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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
Aug
3
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA By David Bianculli
 
 
An absolute epic, shown in the proper jaw-dropping elongated-rectangular ratio. David Lean won an Oscar for this 1962 film masterpiece, which stars Peter O’Toole as T.E. Lawrence, an outsider who gained the trust of the Arabs and led them in their WWI revolt against the Turks. My, how the political world has changed. Movies, too. Omar Sharif, Alec Guinness co-star.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Aug
3
DO NO HARM By David Bianculli
 
 
No, it’s not over yet. This NBC series was pulled from the schedule so quickly that there are still more fresh episodes to burn off during the summer. Here’s another one – and next week, still another. But hey – it’s better than what NBC is offering an hour earlier, which is Wrestlemania. So much for Do No Harm.  
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Aug
3
BATES RIPS NBC AT FX 'HORROR STORY' SESSION By Bill Brioux
 
 
Oscar-winner Kathy Bates still harbors strong feelings over the cancellation of her former series, Harry's Law...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Aug
2
FOX PREZ REILLY ON MONTEITH AND MORE By Bill Brioux
 
 
Fox's Kevin Reilly talks about network ratings, American Idol, and how Glee plans to handle the death of actor Cory Monteith...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Aug
2
TOOTSIE By David Bianculli
 
 
When I recommended Tootsie as a Best Bet last week, I ended up watching it. (Yes, sometimes I catch myself taking my own advice.) And couldn’t stop, because every scene had something or someone else that was wonderful. I especially got a kick out of Dabney Coleman, Bill Murray and Geena Davis, supporting actors who all brought something special and playful to every scene. Put Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Sydney Pollack and the rest in the mix, and this 1982 movie is a sure-fire piece of
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Aug
2
GREAT PERFORMANCES: “VIENNA PHILHARMONIC SUMMER NIGHT 2013” By David Bianculli
 
 
This concert, keyed to the 200th birthdays of Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner, was taped on May 30, during a violent rainstorm – in terms of mood-setting, perfect for Wagner, but not Verdi good for Giuseppe. Conductor Lorin Maazel, tenor soloist Michael Schade and the Vienna Philharmonic stuck with it, holding court in what they said later was an exhilarating concert experience. And here it is, though viewers at home can stay dry. Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Aug
2
REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL By David Bianculli
 
 
This is a repeat showing of the latest edition of this fine sports series, but it’s got one report that really caught my attention. Soledad O’Brien’s feature on Chivas USA, a major league soccer franchise beginning to import its home-grown discriminatory hiring practices, is the exact opposite of a puff piece. Unless the puff is smoke – and where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Aug
2
REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER By David Bianculli
 
 
SUMMER FINALE: This is Maher’s last show until he returns in September, and he’s stacking the deck. Jay Z is scheduled to appear, and Barney Frank, and comedian Larry Miller. Oh, and yes, Jay Z has officially dropped his hyphen. This throws my whole sense of celebrity spelling topsy turvy, as well as willy nilly.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Aug
2
PLEASE DON'T EAT THE DAISIES By David Bianculli
 
 
It’s Doris Day – or, more accurately, Doris Day Day – on TCM. Highlights include 1951’s Lullaby of Broadway at 11 a.m. ET, a 1976 appearance on The Tonight Show on Carson on TCM at 7:45 p.m. ET, and this 1960 comedy, which stars David Niven as a drama critic who moves his wife and family to a rollicking life in the country, based on the stories by Jean Kerr. When the TV version was made in 1965, he became a college professor played by Mark Miller, and she became a newspap
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Aug
2
A NEW DAY IS DAWNING FOR 'SNL' AND SEVERAL OF ITS STARS By Ed Bark
 
 
Seth Meyers and Andy Samberg weigh in on the future of Saturday Night Live, as well as their own post-SNL projects...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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