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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 three books: 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).

An associate professor of TV and film at Rowan University in New Jersey, Bianculli is also the founder and editor of the online magazine, TVWorthWatching.com.

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Television
10:54 am
Fri August 9, 2013

A 'Curb'-Like Comedy And The Return Of 'Breaking Bad'

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Credit Ursula Coyote / AMC
Before the midseason break, Breaking Bad's Walter White (Bryan Cranston) had stashed away plenty of drug money, but may have inadvertently tipped off his DEA agent brother-in-law.
Credit John P. Johnson / HBO
Jon Hamm stars alongside Larry David (under a lot of hair and makeup) in HBO's Clear History. It tells the story of a marketing executive (David) who fights with his boss (Hamm) and sells his share of the company — right before it makes it big.
Credit Frank Ockenfels / AMC
AMC's Low Winter Sun is based on an award-winning British miniseries of the same name, and which also starred Mark Strong.
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Originally published on Fri August 16, 2013 12:55 pm

This weekend, the AMC cable network begins showing the final episodes of its acclaimed drama series Breaking Bad, and launches a new one: Low Winter Sun. Meanwhile, HBO presents its newest made-for-TV movie — this one a comedy, starring and co-written by Larry David.

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Television
12:20 pm
Mon July 29, 2013

This Summer, Vintage TV Shows Thrive On DVD

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Credit Courtesy of Shout! Factory
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis is the first in a straight line of teen comedies from the teen point of view. It starred Dwayne Hickman (right) as Dobie and Bob Denver as his best friend, Maynard.
Credit Courtesy of Shout! Factory
Marquis the chimp appears with comedian and show host Jack Benny. Most of the episodes included in The Jack Benny Program: The Lost Episodes DVD set haven't been available in more than 50 years.
Credit Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
China Beach did for Vietnam what M.A.S.H. had done for the Korean War. Left to right: Robert Picardo, Concetta Tomei, Nancy Giles, Jeff Kober, Marg Helgenberger, Brian Wimmer, Dana Delany, Michael Boatman, Ricki Lake and Ned Vaughn.
Credit BBC/ITV Studios / Courtesy of RLJ Entertainment
Darren Boyd (from left), Stephen Mangan and Helen Baxendale star in the BBC's Dirk Gently.
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Originally published on Mon July 29, 2013 1:27 pm

So much TV, so little time. Even during the summer — when broadcast TV slows down and leaves mostly cable and satellite TV series, and now Netflix, to watch and review — the TV shows on DVD keep coming. And summertime is the perfect time to dive into some of them.

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Television
3:29 pm
Tue July 16, 2013

Laughs And Drama Behind Bars With 'Orange Is The New Black'

Credit Jessica Miglio / Netflix
Taylor Schilling and Lin Tucci in the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black.
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Netflix's original series Orange Is the New Black has two important TV predecessors. One is HBO's Oz, the 1997 men-in-prison drama from Tom Fontana that paved the way for HBO's The Sopranos. The other is Showtime's Weeds, which in the fourth season put one of its central characters behind bars.

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Television
12:23 pm
Fri July 12, 2013

Back For More: Sorkin's 'Newsroom' Is A Serious Standout

Credit HBO
Jeff Daniels returns to Aaron Sorkin's HBO series The Newsroom as cable news anchor Will McAvoy.
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Originally published on Fri July 12, 2013 1:44 pm

The one major change series creator Aaron Sorkin made to The Newsroom between seasons was a structural one. Instead of having each week's show focus on a separate major storyline, this year's edition of The Newsroom follows a single story over the course of the entire season. And it's a season-long plot line in which anchor Will McAvoy and the other employees of the fictional Atlantic Cable News network get one important news report very wrong.

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Television
12:29 pm
Mon July 8, 2013

'The Bridge:' Mayhem On The Border, With Big Issues At Stake

Credit Jordin Althaus / FX Networks
In the new FX series The Bridge, Diane Kruger stars as a detective investigating a murder along the U.S.-Mexico border.
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Originally published on Mon July 8, 2013 2:37 pm

The FX version of the Scandinavian series The Bridge, like the Showtime version of the Israeli TV series that inspired Homeland, is a major revamp as well as a crucial relocation. With Homeland, the focus became American politics and home-soil terrorism. In The Bridge, premiering July 10, the setting is changed to the U.S.-Mexico border. This allows executive producer Meredith Stiehm, a writer-producer from Homeland, to deal with everything that relocation provides — including the white-hot issues of immigration reform and border security.

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