2021
 
 
 
 
 
 
2020
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2019
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2018
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2017
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2016
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2015
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2014
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2013
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2012
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2011
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2010
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2009
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2008
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2007
 
 
 
 
 
 
2001
 
 
 
 
2000
 
 
 
 
1998
 
 
 
 
1990
 
 
 
 
1989
 
 
 
 
1987
 
 
 
 
1985
 
 
 
 
1982
 
 
 
 
1980
 
 
 

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
Oct
4
2013 MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYOFFS By David Bianculli
 
 
Today’s games – four of them – are spread between two networks. The day’s first game, with the Pittsburgh Pirates vs. the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 2 of their series, is on MLB Network at 1 p.m. ET. After that, the postseason baseball action shifts to TBS, where the Tampa Bay Rays play the Boston Red Sox at 3 p.m. ET, the Los Angeles Dodgers play their second playoff game against the Atlanta Braves (at 6 p.m. ET), and the Detroit Tigers and Oakland Athletics get the nig
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
4
GREAT PERFORMANCES: "THE HOLLOW CROWN" By David Bianculli
 
 
Henry IV, Part II. It may look like an old-fashioned baseball score, but it’s actually the latest entry in this new PBS presentation of William Shakespeare’s history cycle. Jeremy Irons stars as King Henry IV, Tom Hiddleston as Prince Hal, and Simon Russell Beale, making the most of a big supporting role (literally a big one) as Falstaff. Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
4
LINCOLN By David Bianculli
 
 
This 2012 Steven Spielberg movie, and its central performance by Daniel Day-Lewis, are worth watching any time. But I’m looking forward to this particular repeat telecast because, in the interim, I screened for one of my TV classes at Rowan University an episode of Gidget, the Sixties series in which Sally Field played a peppy surf chick teenager. Watching her play Mary Todd Lincoln to Day-Lewis’ Abraham, after all the intervening years, is an enthralling history lesson – twice
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
4
REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER By David Bianculli
 
 
I don’t care who else is on Maher’s show tonight. I’ll be watching, and thrilled, because the mid-show interview guest is the great Carl Reiner. He’s 91 years old now, and has been turning out great entertainment for at least 63 of them. That’s how long ago he played a very funny straight man to Sid Caesar on NBC’s Your Show of Shows. To put it into perspective, that was 15 years before Sally Field played a perky teen in Gidget.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
4
THE FRESHMAN By David Bianculli
 
 
Matthew Broderick and Marlon Brando star in a 1990 movie that somehow manages to be a dark comedy, a satire, a drama and a love story all at once – and succeeds at every turn. To say more, other than to urge you to watch, would be taking away from the fun… which definitely includes having fun with the star of The Godfather.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
4
HBO LANDS A COMBINATION IN 'MUHAMMAD ALI’S GREATEST FIGHT' By Gerald Jordan
 
 
Documentary footage of the outspoken heavyweight is layered with a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the Supreme Court, back when the champ refused to answer the draft...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
3
THE BIG BANG THEORY By David Bianculli
 
 
Tonight’s new episode has the gang divided up into unconventional pairs, as part of a scavenger hunt game that combines the geekiness of science and pop-culture obsessions with… the geekiness of a scavenger hunt.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
3
GLEE By David Bianculli
 
 
Part 2 of 2. The Beatles salute continues, for better and for worse. And though a dozen different quotable lyrics come to mind, I think, this time, I’ll just let it be. Watch this episode, and think for yourself…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
3
THE CRAZY ONES By David Bianculli
 
 
In this new episode, a local coffee chain account is given a new chief account executive, and a new direction – which turns out to cause some unexpected stress, and unwanted reactions. Someone better wake up… and smell the coffee.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
3
THE MICHAEL J. FOX SHOW By David Bianculli
 
 
In this new episode, the normally laid-back Eve shows an interest in a photography class – which pleases her parents, until they discover, at that class, just what seems to be developing.
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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