
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.
-
A new PBS American Masters documentary showcases the influence of Little Richard, a dynamo performer who never let himself be defined for long by any one musical category or sexual identity.
-
HBO's Being Mary Tyler Moore draws on interviews and home movies to create a complex portrait of Moore, from her complicated private life, to her groundbreaking career.
-
The 1988 film Dead Ringers was told from a male point of view. Now Rachel Weisz masterfully plays twin gynecologists who are often at cross purposes in this six-episode Prime Video series.
-
An ill-informed TV correspondent travels the world — with hilarious results — in Netflix's new oddball show. Diane Morgan's delivery is deliciously dry, and her improv skills are formidable.
-
The new four-hour Paramount+ documentary is told mostly through cellphone videos and police body cams. It is surprisingly not gruesome — the visuals are selected and edited very judiciously.
-
Burns' new six-hour series brings World War II history to life — and reminds us that our life, right now, is indeed history in the making.
-
The Breaking Bad spin-off has been excellent since it debuted in 2015. As the series wraps up, the final episodes will determine just how great a show Better Call Saul ends up being.
-
HBO's miniseries centers on a group of creatives working on a remake of the 1916 serial The Vampires. Part comedy, part satire of the film industry, Irma Vep is a winning combination.
-
Adam McKay's new HBO series about the Los Angeles Lakers goes out of its way to be out of the ordinary. But its showboating is in keeping with the style of the basketball team it chronicles.
-
Hulu's new series tells the story of Baywatch actress Pamela Anderson and Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee, whose private sex tape was stolen in 1995 and subsequently distributed over the Internet.