DAVID BIANCULLI

Founder / Editor

ERIC GOULD

Associate Editor

LINDA DONOVAN

Assistant Editor

Contributors

ALEX STRACHAN

MIKE HUGHES

KIM AKASS

MONIQUE NAZARETH

ROGER CATLIN

GARY EDGERTON

TOM BRINKMOELLER

GERALD JORDAN

NOEL HOLSTON

 
 
2009
Aug
19
 
 
Already this year, the Fox network has presented "Osbournes Reloaded," a variety series so bad, and so poorly received, Fox shelved it after a single showing. You'd think that would be a lock for worst TV program of 2009 -- but tonight, Fox presents...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Aug
14
 
 
Season three of AMC's "Mad Men" begins -- and once again, it throws you into a 1960s world that's fascinating for both its retro contrasts to today, and for its unsettling similarities. It's one of the very best shows on television, and returns this weekend without missing a step...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Aug
13
 
 
So the Emmy folks have backed down, and agreed not to pre-tape and edit awards presentation in eight of the night's categories. The guilds representing those writers, directors and actors not only raised a stink, but threatened to raise the rates for the rights to show clips from nominated TV shows throughout the telecast. Good for them...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Aug
10
 
 
The corrected proofs are due today for my Smothers Brothers book -- the last phase of production before the book heads to the printer. So I'm taking the day off from the blog, to finish proofreading the final chapters. First you write the book, then you have to read it...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Aug
6
 
 
When USA Network premiered "Monk" in 2002, the program was so unexpectedly delightful, many critics asked what it was doing on basic cable when it was good enough to be on broadcast network TV. Seven years later, as "Monk" begins its final season, no one asks that question any longer...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Aug
4
 
 
Last weekend in Pasadena, critics, producers and stars convened to share the love in what was billed, accurately, as the 25th anniversary of the Television Critics Association Awards. The little-known, little-remembered fact, though, is that two years before the first TCA Awards, there was the one and only TCA Award...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Aug
3
 
 
Bianculli here: The Television Critics Association celebrated the 25th anniversary of its TCA Awards presentation this weekend in Pasadena, and two of our contributing writers were there to file reports. I was there only in spirit, but remain emotionally invested...Today, we hear from Diane Holloway and Bill Brioux on such deserving winners as Bryan Cranston, Jim Parsons, Betty White, Battlestar Galactica, Mad Men and True Blood...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Jul
29
 
 
In the current cover story of Broadcasting & Cable, Marisa Guthrie presides over a roundtable of TV critics, tossing out questions about the coming TV season and other things. Participating critics were Robert Bianco of USA Today, Matt Roush of TV Guide, Ellen Gray of the Philadelphia Daily News, Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune, and, representing TV WORTH WATCHING, yours truly...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Jul
28
 
 
TV executives are people, too -- but unlike most people, especially in this economy, they have the uncanny ability to fail up, and parachute into increasingly lucrative deals once being forced or steered out of their jobs. So I don't feel sorry for Ben Silverman -- But I am happy for the potential future of quality TV at that network, because Silverman, in his NBC post, sure wasn't providing much of it...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
Jul
23
 
 
"Pushing Daisies" premiered on ABC in October 2007. I instantly hailed it as the best new series of the year, viewers embraced it, and all was well. Then, a month later, came the writers' strike, and the series never recovered. Once ABC burned through the programs already filmed, the network held off showing new episodes until the fall of 2008, by which time the series had lost its momentum. But now, on DVD, comes the complete 13-episode second season...