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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
 
 
2016
Nov
16
DESIGNATED SURVIVOR By David Bianculli
 
 
You have to wonder where the writers of scripted drama series get their ideas. Who would believe, as this week’s story line would have you believe, that the U.S. government was threatened by a clandestine attack orchestrated by… the Russians?
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
16
SOUNDBREAKING: STORIES FROM THE CUTTING EDGE OF RECORDED MUSIC By David Bianculli
 
 
Part 3 of 5. Tonight’s installment on the evolution of recorded music looks at different types of studio performers, and two of the types chosen couldn’t be more different: Amy Winehouse and Christina Aguilera. For a full review, see David Hinckley’s All Along the Watchtower. Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
16
SOUTH PARK By David Bianculli
 
 
Today on the subway in New York, I saw a poster advertising South Park after all these seasons, proclaiming proudly that the show was “Still here,” and “Stilll going there.” Very true. This season’s extended, continuing story line is taking on the election and its results more openly, and more cleverly, than most serious news shows. And tonight, the President-Elect visits South Park.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
16
AMERICAN HORROR STORY 6 By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON FINALE: This series has unfurled like a reality-show version of Rashomon: Whose story can be believed, if anyone’s? Just because the reality show within this scripted show claims its narrative is true, that doesn’t make it so. But whatever happened, or didn’t happen, in that supposedly haunted house will be sorted out tonight. It better be, because this is the show’s season finale. Kathy Bates, Sarah Paulson star.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
15
TODAY'S MY BIRTHDAY - AND MY BOOKDAY! By David Bianculli
 
 

There’s a lot to celebrate around here. TVWW turned nine years old last week. I turn seven times that old today. And today also happens to be the official birth day of my new book, The Platinum Age of Television…

 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
15
'BLACK AMERICA SINCE MLK: AND STILL I RISE' EXPLORES THE CHANGING AFRICAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE By David Hinckley
 
 
The good news about the civil rights struggle, suggests a new PBS special, is that we’re winning it. The less good news is that it will never be won. The price of human dignity remains eternal vigilance...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
15
'SHOOTER,' THE SERIES, AIMS A LITTLE DEEPER THAN THE MOVIE By David Hinckley
 
 
Shantel VanSanten has never been accused of shooting the president. But she’s still had to do some fighting to get to where she is today...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
15
TNT'S LATEST DRAMA ON THEIR NEW PROGRAMMING LANDSCAPE By David Hinckley
 
 
If they gave Emmys to the actor who most aggressively avoided stereotyping, Michelle Dockery could be writing her acceptance speech right now...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
15
SOUNDBREAKING: STORIES FROM THE CUTTING EDGE OF RECORDED MUSIC By David Bianculli
 
 
Part 2 of 5. Tonight’s installment is devoted to the development of multitrack recording – and it’s here, among other places, that producer George Martin made such an impact with the recordings of the Beatles. Piecing together “Strawberry Fields Together” from not only different takes, but different speeds? That was but one trick among hundreds – and a lot of them will be discussed, and demonstrated, tonight. For a full TV review, see David Hinckley’s Al
 
 
 
  
 
 
2016
Nov
15
THE VOICE By David Bianculli
 
 
Last night, the Top 12 sang for the right to stay in the competition. Tonight, the results are announced – and there are a lot of talented singers this time around, so expect some disappointment after the national vote. Then again, disappointment after the national vote – that happened to many people a week ago Tuesday as well…
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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