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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
22
THE FOLLOWING By David Bianculli
 
 
Next week is the season finale for this series, and this week has Ryan (Kevin Bacon) and his team storming killer Joe’s secluded hideout. What’s going to happen next? What happens every week: Joe’s acolytes will surprise authorities by infiltrating deeper than expected. Long, long ago, Ryan should have adopted the motto of Fox Mulder on The X-Files: “Trust no one.” I’m just saying…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
22
BRAIN GAMES By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: “Focus Pocus” and “It’s About Time” are the subjects of tonight’s doubleheader season opener – and if you want your mind blown, or at least tickled, this is the place to exercise and massage that particular organ. Especially with “Focus Pocus,” you have to see it to believe it. And even then…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
22
RECTIFY By David Bianculli
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: Aden Young stars in this new six-part Sundance Channel series as Daniel Holden, a man released from a Georgia prison after 20 years on Death Row. His guilt or innocence is one mystery here; another is how, and whether, Daniel will adjust to life on the outside after spending more than half his life in solitary. For full reviews, see Eric Gould’s Cold Light Reader, and check out my own review on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
21
O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? By David Bianculli
 
 
Can’t help it. If this 2000 Coen Brothers movie is on TV, I’m recommending it — and I’m probably watching it. As “spider-web” movies go, this wildly imaginative Southern absurdist retelling of The Odyssey is about as sticky as they get. George Clooney stars.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
21
ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN REVISITED By David Bianculli
 
 
This new two-hour documentary is overwhelmingly about Watergate itself, not the movie it inspired – though Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman reunite to talk, as do the reporters they portrayed, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. As a Watergate recap, it’s impressively detailed even on the most complicated bits: the Saturday night massacre, the drama of the hearings, and so on. New interviews with Tom Brokaw, Jon Stewart and a surprisingly tearful Ben Stein (a former speechwriter for Ri
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
21
THE GOOD WIFE By David Bianculli
 
 
This episode is loaded with surprises, including the return of Mamie Gummer, Meryl Streep’s daughter, as attorney Nancy Crozier. This is her first appearance this season, since getting the title role in CW’s Emily Owens, M.D. The biggest surprise, though, may be what Alicia (Julianna Margulies) hears when Peter (Chris Noth) asks for a moment alone.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
21
GAME OF THRONES By David Bianculli
 
 
The plot line with Emilia Clarke as Daenerys is anything but dragon, as both she and her flying reptiles begin to flex their muscles and stretch their wings. In tonight’s episode, that’s especially true.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
21
MAD MEN By David Bianculli
 
 
There’s a lot of instability, and insecurity, in tonight’s episode, after what happened last week. And tonight, Jessica Pare, as Megan, embodies that in an evening out with Don (Jon Hamm), while the firm deals with a very secretive client.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
21
CHEERS: THE COMPLETE SERIES By David Bianculli
 
 
The amazing spirit of Boston, in the wake of the capture of the second Marathon bombing suspect, is what made me think of this series at this moment. But at any time, the complete collection of this classic 1982-1993 NBC series is worth owning...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Apr
20
SMASH By David Bianculli
 
 
It took almost two full seasons to get here, but it’s finally arrived: Opening night of Bombshell on Broadway. Now, at last, it’s all about the performance – and the after-party reception. And, of course, the critical reception. (I’ll reserve mine until I watch tonight’s episode. I’m critical of NBC, though, for banishing this series to Saturday nights.)
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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