DAVID BIANCULLI

Founder / Editor

CHRISTY SLEWINSKI

Managing Editor

ERIC GOULD

Associate Editor

Contributors

MONIQUE NAZARETH

NOEL HOLSTON

GERALD JORDAN

DAVID SICILIA

 
 
 
 
 
2013
Jan
20
 
 
Kevin Bacon has been on TV before, from soap operas as a young actor to telemovies as a mature one – but Fox’s The Following is his first turn as a series lead. And he’s excellent…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jan
18
 
 
Most sitcoms these days don’t make me crack so much as the hint of a smile. But whenever Karl Pilkington takes to the road for a TV travel series, I laugh out loud almost instantly…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jan
11
 
 
HBO and Showtime butt heads, intentionally and aggressively, Sunday night, launching new seasons of their respective comedies directly opposite one another
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jan
4
 
 
Brilliant miniseries from England keep on coming: Downton Abbey returns with new episodes this weekend, on the 25th anniversary of the importation of The Singing Detective…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jan
1
 
 
As one of its last acts of 2012, PBS presented a Live from Lincoln Center tribute to Marvin Hamlisch — a concert that timidly took the coward’s way out, and doesn’t bode well for 2013…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
23
 
 
Everyone has his or her favorite holiday traditions. Lately, among mine has been sitting in the Fresh Air studios to wrap up the year in TV and field questions by Terry Gross…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
19
 
 
According to doomsday theorists, the Mayan Apocalypse is imminent – scheduled to arrive Friday, Dec. 21. Here are five TV shows you should watch now, just in case…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
13
 
 

Friday on Great Performances, PBS presents a fab Fab Four double bill: Magical Mystery Tour, preceded by a making-of documentary. There’s also a new boxed set…

 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
12
 
 

Here’s the rest of my recent conversation with Mel Brooks, whose HBO special, Mel Brooks Strikes Back, is repeated Thursday at 8 p.m. ET — and whose boxed set is out now…

 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
10
 
 

Last year, when Mel Brooks had a TV special on HBO, he spoke with me for an extended exclusive interview. This year he has a new HBO special, and we talked at length again…

 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 

David Bianculli

Founder / Editor

Behind David in the picture is the first TV owned by his father, Virgil Bianculli, a 1946 Raytheon. (The TV, not his father. His father was a 1923 Italian.) David Bianculli has been a TV critic since 1975, including a 14-year stint at the New York Daily News, and sees no reason to stop now. Currently, he's TV critic for NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and is an occasional substitute host for that show. He also teaches TV and film history at New Jersey's Rowan University, and his most recent book, 2009's Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, has recently been purchased for film rights.  He's currently at work on another.

 
 
 

Dispatches From TVWW

 
 
 
Jean Stapleton: 1923-2013
By David Bianculli
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Mad Men: The Twin Within
By Eric Gould
 
 
 
 

This Day in TV History