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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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Open Mike

ED MARTIN

Ed Martin's TV Mix

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Aerial View

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MNtv

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TV Feeds My Family

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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
Apr
8
NCAA 2013 MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP By David Bianculli
 
 
Michigan beat Syracuse to make it to this year’s championship game, and Louisville – the team with, by now, one of the most compelling sports stories in recent years – staged a furious comeback to steal victory from impressive underdogs Wichita State. For Louisville, it’s the first title game since 1986. For Michigan, it’s the first since 1993. For everybody watching, it should be an emotional, exciting game. March Madness? For this title game, it’s more like
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
8
TOP OF THE LAKE By David Bianculli
 
 
It’s Episode 5 of this miniseries – and Sundance provided only the first four episodes for preview, so I’m as much in the dark about what happens next as you are. But with Elisabeth Moss at this mystery drama’s center, I’m happy to wander around in the dark and be led wherever Top of the Lake wants to take me.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
8
INSIDE COMEDY By David Bianculli
 
 
David Steinberg’s guests tonight, on this breezily entertaining talk show about comedy, are Bill Maher and Robert Klein. I haven’t seen this one in advance, but I know for a fact – from interviewing Maher for my Smothers Brothers book – that those guys were instrumental in inspiring young Maher to want to try comedy. Let’s see if Steinberg, who has a strong link to the Smothers Brothers, goes down that particular conversational avenue.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
8
ANNETTE FUNICELLO: 1942-2013 By Ed Bark
 
 
Annette’s fellow Mouseketeers also had their moments. But her attributes, both talent-wise and otherwise, took her to another level that never really leveled off...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
8
KATIE CHATS WITH THE WOMEN OF 'THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW' By Eric Gould
 
 
Katie Couric's talks with The Mary Tyler Moore Show actresses Mary Tyler Moore, Valerie Harper, Betty White, Cloris Leachman and Georgia Engel...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
7
CALL THE MIDWIFE By David Bianculli
 
 
As Season 2 continues, this series import continues to show why it deserves as large and rabid a following as that of Downton Abbey. It’s such a bubbly concoction of humor and drama, of high and lows, that each week it serves up a TV cocktail – with a kick. Watch tonight, and you’ll see what I mean. Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
7
MASTERPIECE CLASSIC: "MR. SELFRIDGE" By David Bianculli
 
 
Last week’s premiere episode established the characters and premise. Tonight, the department-store vision of Jeremy Piven’s Mr. Selfridge, an American rake and entrepreneur in London, begins to take shape more fully. And as his vision comes to the fore, so do the issues with his many women – who are the true reason to watch, and enjoy, this new drama about 1900s London. Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
7
MAD MEN By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: Season 6 begins tonight with a two-hour premiere, and there’s a lot to say about it. AMC and series creator Matthew Weiner, though, have asked for reviewers to be especially circumspect, so let’s just say it’s nice that Mad Men is back, and, by the time the two-hour premiere is over, you’ll be happy to have begun spending time with these characters again. What characters, and what time, I won’t say. For more details, vague and otherwise, see Eric Go
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
7
GAME OF THRONES By David Bianculli
 
 
The story line involving Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), and her quest to claim the throne, is my favorite from the early episodes of Season 3. But tonight, I have a soft spot for the first appearance by Diana Rigg as Lady Olenna Redwyne (pictured). For my money, Diana Rigg should be the woman on the Iron Throne. She rules.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
7
HOUSE OF LIES By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON FINALE: This has been a tough season for Marty (Don Cheadle) and his cohorts, and tonight’s season finale may be the toughest plot of them all. There’s a concern, or at least a rumor, that Jeannie (Kristen Bell) is about to betray Marty and his team, just when things at work are at their most volatile.
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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