David Bianculli
David Bianculli is a guest host and TV critic on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross. A contributor to the show since its inception, he has been a TV critic since 1975.
From 1993 to 2007, Bianculli was a TV critic for the New York Daily News.
Bianculli has written four books: The Platinum Age Of Television: From I Love Lucy to The Walking Dead, How TV Became Terrific (2016); Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone, 2009); Teleliteracy: Taking Television Seriously (1992); and Dictionary of Teleliteracy (1996).
A professor of TV and film at Rowan University, Bianculli is also the founder and editor of the website, TVWorthWatching.com.
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Last year, the Showtime drama about a CIA agent with a bipolar disorder lost its way. But the show's intensity is back in Season 4 when the CIA accidentally bombs a wedding in Pakistan. -
The new drama, which launches Friday on Amazon Prime, stars Jeffrey Tambor as a transgender woman coming out to her three grown kids. Tambor acts the role without any hint of cheap humor. -
The CBS dramas about women juggling family lives and high-intensity jobs showcase excellent acting. But while The Good Wife is one of the best shows on TV, Madam Secretary's writing is disappointing.
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A 14-hour biography of Theodore, Eleanor and Franklin Delano starts Sunday. Actors including Paul Giamatti and Meryl Streep put on Emmy-worthy vocal performances reading from an Emmy-worthy script. -
The new 10-episode reality show on Starz follows Anna Martemucci, a graduate of NYU film school, and Shane Dawson, who's been making YouTube videos for eight years. They compete for $250,000. -
After decades on air, Poirot's 13th and final season begins Aug. 25. David Suchet still stars as detective Hercule Poirot, but you won't find the show on PBS. So where is it? -
The new Cinemax show stars Clive Owen as a rude doctor in a New York City hospital in 1900. It may take a few episodes, but you'll care about the characters and their inventions. -
As technology gets more complex, TV producers aim to take advantage of it, such as relying on phoned-in votes from viewers. The interactive talent show, it turns out, predates TV itself.
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The eight-part drama that begins Thursday stars Maggie Gyllenhaal as a British baroness with an Israeli passport. She's a fearless actor in a show full of kidnappings, seductions and betrayals. -
This week, two new TV series begin in the threats-from-nowhere genre: Extant on CBS and The Strain on FX. The better of the two, The Strain, about a disease outbreak, is effectively creepy.
