedish cinema at the time, because of his love of the movies of director Ingmar Bergman. Hence, both the scythe-carrying Death figure and, in one scene featuring co-stars Diane Keaton and Jessica Harper (pictured
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
9
NOVA: "MEGASTORM AFTERMATH" By David Bianculli
 
 
Hurricane Sandy, dubbed a “superstorm” because of the destructive power of its storm surge, is examined again in this new Nova installment. It focuses not only on the past, but on the future –specifically, it asks the question, “What’s being done to minimize such damage if, or when, there’s a next time?” Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
9
TOP CHEF By David Bianculli
 
 
Season 11 of this series is set in New Orleans, and tonight’s cooking challenge involves one of the greatest things to come out of New Orleans other than music: gumbo. My advice: Come to this particular show with a note pad… but without an appetite.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
9
AMERICAN HORROR STORY: COVEN By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: The opening hour of this new season of American Horror Story suggests this new reboot, set in New Orleans and giving returning star Jessica Lange the new role of a powerful witch, may be the best yet. Kathy Bates has a scary role as a heartless, sadistic, very old soul, and Taissa Fargima, from Season 1, returns for this Season 3 cycle as a budding witch with a killer bedroom demeanor. Also returning, among others: Frances Conroy, this time playing a character as wild as her fla
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
9
'FRONTLINE' HITS NFL'S CONCUSSION CRISIS BETWEEN THE NUMBERS By Eric Gould
 
 
Throw the penalty flag at the NFL... the league's record on concussions and brain disease over the past 20 years hasn't been good, or timely...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
9
'FRONTLINE' HITS NFL'S CONCUSSION CRISIS BETWEEN THE NUMBERS By P.J. Bednarski
 
 
Throw the penalty flag at the NFL... the league's record on concussions and brain disease over the past 20 years hasn't been good, or timely...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
8
2013 MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYOFFS By David Bianculli
 
 
The Tampa Bay Rays faced elimination last night, down 2-0 in its series against the Boston Red Sox, but lived to play another day when pinch-hitter Jose Lobaton, with the score tied in the bottom of the ninth, hit a solo home run to keep hope alive. And that other day is today: Game 4 in the Rays-Red Sox is played tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET, as the second game in a TBS postseason doubleheader. The first game, beginning at 5 p.m. ET? Game 4 in the Oakland Athletics-Detroit Tigers series, with the A&
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
8
'THE SIMPSONS': FRIGHT TITLES AND DAWN OF THE DUFF By Bill Brioux
 
 
The Simpsons' 24th annual "Treehouse of Horror" episode aired Sunday, wtih the title sequence by Guillermo del Toro, director of such films as Pacific Rim and Hellboy...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
8
MARVEL'S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. By David Bianculli
 
 
It’s only two episodes in, and already, Joss Whedon and company have scored a big-screen Avengers cameo (Samuel L. Jackson in an end-of-episode walk-on as Nick Fury), and introduced some serious doubt about the newest member of the S.H.I.E.L.D. team. And tonight, the team takes on a foe that no one saw coming – because they’re invisible.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
8
FRONTLINE: “LEAGUE OF DENIAL: THE NFL’S CONCUSSION CRISIS” By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: This documentary, originally, was begun as a partnership venture with ESPN, but that other organization dropped out, leaving Frontline to finish and present this investigation on its own. It’s about the history and impact of head concussion injuries on pro football players – what happens medically, and how the NFL has reacted historically. It’s not unusual to describe any Frontline offering as a hard-hitting documentary – but this time it’s literal.
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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