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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
 
 
2011
Mar
10
I SAID IT FIRST, AND NOW NEIL PATRICK HARRIS AGREES: HE SHOULD HOST A TV VARIETY SHOW By David Bianculli
 
 
Two years ago, after Neil Patrick Harris delivered standout turns as host of The TV Land Awards and, for CBS, the much bigger stage of the 2009 Tony Awards, I wrote the following sentence of praise: "If Justin Timberlake doesn't want to be the guy to single-handedly save the TV variety show, maybe Neil Patrick Harris does." And now, it turns out, there's no "maybe" about it. He wants the job -- and CBS should be the network to give it to him...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Mar
7
SOME PLEDGE SHOWS ARE WELL WORTH WATCHING -- IF YOU CAN FIND THEM By David Bianculli
 
 
Want to see a new televised concert version of Billy Joel's 2008 farewell to Shea Stadium? You should, because it's a true TV treat. Finding it, though, is more of a trick. Like other good but hard-to-pin-down public TV offerings this month, it's a pledge special -- the TV-scheduling version of Whack-a-Mole...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Mar
4
WHY I LIKE NBC'S NEW 'AMERICA'S NEXT GREAT RESTAURANT' SERIES -- BUT FIRST, WHY I LIKE OUR TVWW CORRESPONDENTS By David Bianculli
 
 
I'm about to provide a review of NBC's America's Next Great Restaurant, which premieres Sunday (8 p.m. ET). And as a veteran TV critic, an amateur chef, and a fan of Bravo's Top Chef (whose producers created this new reality-competition series), I feel eminently qualified to do so...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Mar
3
PEOPLE, LET ME TELL YOU 'BOUT MY BEST EXTRAS... By David Bianculli
 
 
Sometimes, TV can really take you by surprise and serve up a delightful, unexpected treat. Tuesday night, Fox did just that, in its latest episode of Raising Hope, by giving an extended, unexpected, very funny nod to a 42-year-old TV theme song by Harry Nilsson...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Mar
2
SINGING THE PRAISES OF 'TROUBADOURS' ON PBS 'AMERICAN MASTERS' By David Bianculli
 
 
troubadours-my-top.jpgWe've just been sucked into one of those infernal March public broadcasting pledge-break whirlpools, so Wednesday's PBS showing of Troubadours: The Rise of the Singer-Songwriter (8 pm. ET; check local listings) may be on at a different time, even if a different night, where you live. But please find it, because this latest American Masters special is a pleasure to hear AND see...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Mar
1
CHARLIE SHEEN, 'IN HIS OWN WORDS' - AND, ON ABC, WITH HIS OWN ROPE By David Bianculli
 
 
Hollywood's latest loose-cannon, volatile celebrity is the subject of tonight's hastily and eagerly scheduled ABC 20/20 special (10 pm. ET), titled Charlie Sheen: In His Own Words. ABC may as well have called it Charlie Sheen: With His Own Rope, because, based on excerpts aired already on Good Morning America, the star of Two and a Half Men hangs himself with almost every new, rambling, often frightening utterance...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Feb
28
OSCARS 2011: FINAL AWARD IS ANTI-'SOCIAL,' BUT THERE'S A LOT TO LIKE AS 'KING' GETS CROWNED By David Bianculli
 
 
Even if you were hoping for the timeliness of The Social Network to upset the staidness of The King's Speech at Sunday's 83d Annual Academy Awards, the ABC telecast provided drama until the end -- and lots of nice moments, and story angles, and even some welcome changes to carry over for next year...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Feb
25
FOR A VALUABLE SECOND OPINION, LOOK TO ENGLAND -- AND TO BBC NEWS AND RICKY GERVAIS By David Bianculli
 
 
With the Oscars arriving Sunday night, and several parts of the world in upheaval from revolutions or earthquakes, there's no better time to look for a different perspective than now, and no better place than England -- with BBC News for the latter, and Ricky Gervais for the former...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Feb
24
'AMERICAN IDOL' HAS FOUND ITS HEART, AND ITS SALVATION, IN JENNIFER LOPEZ By David Bianculli
 
 
Beatles night on Fox's American Idol didn't please please me -- the judges were much more impressed than I. But at the end, as the trio of judges began whittling the ranks down to the final 24 (a process that continues Thursday night at 8 ET), Jennifer Lopez became the new heart of Idol by being a very stern judge -- of herself...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2011
Feb
21
NEWS, COMEDY, DRAMA -- BROADCAST TV'S SHINING EXAMPLES OF EACH By David Bianculli
 
 
Except for sports, most broadcast TV genres just aren't as dominant, or even as good, as they used to be. But though cable has grabbed most of the ground and momentum, there are still islands of excellence where broadcast television proves, week in and week out, it still can present the best. Ladies and gentlemen, as Exhibits A through C, I give you: 60 Minutes for news, Modern Family for comedy, and The Good Wife for Drama...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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