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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

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Uncle Barky's Bytes

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TV That Matters

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Open Mike

ED MARTIN

Ed Martin's TV Mix

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Aerial View

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MNtv

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TV Feeds My Family

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TV Eye

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Must-Click TV

TOM BRINKMOELLER

Raised On MTM

GERALD JORDAN

Crossing Jordan

NOEL HOLSTON

The Grassy Noel

TVWW ARCHIVE

Contributors Archive
 
 
2019
May
23
THE NAME OF THE ROSE By David Bianculli
 
 
MINISERIES PREMIERE: This Sundance miniseries isn’t evil, but it’s positively medieval. Based on the bestselling Umberto Eco novel, it’s a new, longer treatment of the same story that starred Sean Connery as a Franciscan friar in a 1986 film version. John Turturro plays the role once portrayed by Connery, and this miniseries version presents two episodes per week every Thursday for three weeks, beginning tonight. For a full review, see David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
May
23
JOHN TURTURRO SHINES IN 'THE NAME OF THE ROSE,' A DARK TALE OF RELIGION IN MEDIEVAL TIMES By David Hinckley
 
 

Almost four decades after the publication of Umberto Eco’s revered and dark novel The Name of the Rose, someone finally took a deep breath and adapted it for a television miniseries. It’s bold and ambitious, and it mostly works, thanks in no small measure to the brilliant move of casting John Turturro...

 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
May
22
LIVE IN FRONT OF A STUDIO AUDIENCE: NORMAN LEAR’S “ALL IN THE FAMILY” AND “THE JEFFERSONS” By David Bianculli
 
 
SPECIAL PREMIERE: For a TV history professor, this is the mother lode: An ABC experiment in which episodes of two of Norman Lear’s groundbreaking 1970s comedies, All in the Family and its spinoff The Jeffersons, are performed and broadcast live. I like the casting – Woody Harrelson as Archie Bunker and Jamie Foxx as George Jefferson – because both have solid experience in sitcoms. And you couldn’t find a better sitcom director than James Burrows, period. Norman Lear and J
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
May
22
ALL ABOUT “ALL IN THE FAMILY” AND “THE JEFFERSONS" By David Bianculli
 
 
SPECIAL PREMIERE: After ABC’s 90-minute live special, in which scripts from vintage 1970s sitcoms are performed again with a new cast for a new generation, this special provides context and history regarding former hit CBS sitcoms All in the Family and The Jeffersons. You can get similar information and enlightenment in my TV History & Appreciation of the ‘60s and ‘70s classes at Rowan University – but ABC doesn’t require you to pay tuition. Not yet, anyway.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
May
22
WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS By David Bianculli
 
 
Tonight’s episode is about the staging of the Biannual Vampire Orgy. I’m just guessing here, but I’m expecting something a lot less sexy than True Blood.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
May
22
BROCKMIRE By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON FINALE: This Season 3 finale finds Brockmire (Hank Azaria) back at the big leagues at last – but that doesn’t mean it’s for long, or that it goes well. Again, I’m just guessing… but given Brockmire’s personal foibles and track record, it’s an educated guess.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
May
21
A HARROWING HOUR OF TELEVISION: 'FRONTLINE’ EXPOSES HOW THE SCALES OF JUSTICE TIPPED TO THE RIGHT ON THE U.S. SUPREME COURT By Alex Strachan
 
 
Supreme Revenge, veteran PBS Frontline correspondent Michael Kirk’s detailed exposé of the behind-the-scenes politics that have driven recent US Supreme Court appointments, is jam-packed with facts and figures, but one number stands out...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
May
21
'BLOOD & TREASURE' IS NOT THE SUMMER GEM CBS IS HOPING FOR By David Hinckley
 
 
If you’re in the mood for a whirlwind travelogue of exotic upscale destinations, mostly in Europe and the Middle East, CBS’s Blood & Treasure is your new summer show. You should be aware, though, that the travelogue is sporadically interrupted by a plot...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
May
21
THE VOICE By David Bianculli
 
 
SEASON FINALE: In yesterday’s part one of this cycle’s two-part finale, Maelyn Jarmon (pictured) – the only remaining female finalist, and the only one not to be coached by Blake Shelton (her coach is John Legend) -- performed a beautiful version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” How beautiful? Afterward, it hit #1 on the iTunes Top 100 List – and probably will be enough to give Jarmon the victory at the end of tonight. But before we find out who wins, to
 
 
 
  
 
 
2019
May
21
1969 By David Bianculli
 
 
Tonight’s installment is called “Generation Woodstock” – and while the plans for a golden anniversary festival concert event have gotten increasingly problematic for this summer, few things went as planned in the summer of 1969 either. But thanks to farmer Max Yasgur’s last-minute offering to use his land for the three-day music event, Woodstock ended up being a real lollapalooza.
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
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