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.
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]
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]
The Platinum Age of Television: From I Love Lucy to The Walking Dead, How TV Became Terrific. New York: Anchor Books, 2016. Paperback: ISBN978-1-101-91132-7; eBook: ISBN978-0-385-54028-5.
"Quality TV: A U.S. TV Critic's Perspective" in Reading Quality TV: American Television and Beyond. Janet McCabe and Kim Akass, eds. London: I.B. Tauris & Co., 2007. Hardback: ISBN1845115104 Paperback: ISBN1845115112.
"The CSI Phenomenon" in Reading CSI: Crime Television Under the Microscope. Michael Allen, ed. London: I.B. Tauris & Co., 2007. Paperback: ISBN1845114280.
"The Myth, the Man, the Legend," in Mister Rogers' Neighborhood: Children, Television, and Fred Rogers. Mark Collins and Margaret Mary Kimmel, eds. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1996. Hardback: ISBN0822939215 Paperback: ISBN0822956527.
"The Theory of Evolution, According to Vonnegut (A Review of Galapagos)," in The Critical Response to Kurt Vonnegut. Leonard Mustazza, ed. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1994. ISBN0313286345.
^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)
^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."
