David Bianculli

David Bianculli appears in the following:

John Mulaney is a strange, brilliantly funny host on 'Everybody's in L.A.'

Thursday, May 16, 2024

Each episode of Mulaney's six-part Netflix special is structured loosely around a specific L.A. topic — earthquakes, palm trees, coyotes — and features a mix of real-life experts and stand-up comics.

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Peter Jackson's restored 'Let it Be' is a TV treat for Beatles fans

Friday, May 10, 2024

Jackson uses his post-production tricks to polish up the 1970 documentary, bringing a new perspective on events in the film and allowing us to focus on the band's creativity instead of their acrimony.

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'A Man in Full' chronicles the final 10 days of a wealthy, charismatic villain

Monday, May 06, 2024

Jeff Daniels plays the title character in this Netflix series based on Tom Wolfe's novel. The tension isn't about whether he survives — we know he doesn't — but what he does in his final days.

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Michael Douglas stars as a flirty Ben Franklin in this Apple TV+ series

Wednesday, April 10, 2024

Franklin is worth watching — not only for what it reveals about how the U.S. won independence from England then – but also about the complexities of war, and international politics now.

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A 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' appreciation, as the series comes to an end

Friday, April 05, 2024

After 25 years and 12 seasons, Curb wraps April 7. We mark the occasion with archival interviews with Larry David, Jeff Garlin, Susie Essman, Robert B. Weide, Timothy Olyphant, Ted Danson and others.

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Steve Martin documentary offers a delightful study of a relatively private man

Friday, March 29, 2024

A new Apple TV+ documentary profiles a man who appears to have found more joy as he's gotten older — and the more you watch this documentary, the more joy you'll find as well.

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This compelling '3 Body Problem' is well worth your attention

Monday, March 25, 2024

Netflix's new series features one of the most complicated narratives our critic has seen on TV. But don't be thrown – things become clearer as the drama progresses and the characters pull you in.

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'Restless Dreams' documentary retraces Paul Simon's past, and captures his present

Friday, March 15, 2024

An unexpectedly thought-provoking two-part documentary looks back at Simon's lengthy career, including his Simon & Garfunkel days, and also chronicles his process of recording his latest album.

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'Manhunt' dramatizes Lincoln's assassination, and the 12-day search for his killer

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

A new, seven-part series on Apple TV+ unfolds like a period-piece Columbo. First John Wilkes Booth plans and commits the murder, then the lead investigator deciphers clues to catch the elusive killer.

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Jon Stewart and John Oliver return, offering voices of outrage and comic relief

Tuesday, March 05, 2024

In February, Oliver returned for a new season of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on HBO, and Stewart came back to host The Daily Show on Mondays. Both prove that they're the best at what they do.

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As 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' enters its final season, a critic looks back on its origins

Tuesday, February 06, 2024

Season 12 opens with Larry stuck with two women he can't eject from his life. As in its previous seasons, HBO's Curb offers a delicate combination of intricate structure and freewheeling improv.

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25 years later, 'The Sopranos' remains a TV masterpiece

Monday, January 22, 2024

Tony Soprano was far from the typical protagonist of a TV drama. He wasn't just flawed; at times, he was utterly amoral. But audiences stayed with him — right up until the series' perfect ending.

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Remembering Tom Smothers, TV pioneer and satirist

Friday, January 05, 2024

Tom Smothers, who died Dec. 26, was one half of the comedy duo The Smothers Brothers. We listen back to an interview with Tom and Dick Smothers from 1985, and an interview with just Tom in 1997.

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Remembering Andre Braugher, star of 'Homicide' and 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine'

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Braugher, who died Dec. 11, trained at Julliard and performed in many Shakespeare productions. He won Emmy Awards for Homicide: Life on the Street and Thief. Originally broadcast in 1995 and 2006.

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In a year of great TV, 'Succession' went out on top, as the best series of 2023

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Critic David Bianculli acknowledges that his year-end list of TV favorites is hardly all-inclusive. Nevertheless, here's what he enjoyed watching, including Beckham, The Bear and Black Mirror.

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Remembering Norman Lear, creator of 'All in the Family' and 'The Jeffersons'

Friday, December 15, 2023

Lear, who died Dec. 5, used humor to address racism and politics. Terry Gross spoke with Lear in 2014; Good Times actor Esther Rolle in 1983; and All in the Family director John Rich in 2006.

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Charming and mysterious, 'The Curse' is a real estate venture worth buying into

Tuesday, November 14, 2023

Emma Stone and show co-creators Benny Safdie and Nathan Fielder star in a satire about a team of would-be TV producers as they try to make a TV series about the "off the grid" homes they're building.

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Rob Reiner celebrates his friend Albert Brooks in a delightful documentary

Tuesday, November 07, 2023

Reiner and Brooks have been friends since high school — and their intimacy shows in Albert Brooks: Defending My Life. The only flaw of this terrific documentary is that it's not twice as long.

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'All the Light We Cannot See' is a heartening and hopeful wartime tale

Thursday, November 02, 2023

Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Netflix's four-part miniseries tells the story of two young people — one French, one German — in the years before and during the Nazi occupation of France.

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After a wobbly start, this new 'Frasier' gets better and funnier as it goes along

Thursday, October 19, 2023

Kelsey Grammer returns in the title role in this Paramount+ series. Despite a less than impressive premiere, Frasier manages to firmly establish its characters, settings and relationships.

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