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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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Ed Martin's TV Mix

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TV Feeds My Family

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TVWW ARCHIVE

Contributors Archive
 
 
2019
Dec
16
LITTLE WOMEN DOUBLE FEATURE By David Bianculli
 
 
On Christmas Day, a new movie version of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women will hit theaters, directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Meryl Streep, Emma Watson, Saoirse Ronan and others. Meanwhile, tonight, TCM presents two cinematic versions of this enduring 1868 novel: At 8 p.m. ET is the beloved 1933 version, directed by George Cukor and starring Katharine Hepburn and Joan Bennett. That’s followed, at 10:15 p.m. ET, by the 1949 version, directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Dec
16
HIS DARK MATERIALS By David Bianculli
 
 
This series may not have swung into high gear yet – but the bears certainly are making themselves known…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Dec
15
SINGING A SONG THAT’S LOUD AND STRONG – 'SESAME STREET' AND 'KENNEDY CENTER HONORS' By Monique Nazareth
 
 
Sesame Street premiered in 1969, at the height of the civil rights movement, and in the midst of the war on poverty...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Dec
15
'KENNEDY CENTER HONORS' CELEBRATES A VARIETY OF LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENTS By Mike Hughes
 
 
One of TV's annual gems returns Sunday – feeling a little different than in its past...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Dec
15
42ND ANNUAL KENNEDY CENTER HONORS By David Bianculli
 
 
I adore these annual Kennedy Center Honors specials – they’re not only among the best TV treats of the season, they’re among the best treats of the year, period. Tonight’s honorees – each of whom is saluted by fellow artists, making for a talent-packed television special – are Sally Field, Michael Tilson Thomas, Linda Ronstadt, Sesame Street, and Earth, Wind & Fire. Well, sure, Earth and Fire deserve it –but I’m still not to
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Dec
15
RAY DONOVAN By David Bianculli
 
 
Tonight’s new episode is called “An Irish Lullaby” – but why do I have the feeling, given what’s happened to all three generations of the Donovan clan, that this hour won’t be lulling anyone to sleep?
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Dec
15
WATCHMEN By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON FINALE: That’s the way HBO is promoting tonight’s episode – calling it a “Season Finale,” rather than a finale, period. That suggests that Damon Lindelof’s treatment of this DC Comics series will continue into a second season. And that’s fabulous news, because Watchmen, in this new iteration, has quickly become one of the best and boldest shows on television. Spoiler Alert – but not about the series: Watchmen, in its fres
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Dec
14
GANDHI By David Bianculli
 
 
Mohandas Gandhi started off as a sort of Indian Rosa Parks – spurred to nonviolent protest after being denied equal treatment on public transportation. In his case, he was ejected from the first class compartment of a South African train merely because he was an Indian. That was in 1893, and led to a successful protest against South African policies that, in turn, inspired Gandhi to push for change in his native India, calling for independence from the British empire. Ben Kingsley stars as
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Dec
14
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE By David Bianculli
 
 
Making her sixth appearance tonight as a guest host: Scarlett Johansson, who, like the other best guest hosts in this show’s long history, is bravely game to try about anything. Even ASMR…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
Dec
13
GONE WITH THE WIND By David Bianculli
 
 
TCM already has shown this 1939 epic on TV a few times this season – and I never shake the memory of the mid-1970s, when NBC presented Gone with the Wind on television for the very first time – as a two-part presentation, nearly 30 years after it was made. And back then, being able to watch the burning of Atlanta, and other scenes from Gone with the Wind, on your home TV set was a big enough deal that, for a while, both parts of the movie telecast topped
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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