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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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TVWW ARCHIVE

Contributors Archive
 
 
2017
Sep
26
NBC PREMIERES 'LAW & ORDER TRUE CRIME: THE MENENDEZ MURDERS By David Hinckley
 
 
Recounting sensational real-life crimes used to be a regular menu item for budget-conscious cable channels...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Sep
26
NCIS By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: The popularity and durability of this CBS series, itself a spinoff of another series (JAG, which began on NBC and was rescued from oblivion a season later by CBS), is by now a modern marvel. Tonight, for NCIS, is the Season 15 premiere, more than twice the length of the usual run of a successful broadcast drama series. And Season 15 begins by continuing with last season’s cliffhanger drama, months after Gibbs (Mark Harmon) and McGee (Sean Murray), in mid-mission to locate
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Sep
26
THE VOICE By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: Part 2 of 2. Last night’s very first act, Chris Weaver, got all four judges to turn singing “Try a Little Tenderness” – and all four of them put up a tough fight, trying to get him. The judge selected by Weaver was this season’s brand new judge, Jennifer Hudson, setting the stage for another competitive, entertaining season of The Voice.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Sep
26
THE VIETNAM WAR By David Bianculli
 
 
Episode 8. I can’t imagine anyone avoiding this new Ken Burns-Lynn Novick documentary series – but for whatever reason, if you’ve stayed away thus far, please, please tune in tonight. This evening’s episode, “The History of the World,” covers the period from April 1969 to May 1970. That period happens to include two of the most heart-wrenching tragedies of the war – one abroad, one at home. The war tragedy is the massacre, by American troops, at My Lai.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Sep
26
THIS IS US By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: The undisputed broadcast TV hit from last season returns for Season 2, with Sterling K. Brown, as Randall, carrying a brand new Emmy Award. Tonight there’s another reason for celebration, as Randall celebrates his birthday – which means, of course, that same-day siblings Kevin (Justin Hartley) and Kate (Chrissy Metz) are celebrating their birthdays as well.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Sep
26
INSIDE THE NFL By David Bianculli
 
 
Usually, I watch this show for the football highlights, and for the occasional byplay among commentators. Tonight, I’ll be watching primarily for the commentary – to see how they handle this past weekend’s controversy about President Donald Trump and his remarks about pro football players and their displays of silent protest, and the resultant reactions by players and team owners. This is exactly the time and place to discuss this issue at length.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Sep
26
LAW & ORDER TRUE CRIME: THE MENENDEZ MURDERS By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: This newest spinoff from Dick Wolf’s Law & Order mother ship tries to be a sort of American Crime Story, dramatizing an infamous murder case. This eight-part miniseries lacks the larger gravity of the O.J. Simpson case, and all its societal implications – but it does have Edie Falco, who’s always wonderful, as Leslie Abramson, attorney for the Menendez brothers, who were accused in 1989 of murdering their wealthy parents. (Spoiler Alert: They did.) For full
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Sep
26
AMERICAN HORROR STORY: CULT By David Bianculli
 
 
This is episode four, and the cult in the title is beginning to solidify – which means we’re beginning to learn, or at least suspect, the identities of some of the killer clowns behind those masks.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Sep
25
'YOUNG SHELDON': STILL SOCIALLY AWKWARD By David Hinckley
 
 
If you ever wondered whether there might have been a time in Sheldon Cooper’s life when his behavior was cute and charming, the answer apparently is no, not really...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Sep
25
COUNTERTERRORISM STARS IN NBC'S 'THE BRAVE' By David Hinckley
 
 
NBC’s new terrorism drama The Brave edges back toward the traditional macho message of “Don’t mess with America, punk"...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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