2021
 
 
 
 
 
 
2020
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2019
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2018
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2017
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2016
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2015
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2014
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2013
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2012
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2011
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2010
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2009
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2008
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2007
 
 
 
 
 
 
2001
 
 
 
 
2000
 
 
 
 
1998
 
 
 
 
1990
 
 
 
 
1989
 
 
 
 
1987
 
 
 
 
1985
 
 
 
 
1982
 
 
 
 
1980
 
 
 

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
 
 
2017
Mar
5
THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS COMEDY HOUR By David Bianculli
 
 
It’s been 50 years since The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour premiered on CBS. Tonight, on getTV, two of the best 1967 episodes are repeated back-to-back. The first is a Season 2 episode guest-starring Bette Davis, who is the scene-stealing subject of tonight’s new Feud: Bette and Joan miniseries on FX. It also guest stars The Who, a group making its American TV debut (pictured is Tom Smothers with lead singer Roger Daltrey), and making it with a bang – an infamously out-of-contr
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Mar
5
FX'S 'FEUD: BETTE AND JOAN' MAKES OLD HOLLYWOOD BIG AND BOISTEROUS By Ed Bark
 
 
Old-line show biz hasn’t been this delectable since HBO went to town on Liberace in 2013’s Behind the Candelabra...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Mar
5
TIME TRAVEL-PALOOZA WITH FOX'S 'MAKING HISTORY' AND ABC'S 'TIME AFTER TIME' By Ed Bark
 
 
They simultaneously hit Sundays shortly after NBC’s Timeless had its season and possibly series finale in late February...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Mar
5
THE CRAWFORD-DAVIS DUEL FUELS FX'S 'FEUD: BETTE AND JOAN' By David Hinckley
 
 

When film icons Bette Davis and Joan Crawford made their only movie together, it generated good copy that they didn’t like each other. The question now is whether that's worth eight hours of our contemporary live...

 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Mar
5
TWO VERY DIFFERENT TIME TRIPS PREMIERE SAME NIGHT By David Hinckley
 
 
Fans of time-travel television have their choice of two very different trips Sunday...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Mar
4
PLANET EARTH II By David Bianculli
 
 
This fabulously photographed sequel to Planet Earth continues – and you’d better enjoy it while it’s here. (Your call, whether I’m referring to the series or the planet.) Tonight’s subject: “Jungles.” Which is vine with me…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Mar
4
FAMILY PLOT By David Bianculli
 
 
This 1976 movie was director Alfred Hitchcock’s final film – and his last presentation of a cinematic trademark: the sexy but icy blonde. In this case, though, the blonde was wearing a wig as part of a disguise: Under her fake tresses (which, like her sky-high heels, were worn to confuse witnesses to her crime), she was a brunette played by Karen Black. She’s pictured here in her femme fatale disguise – and on her trail, on this very funny suspense film, is a ditsy psychi
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Mar
4
THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW By David Bianculli
 
 
Tonight’s guests, on this new edition, include two excellent actors, Tom Hiddleston and Ruth Wilson, as well as the irrepressible Ricky Gervais.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Mar
4
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE By David Bianculli
 
 
After a short break, Saturday Night Live returns, with a lot to make fun of – especially, but not exclusively, politically. Octavia Spencer, who won an Oscar for The Help and was just nominated, but did not win, for Hidden Figures, is the guest host. Musical guest: Father John Misty.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Mar
4
A SHORT YET PROLIFIC AND POWERFUL LIFE STORY IS TOLD ON ‘PATSY CLINE: AMERICAN MASTERS’ By David Hinckley
 
 
More than half a century after her death, Patsy Cline remains a north star to women artists in country music and beyond...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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