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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
Dec
13
LILYHAMMER By David Bianculli
 
 
2013 was the year of Netflix, when it received an unavoidable amount of attention and acclaim by mounting its own original TV productions of House of Cards, Orange is the New Black and a revival of Arrested Development. (No, I’m not counting Hemlock Grove; neither should anyone else.)  But in 2012, before any of those series, Netflix launched what was its first original TV series: Lilyhammer, which returns today with a full complement of Season 2 episodes (all of which are available b
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Dec
13
WHITE CHRISTMAS By David Bianculli
 
 
Bing Crosby already had made this title song a major radio and holiday hit – but that just meant the Irving Berlin song was ripe for even more commercialization, as he stars here again, with Danny Kaye, Vera-Ellen and George Clooney’s musical hit-making relative, Rosemary Clooney.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Dec
13
FUNNY GIRL By David Bianculli
 
 
This movie musical is now 45 years old. It was released in 1968, earning Barbra Streisand an Oscar for reprising her Broadway role of Fanny Brice. This was one of the musicals my high school performing group staged a year or two later, when it was still “fresh” – showcasing the truly arresting vocal talents of a young Dara Norman. Fun times.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Dec
13
RAISING HOPE By David Bianculli
 
 
In tonight’s holiday episode, Burt is given some special responsibilities at work, and more than the usual amount of authority – which, during the holiday sales season, translates to the predictable abuse of power.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Dec
13
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER TIME By David Bianculli
 
 
The subtitle of this new concert documentary is Celebrating the Music of ‘Inside Llewyn Davis.’ And while more people may be in a mood to celebrate after seeing the new Coen Brothers film, which opens later this month, recording tonight’s special about this tribute concert (taped in New York in September) is a smart move in advance. After all, T Bone Burnett, who oversaw all the music for this new movie, did the same for the unforgettably inspiring O Brother, Where Art Thou? so
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Dec
13
WATCH FOR AN "EVENT" EPIDEMIC AFTER 'SOUND OF MUSIC LIVE' SUCCESS By Ed Bark
 
 
“Event” programming, once epitomized by elongated miniseries such as Shogun and The Winds of War, is getting a second wind on the Big Four broadcast networks....
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Dec
12
THE NEXT (BIG?) THING By Eric Gould
 
 
Joseph Gordon-Levitt has a new show premiering January 18, 2014 on the upstart cable channel Pivot TV. Titled after his web project, the show HITRECORD ON TV is billed as a 30-minute variety show. But forget the Carol Burnett kind...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Dec
12
THE BIG BANG THEORY By David Bianculli
 
 
Sheldon is back home in Texas for the holidays (and that should go well, by the way), so tonight’s new holiday episode has the rest of the gang swapping stories about Sheldon – how they met him, what they think of him, and what their lives would be like had they never met him. It’s not exactly It’s a Wonderful Life, but it’ll do.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Dec
12
CINEMA PARADISO By David Bianculli
 
 
Director Guiseppe Tornatore co-wrote this 1988 movie, which is one of the most lovely love letters to cinema ever put on film. It’s about a filmmaker who looks back on his youth, and how the local cinema – and the people who worked there – inspired him beyond measure.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Dec
12
THE RETURNED By David Bianculli
 
 
Part 7. The difficulty about describing The Returned is that it keeps shape-shifting. Based on the first few episodes, you could think of it as a psychological drama. Then a horror film. Then an environmental polemic. And now, with another discovery and another twist, it becomes almost religiously apocalyptic – or does it? For a full review, see Eric Gould’s Cold Light Reader.
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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