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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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TV That Matters

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Open Mike

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Ed Martin's TV Mix

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TV Feeds My Family

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TV Eye

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Must-Click TV

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Raised On MTM

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Crossing Jordan

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TVWW ARCHIVE

Contributors Archive
 
 
2020
Nov
11
AUNTY DONNA'S BIG OL' HOUSE OF FUN By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: Boy, is this show weird. (Spoiler Alert: The answer is “Yes.”) Aunty Donna is a comedy troupe – a smaller slightly Monty Python-ish group of guys, except Australian instead of British. And while the comedy trio of Aunty Donna is less existential, it’s no less devoted to the unexpected. The opening episode features Jerry Seinfeld as a guest star – except it’s not the real Jerry Seinfeld, just a very bad imitation pretending, without any persuas
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Nov
11
CHARLEY PRIDE TO RECEIVE THE WILLIE NELSON LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD By David Hinckley
 
 
At some point during Wednesday's telecast of the 54th annual Country Music Association Awards, the association will do something it has never done in its previous 53 years...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Nov
10
1969: PBS BROADCASTS THE FIRST EPISODE OF 'SESAME STREET' By David Bianculli
 
 
On this day in 1969, PBS presented its first episode of Sesame Street...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Nov
10
HOW GERMANY LOST ITS DEMOCRACY: 'RISE OF THE NAZIS' ON PBS By David Hinckley
 
 
However you feel about the apparent outcome of last Tuesday's American presidential election, you should be chilled by a new three-part PBS docu-series that illustrates how easily democracy can die...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Nov
10
A RAINY DAY IN NEW YORK By David Bianculli
 
 
MOVIE PREMIERE: Written and directed by Woody Allen, this movie was filmed in 2017, but only now is getting a cinematic, or at least pandemic, release. It’s filmed in New York, of course, home of Allen’s fabulous Manhattan, and its stars include Elle Fanning, Timothée Chalamet, Liev Schreiber, and Selena Gomez.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Nov
10
WOMEN MAKE FILM: A NEW ROAD MOVIE THROUGH CINEMA By David Bianculli
 
 
We’re getting near the end of this mammoth salute to female filmmakers. Tonight is Night 11 of the Women Make Film documentary series, and the chapters of female film focus this week are “Tension ,” “Status,” and “Leave Out.” (I was going to skip that third one, but I didn’t want to leave out “Leave Out.”) Movies accompanying tonight’s documentary installment include Kathryn Bigelow’s ultra-tense 2008 The
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Nov
9
'THE SOUTH WESTERLIES,' A ROM-COM FROM IRELAND, ARRIVES ON ACORN By Mike Hughes
 
 
A familiar story gets fresh twists in The South Westerlies...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Nov
9
LOLITA By David Bianculli
 
 
In Vladimir Nabokov’s controversial novel Lolita, the story of a middle-aged college professor becoming infatuated with a young girl, the girl was identified as 12 years old. For this 1962 movie version, because of MPAA dictates at the time, the age of the character was raised a bit and not really identified. Stanley Kubrick directed the film, and cast Sue Lyon in the title role. Lyon was 14 years old when she was cast, and 15 when the movie was released. James Mason, who was the
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Nov
9
INDUSTRY By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: Time magazine describes this new series as “a Working Girl for a new generation” – but there are some differences. It’s set in the world of high finance and stock traders, but the protagonist isn’t a young white woman played by Melanie Griffith, but a young Black woman played by Myha’la Herrold. And the setting isn’t Wall Street – it’s London. First-time TV creators Mickey Down and Konrad Kay have the back
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Nov
9
'INDUSTRY': THE RUTHLESS BATTLES IN FINANCE By David Hinckley
 
 
A new British drama titled Industry becomes the latest production to suggest that breaking into the world of high finance requires mortgaging your body and soul...
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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