DAVID BIANCULLI

Founder / Editor

ERIC GOULD

Associate Editor

LINDA DONOVAN

Assistant Editor

Contributors

ALEX STRACHAN

MIKE HUGHES

KIM AKASS

MONIQUE NAZARETH

ROGER CATLIN

GARY EDGERTON

TOM BRINKMOELLER

GERALD JORDAN

NOEL HOLSTON

 
 
2020
Jan
15
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: This is Season 6 for this Netflix series – a long stretch for that streaming service, with one more season of Grace and Frankie in the wings down the road – and Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin still are going strong. So are the guest stars and supporting players, including stalwarts Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston, and last season’s addition, Peter Gallagher. This season, he’ll be joined by Mary Steenburgen, the woman playing his wife on NBC’s&n
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jan
15
 
 
This new edition of Nova comes midway through Season 46 of this PBS science show’s long history, and it looks at the long, long history of Jupiter itself. How, why and when did it get to be the largest planetary body in our solar system? And what role did it play in forming the planets around it – and, maybe, in killing Earth’s dinosaurs? It’s not exactly a smoking gun, but Nova, in addressing that last question, presents what may be a smoking asteroid
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jan
14
 
 
The three Jeopardy! champions who have won the most prize money in the history of this long-running quiz show are Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter, and James Holzhauer. Last week, they began competing against one another in doubleheader prime-time Jeopardy! mega-contests. Cumulative points from each night of double-decker games results in a winner for that evening – and the first player to claim three wins gets the all-time crown. Last week, three nights of contests were telev
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jan
14
 
 
Tonight’s live event on CNN is the seventh Democratic debate presenting hopeful contenders for that party’s nomination for presidential candidate – and because of the Democratic National Committee’s evolving and increasingly disqualifying rules, the field of debaters has narrowed significantly. The first debate, split into two equal presentations, made room for 20 contenders. And now, on stage, there are six. Tom Steyer’s millions of dollars in TV ads in Iowa have w
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jan
14
 
 
The weekend’s divisional playoffs went pretty much as expected: the higher-ranked teams, given an extra week of rest and to plan, conquered the previous week’s wild-card winners rather easily. The Vikings, after beating the Saints in their wild card match, lost Saturday to the 49ers. The Texans, after beating the Bills, lost Sunday to the Chiefs. And the Seahawks, after beating the Eagles, lost Sunday to the Packers. Two of the three victories were decisive, with only the Seahawks-Pa
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jan
13
 
 
These “final” college bowl games – especially this one – were created and designed to end all the bickering, at the end of each college football season, about which team actually was the overall best, and the reigning champ until the following year’s bowl games. I’m not sure it actually solved much, and neither are many other sports fans. But here we are: the so-called “national championship” game, this year between No. 1-ranked LSU and No. 3-ranke
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jan
13
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: This sequel to The Young Pope, which also starred Jude Law, brings John Malkovich into the fold and to the fore – but like its predecessor, this series is much stronger on spectacle and visuals than scriptwriting and logic. It might be worth seeing, if you’re curious to know how both Marilyn Manson and Sharon Stone are worked into this story line. But only if that’s the case… 
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jan
13
 
 

Ed Bark finally has written his farewell column. He didn't get a chance in 2006 when he and the Dallas Morning News parted ways leading to the launch of Unclebarky.com. TVWW premiered the following year under similar circumstances...

 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jan
13
 
 
The proliferation of television programming has gotten so out of hand in recent years that the man who coined the phrase "peak TV" isn't even making his semi-annual charts tracking its growth anymore...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2020
Jan
13
 
 
Let's credit Andrew Davies for consummate patience. He's the master adapter, an expert on turning British classics – especially ones by Jane Austen – into TV scripts...