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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
 
 
2017
Jun
2
LONG STRANGE TRIP By David Bianculli
 
 
DOCUMENTARY SERIES PREMIERE: This new six-part documentary series on the Grateful Dead is directed by Amir Bar-Lev, with Martin Scorsese credited as an executive producer. Don’t expect Scorsese to be as hands-on creatively as he was with, say, his excellent George Harrison documentary – but for Deadheads, and even casual music fans of the Sixties and beyond, Long Strange Trip should prove a very instructive, if by necessity meandering, road map of the musical and social countercultur
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Jun
2
FLAKED By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: Will Arnett returns with Season 2 of his often downbeat series, about a former alcoholic named Chip who, as he struggles to get his life together, may be losing his grip on the “former” part. This season, things start out even more bleak for poor Chip, which wouldn’t have seemed possible at the end of last year. But here we go…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Jun
2
LUCID DREAM By David Bianculli
 
 
MOVIE PREMIERE: This Netflix original is a new film thriller from South Korea, about a man whose young son has been missing for three years. The father embarks on an experimental type of “lucid dream” therapy to try and locate and rescue his son by dreaming – and experiencing those dreams very viscerally. The movie is subtitled – and international films are one of Netflix’s more interesting acquisition streams these days.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Jun
2
REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER By David Bianculli
 
 
I’ll say the same thing to Bill Maher tonight that I said to Samantha Bee a few days ago, regarding her Full Frontal weekly current-events recap comedy series: “Go ahead, please. Explain the most recent holiday week to us. I beg you. And dare you.”
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Jun
2
JANIS IAN SINGS FOR YOU -- AND TALKS TO ME By David Bianculli
 
 

Thursday, I had an hour-long conversation with singer, songwriter, and author Janis Ian – and it was recorded for TV, connected with this weekend’s Rutgers University Writers’ Conference in New Brunswick. It was fun, and you can see it here…

 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Jun
2
CAPTIONS COURAGEOUS AND OUTRAGEOUS By Noel Holston
 
 
The closed captioning of television programs is of course a great boon to the deaf and hearing impaired, a true godsend, right? Well, not quite. Take it from a deaf viewer...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Jun
1
POST-RAYNA LIFE AS ‘NASHVILLE’ RETURNS By David Hinckley
 
 
Every character on the CMT series Nashville desperately misses Connie Britton’s Rayna Jaymes. As viewers, we feel the same...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Jun
1
PELLEY SLIDES OVER TO A FULL-TIME POSITION WITH 60 MINUTES -- BUT NOT SMOOTHLY By Ed Bark
 
 
After a six-year run as anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News, Scott Pelley is walking the plank -- to a full-time position at 60 Minutes...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Jun
1
JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE! By David Bianculli
 
 
Setting the stage for tonight’s NBA Championships kickoff game, Jimmy Kimmel takes his late-night ABC talk show to prime time, for a 30-minute, basketball-themed setup show. Consider it a tipoff for a tipoff – and, for Kimmel, a network reward for many years of hard work, well done. And regarding this particular Best Bet – consider it, if you like, a tipoff for a tipoff for a tipoff.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Jun
1
THE PRINCESS BRIDE By David Bianculli
 
 
The Princess Bride is William Goldman’s movie adaptation of his own delightful fantasy novel, directed for the screen with comic perfection by Rob Reiner. This movie, believe it or not – and I barely believe it myself – is now 30 years old. But like The Wizard of Oz, with which I compare it as the classic family film of its generation, The Princess Bride seems to only get even better with time, and with repeated viewings. This is a movie that ought to be given the annual holida
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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