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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

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Uncle Barky's Bytes

ALEX STRACHAN

TV That Matters

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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
Jul
31
FUTURAMA By David Bianculli
 
 
In tonight’s new episode, Fry and Leela deliver a crate to a faraway planet, and find themselves in the middle of a gang war. It’s not quite West Side Story, but it’ll do, so long as you don’t have crate expectations.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jul
31
THE BRIDGE By David Bianculli
 
 
That star-shaped figure in the bottom left of the picture? That’s Maria, a random victim who’s been staked out in the desert by this show’s aggressively showy killer, with her image beamed out live to the Internet as she’s weakened by dehydration, exposure and other life-threatening conditions. (Next to her is a tripod, with the camera recording her awful ordeal.) Can our heroes, joining forces from either side of the U.S.-Mexico border, find her in time? And after that,
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jul
31
IMITATION OF LIFE By David Bianculli
 
 
Douglas Sirk directed this 1959 tearjerker about widows, daughters and race, starring Lana Turner, Sandra Dee, Juanita Moore and Susan Kohner. It’s a film about two dysfunctional single-parent families – with one mother paying little attention to her daughter, and the other mother’s daughter denying her own heritage.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jul
30
WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? By David Bianculli
 
 
One of the reasons the CW reboot of this series is so welcome, and so entertaining, these days: How many other programs on TV, especially on broadcast television, can be considered appropriate, enjoyable family viewing? This improv series is, quite simply, a ridiculous amount of fun. Tonight, the guest star is Kyle Richards, who joins in on the frivolities.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jul
30
FRONTLINE: "LIFE AND DEATH IN ASSISTED LIVING" By David Bianculli
 
 
One interview subject in this new documentary says simply, “Assisted living is the rock we don’t want to look under.” Tonight’s Frontline looks under that rock, examining conditions at this largely unregulated alternative to nursing homes – and asking questions about both costs and care. Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jul
30
DRUNK HISTORY By David Bianculli
 
 
Winona Rider, who starred in the 1996 movie version of The Crucible, again dons puritan garb, but this time for laughs. She’s one of the guest stars (Michael Cera is another) featured in skits enacting the inebriated storytelling on tonight’s Drunk History, focused on Boston.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jul
30
CASABLANCA By David Bianculli
 
 
Made in 1942, during WWII, this drama has grown in stature to be considered not just one of the best wartime movies ever made, but one of the best movies, period. And it is. Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Heinreid star as one of cinema’s most famous romantic triangles – and Claude Rains (pictured) as the kind of guy anyone would like to call a friend.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jul
30
WEB THERAPY By David Bianculli
 
 
“Who Doesn’t Love Musicals?” is the title of tonight’s episode – which means, I’m pleased to report, we’ll get more of Megan Mullally as Franny, who’s writing a Broadway musical about Fiona (Lisa Kudrow) and has agreed to accept some of Fiona’s input. With Whose Line Is It Anyway also on TV, this show makes Tuesdays an especially good night for fans of improvisational comedy.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jul
30
SHOWTIME'S BEST DRAMA SET FOR SEASON 3 By Ed Bark
 
 
Homeland's executive producers have no problem at all with fans of Homeland being informed ahead of time that — oops. Stop reading if you don't want to know more...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jul
29
THE SIMPSONS MOVIE By David Bianculli
 
 
This 2007 full-length Simpsons cartoon film is a joy to watch no matter what you’re paying special attention to. This time, though, I’d like you to note that part of this plot has to do with the residents of Springfield being trapped under an impenetrable dome – years before Stephen King got around to the same idea with Under the Dome.
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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