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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
 
 
2020
Oct
23
THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW By David Bianculli
 
 
Among tonight’s guests: Samuel J. Jackson.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Oct
23
HOW TO... WITH JOHN WILSON By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: Watch this. It’s too complicated to explain in a way that will make it sound as enticing as it is, so just trust me. John Wilson is the camera operator and interviewer for this nonfiction series – which means, as he films, and interacts with, people on the street and in other locations (pre-pandemically, which makes for a wistful watching experience), the only times you see  the host is in the occasional window reflection. But Wilson’s conversations a
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Oct
23
'LETTER TO YOU' IS SPRINGSTEEN'S STORY OF LOVE, LIFE, AND MUSIC By David Hinckley
 
 
Bruce Springsteen had hoped to celebrate his reunion with the E Street Band by launching a world tour. Then Covid-19 showed up, like darkness on the edge of town, and a Zoom tour just wouldn't have been the same...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Oct
22
1939: NBC PRESENTS THE FIRST TELEVISED PRO FOOTBALL GAME By TV WW
 
 
On this day in 1939, NBC presented the first televised professional football game, a match-up between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Brooklyn Dodgers...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Oct
22
THE WITCHES By David Bianculli
 
 
MOVIE PREMIERE: Yet another 2020 movie that was produced, financed and planned for theatrical release, only to go straight to home viewing during this pandemic, this Robert Zemeckis remake of Roald Dahl’s The Witches stars Anne Hathaway in the leading role played in the 1990 film by Anjelica Huston. It also reunites her with her The Devil Wears Prada cohort Stanley Tucci. So where does this film first surface? Not on HBO – but on the premium streaming service HBO
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Oct
22
2020 PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE By David Bianculli
 
 
A week ago, instead of holding the second scheduled presidential debate of 2020, Donald Trump and Joe Biden held separate town halls, dueling in the same time slot on separate networks. And even though Trump was simulcast on several NBC-Universal networks – NBC, MSNBC, CNBC – while Biden was on ABC only, Biden’s telecast ended up drawing more viewers than Trump’s. I wouldn’t have predicted that – in fact, I predicted just the opposite. But that may be the most
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Oct
21
1954: JAMES, UM, JIMMY BOND MAKES HIS FIRST TV APPEARANCE By TV WW
 
 
On this day in 1954, the CBS anthology series Climax! Mystery Theater presented the first screen adaptation of an Ian Fleming James Bond novel...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Oct
21
MY NEXT GUEST NEEDS NO INTRODUCTION WITH DAVID LETTERMAN By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: A new crop of David Letterman one-on-one interviews shows up today on Netflix, and, as always, he’s got an enticing guest list, including Dave Chappelle, Robert Downey Jr., and Kim Kardashian West – whose husband, Kanye, was interviewed by Letterman on a previous season.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Oct
21
2020 WORLD SERIES By David Bianculli
 
 
Mookie Betts and Clayton Kershaw both came through big time for the Los Angeles Dodgers in last night’s Game 1 of the 2020 World Series – Kershaw with his commanding pitching, and Betts with just about everything else, from hitting a home run to his fielding and base-running skills, including his multiple steals and his deft slide into home plate on a close play. The Tampa Bay Rays lost that first contest, 8-3, but tomorrow is another day. And tomorrow, in that Game 2 context, arrive
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Oct
21
THE CONNERS By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: The return of this Roseanne-less sitcom, for the start of Season 3, arrives just before the presidential election, with the Conners typifying the struggling American family trying to get by during this pandemic and political season. Will the characters, and this series, have anything to say about the current situation we’re all facing? They’re the Conners. Why even ask?
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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