David Bianculli

Last updated

David Bianculli
Born1953or1954(age 69–70)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Education University of Florida, B.S., M.A.
Occupations
  • Television critic
  • author
  • academic
Years active1975–present
Website tvworthwatching.com

David Bianculli (born 1953 or 1954) [1] is an American TV critic, columnist, radio personality, non-fiction author and university professor. Bianculli has served as the television critic for NPR's radio show Fresh Air since the Philadelphia-based show went national in 1987, [2] [3] and often fills in for the show's host, Terry Gross. [4] He was the founder and editor-in-chief of the website TVWorthWatching.com, and is an associate professor of TV and film history at Rowan University [5] in Glassboro, New Jersey.

Contents

Early life and education

Bianculli showed an early interest in television, even making notes about TV shows in his childhood diary. [1] A graduate of Nova High School [6] in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Bianculli received a B.S. in Journalism from the University of Florida in 1975 and an M.A. in Journalism and Communication from the University of Florida in 1977. In 1995, Bianculli was named an Alumnus of Distinction by UF's College of Journalism and Communications. [7]

Career

While attending the University of Florida in Gainesville, Bianculli convinced an editor at the Gainesville Sun to let him "write a review of a brand-new TV show aimed at college kids, since I was a college kid and Gainesville was a college town." [8] That show was Saturday Night Live . Bianculli continued writing television reviews for the Sun, at $5 per review, while completing his master's degree. [1]

Bianculli worked as a TV critic for the Ft. Lauderdale News/Sun Sentinel from 1977 to 1980, which was followed by stints at the Akron Beacon Journal (1980-1983) and The Philadelphia Inquirer (1983-1987). [9] In 1987, he was named TV critic for the New York Post , then jumped to the rival New York Daily News , where he remained from 1993 to 2007. [10] Bianculli also briefly served as TV critic for the TV trade magazine Broadcasting & Cable . [11]

On November 5, 2007, [12] the day his farewell column [13] ran in the New York Daily News, Bianculli launched his web magazine, TVWorthWatching.com, becoming its editor. The website was updated with news and columns until 2021. [14]

Bianculli is the author of four books, Teleliteracy: Taking Television Seriously ; Dictionary of Teleliteracy: Television's 500 Biggest Hits, Misses, and Events; Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour', a history of the Smothers Brothers television variety show; [15] [16] and The Platinum Age of Television: From I Love Lucy to The Walking Dead, How TV Became Terrific. In 2011, Smokehouse Pictures, the production company owned by George Clooney and Grant Heslov, and Sony Pictures optioned the rights to Dangerously Funny. [17]

Bianculli sits on the Advisory Council for the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children's Media [18] at Saint Vincent College, Latrobe, PA. He is a member of the Broadcast Television Journalists Association [19] and a founding member of the Television Critics Association.

In 2013, the website Complex included Bianculli in its list of "The 25 Best TV Bloggers Right Now". [20]

Bianculli has been a resident of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, since 1987. [21]

Books

Bianculli has also contributed articles or chapters to various publications. They include:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smothers Brothers</span> American singers, musicians and comedians

The Smothers Brothers were a duo of American folk singers, musicians, and comedians consisting of siblings Tom and Dick Smothers. The brothers' trademark double act was performing folk songs, which usually led to arguments between them. Tommy's signature line was "Mom always liked you best!" Tommy acted "slow" and Dick, the straight man, acted "superior".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Smothers</span> American comedian, actor, composer and musician (1937–2023)

Thomas Bolyn Smothers III was an American comedian, actor, composer, and musician, widely known as half of the musical comedy duo the Smothers Brothers, alongside his younger brother Dick. In the 1960s they were known for their network comedy and variety shows, The Smothers Brothers Show and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fred Rogers</span> American television host, author, producer, and Presbyterian minister (1928–2003)

Fred McFeely Rogers, better known as Mister Rogers, was an American television host, author, producer, and Presbyterian minister. He was the creator, showrunner, and host of the preschool television series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, which ran from 1968 to 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Brokaw</span> American broadcast journalist and author (born 1940)

Thomas John Brokaw is an American retired network television journalist and author. He first served as the co-anchor of The Today Show from 1976 to 1981 with Jane Pauley, then as the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News for 22 years (1982–2004). In the previous decade he served as a weekend anchor for the program from 1973 to 1976. He is the only person to have hosted all three major NBC News programs: The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, and, briefly, Meet the Press. He formerly held a special correspondent post for NBC News.

<i>The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour</i> American comedy series

The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour is an American comedy and variety show television series hosted by the Smothers Brothers and initially airing on CBS from 1967 to 1969.

Fresh Air is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States since 1985. It is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The show's hosts are Terry Gross and Tonya Mosley. As of 2017, the show was syndicated to 624 stations and claimed nearly 5 million listeners. The show is fed live weekdays at 12:00 noon ET. In addition, some stations carry Fresh Air Weekend, a re-programming of highlights of the week's interviews. In 2016, Fresh Air was the most-downloaded podcast on iTunes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terry Gross</span> American radio host and producer (born 1951)

Terry Gross is an American journalist who is the host and co-executive producer of Fresh Air, an interview-based radio show produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia and distributed nationally by NPR. Since joining NPR in 1975, Gross has interviewed thousands of guests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WUFT (TV)</span> PBS member station in Gainesville, Florida

WUFT is a PBS member television station in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is owned by the University of Florida alongside low-power weather-formatted independent station WRUF-LD, NPR member WUFT-FM (89.1), and commercial radio stations WRUF and WRUF-FM (103.7). The five stations share studios at Weimer Hall on the university's campus; WUFT's transmitter is located on Northwest 53rd Avenue in Gainesville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ivan T. Sanderson</span> British naturalist, writer and cryptozoologist (1911–1973)

Ivan Terence Sanderson was a British biologist and writer born in Edinburgh, Scotland, who became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Sanderson wrote on nature and travel, and was a frequent guest on television talk shows and variety shows of the 1950s and '60s, displaying and discussing exotic animals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Steinberg</span> American comedian, actor, director, and writer

David Steinberg is a Canadian comedian, actor, writer, director, and author. At the height of his popularity, during the late 1960s and mid 1970s, he was one of the best-known comics in the United States. He appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson more than 130 times and served as guest host 12 times, the youngest person ever to guest-host. Steinberg directed several films and episodes of television situation comedies, including Seinfeld, Friends, Mad About You, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Golden Girls, and Designing Women. Steinberg also hosted the interview program Inside Comedy on the Showtime network.

Andy Dehnart is an American journalist and television critic. He may be best known as reality television's "longest-standing critic" for his online journalism, as he is the creator of the genre's first tracking website, realityblurred.com. He is a member of the Television Critics Association.

WUFT-FM is an NPR member radio station owned by the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, broadcasting news and public media programming from NPR along with other distributors including APM, PRX, WNYC Studios and the BBC. The station also operates a full-time satellite, WJUF in Inverness at 90.1 FM.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roy Wood Jr.</span> American comedian and actor (born 1978)

Roy Norris Wood Jr. is an American stand-up comedian and actor best known for his correspondent appearances on The Daily Show. A resident of Manhattan, Wood was raised in Birmingham, Alabama, and Memphis, Tennessee. After graduating from Ramsay High School in 1996, Wood began his career in stand-up comedy as the opening act for Tommy Davidson. He had a position as head writer on the WBHJ radio series Buckwilde Morning Show from 2001 to 2006. Wood has been featured on NBC's reality television series Last Comic Standing in 2010 and the TBS sitcom Sullivan & Son from 2011 to 2014. He formerly hosted two podcasts for Comedy Central: Roy's Job Fair and Beyond the Scenes.

Raymond Ostby Arsenault is an American historian and academic in Florida, United States of America. He has taught at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg campus since 1980, co-founding the Florida Studies Program. Arsenault is a specialist in the political, social, and environmental history of the American South.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jenji Kohan</span> American television writer, producer, and director

Jenji Leslie Kohan is an American television writer and producer. She is best known as the creator and showrunner of the Showtime comedy-drama series Weeds and the Netflix comedy-drama series Orange Is the New Black. She has received nine Emmy Award nominations, winning one as supervising producer of the comedy series Tracey Takes On....

Mike Sussman is an American television writer and producer. He is best known as a creator and executive producer of the TNT crime drama Perception, as well as a writer and producer of the Star Trek franchise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Tucker</span> American arts and entertainment critic

Kenneth Tucker is an American arts, music and television critic, magazine editor, and nonfiction book author.

<i>America in Primetime</i> 2011 American TV series or program

America in Primetime is a 2011 four-part documentary series, focusing on television in the United States. Originally produced for and broadcast by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), the series is a production by The Documentary Group, in collaboration with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation and WETA-TV. The rights to the series were purchased by the United Kingdom's British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in 2013. The episodes were re-edited and clips of Alan Yentob introducing different segments, shot on location in different areas of America, were added. Exploring both old and new television series, each episode centers on the evolution of certain character archetypes – such as female and male archetypes, misfits, and heroes – in primetime TV. The series features interviews with a wide variety of influential people in television, including actors, creators, writers and executive producers, talking about their own shows and others. The documentary features a lot of footage from the programs discussed.

<i>Moyers & Company</i> US commentary and interview public television series (2012–2015)

Moyers & Company was a commentary and interview television show hosted by Bill Moyers, and broadcast via syndication on public television stations in the United States. The weekly show covered current affairs affecting everyday Americans, and featured extended conversations with guests on issues of the day. It premiered on January 13, 2012, and concluded on January 2, 2015.

Stan Burns was an American screenwriter. He was the partner of Mike Marmer. Burns wrote for television programs including The Steve Allen Show, The Tonight Show, Get Smart, The Carol Burnett Show, F Troop, Gilligan's Island and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Wilk, Tom, "The Watchman: Critic David Bianculli Has Made a Career Out of Taking Television Seriously", New Jersey Monthly, (July 12, 2010)
  2. ↑ NPR, "'Fresh Air' At 25: A Live Musical Tribute", NPR, (December 28, 2012)
  3. ↑ Gross, Dan, "Terry Gross talks about Fresh Air celebrating 25 years on NPR", The Philadelphia Inquirer /Philly.com, (May 10, 2012)
  4. ↑ NPR's Fresh Air website
  5. ↑ Rowan University, College of Communications & Creative Arts: Radio, TV & Film
  6. ↑ Recchi, Ray, "The Hall-Hill Kids to Strut Their Stuff", Sun Sentinel , (June 18, 1988)
  7. ↑ Alumni of Distinction at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications
  8. ↑ Bianculli, David, "Saturday Night Live", TVWorthWatching.com, (November 5, 2007)
  9. ↑ Heldenfels, R.D., "David Bianculli Background", The HeldenFiles Online, Akron Beacon Journal /Ohio.com, (November 2, 2006)
  10. ↑ "14 Year Daily News Film (sic) Critic Gets Axed", FishbowlNY, Mediabistro.com (August 22, 2007)
  11. ↑ Broadcasting & Cable
  12. ↑ Bianculli, David, "Out to Launch", TVWorthWatching.com, (November 5, 2007)
  13. ↑ "Daily News TV Critic David Bianculli Says 'So Long and Thanks'", New York Daily News, (November 5, 2007)
  14. ↑ Bianculli, David (March 31, 2021). "To Quote Sam Malone, "Sorry. We're Closed"". TV Worth Watching. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
  15. ↑ Windolf, Jim, "Tom, Dick and Carlin"; and The Platinum Age of Television: From I Love Lucy to The Walking Dead, How TV Became Terrific. The New York Times Sunday Book Review, (January 29, 2010)
  16. ↑ Simon and Schuster
  17. ↑ Fleming Jr., Mike "George Clooney and Sony Pictures Plan Feature on TV's the Smothers Brothers", Deadline, (November 9, 2011)
  18. ↑ Advisory Council at Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children's Media
  19. ↑ Broadcast Television Journalists Association
  20. ↑ Gallagher, Brenden, "The 25 Best TV Bloggers Right Now", Complex, (April 4, 2013)
  21. ↑ Shelly, Kevin C. "TV critic David Bianculli still a breath of Fresh Air", USA Today , March 5, 2014. Accessed November 28, 2017. "Terry Gross laughs as soon as television critic David Bianculli's Cherry Hill home is mentioned. So does Danny Miller, longtime producer of Fresh Air, the National Public Radio show hosted by Gross, where Bianculli contributes and routinely guest-hosts."
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.