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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
 
 
2013
Apr
5
MICHAEL FEINSTEIN'S AMERICAN SONGBOOK By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: Two new installments of Michael Feinstein’s passionate and intelligent study of popular music are shown tonight, and all I have to do is drop a couple of names, and musical-theater fans will be setting their DVRs to record. In the first hour, Feinstein’s interview subjects, discussing musical theater, include Stephen Sondheim and Angela Lansbury. In the second hour, his guests include Liza Minnelli.  Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
5
REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER By David Bianculli
 
 
Maher’s guests tonight include one whom I expect to be particularly passionate, as well as articulate: The Perfect Storm author Sebastian Unger, who co-directed the Oscar-nominated Restrepo film with war photographer Tim Hetherington. The photographer was killed by mortar fire in Libya two years ago, and Unger has just directed a new documentary, Which Way is the Front Line from Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington, which premieres on HBO April 18.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
5
VICE By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: “Unfamiliar. Unfiltered. Unafraid.” That’s the slogan for this new HBO series, which takes a high-risk, in-your-face, look-at-me approach to news and social affairs coverage. It’s definitely got the energy of youth, as well as the conviction – and whatever your response to its packaging and attitude, the images and information it provides are worth absorbing. For a full review, see Eric Gould’s Cold Light Reader.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
5
BASEBALL: A FILM BY KEN BURNS (INCLUDES THE 10TH INNING) By David Bianculli
 
 
Baseball is in the air, and on the sports pages, again, which is the perfect time to revisit Baseball. Ken Burns and company, after producing such superlative and exhaustive works as The Civil War, did it again with this outstanding 1994 documentary series...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
5
HBO'S 'VICE': IT'S NOT YOUR FATHER'S '60 MINUTES' By Eric Gould
 
 
It's one thing to think and write about terrorism and war, and quite another to walk right up to it and capture it on video...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
4
THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS By David Bianculli
 
 
Just in case you’re determined to watch NBC’s new Hannibal series tonight, which is a new prequel to Silence of the Lambs – you might want to refresh your memories of the original. HBO2 is televising the classic 1991 movie, starring Anthony Hopkins as cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter. Jodie Foster co-stars, in a role that won’t appear in the NBC version.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
4
THE BIG BANG THEORY By David Bianculli
 
 
Tonight’s all-new episode has the scientists tackling a new challenge: going through the university process of applying for tenure. I usually fund it easy to laugh at this series – but trust me, there’s nothing funny about the tenure process. Nothing. Arrgh.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
4
AMERICAN IDOL By David Bianculli
 
 
Yesterday’s performance theme was “Rock Songs (No Ballads),” though one contestant tonight will be singing a sad song – unless the judges exercise their “save” option. Meanwhile, don’t worry about Candice Glover, again.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
4
NEW GIRL By David Bianculli
 
 
Jess and Nick decide to go out on an actual, official date. They’re determined to enjoy it – but their roommates are just as determined to sabotage it.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
4
HANNIBAL By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: There was a Hannibal movie made in 2001, which starred Anthony Hopkins in a cinematic sequel to Silence of the Lambs – but this is a TV show, not a movie, and a prequel, not a sequel. And despite the involvement of series creator Bryan Fuller, who generated the delightful Pushing Daisies and the winsome Wonderfalls and Dead Like Me, this new series is much darker than those shows – and much less satisfying. After The Following and Cult and Dexter, and the current Bat
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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