David Bianculli

Decades before The Daily Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour proved there was a place on television for no-holds-barred political comedy with a decidedly antiauthoritarian point of view. In this explosive, revealing history of the show, veteran entertainment journalist David Bianculli tells the fascinating story of its three-year network run-and the cultural impact that's still being felt today.Before it was suddenly removed from the CBS lineup...

From a renowned media critic to a man with sudden and full hearing loss, Noel Holston ran the gauntlet of diagnoses, health insurance, and cochlear implant surgery. On a spring night in 2010, Noel Holston, a journalist, songwriter, and storyteller, went to bed with reasonably intact hearing. By dawn, it was gone, thus beginning a long process of hearing-restoration that included misdiagnoses, an obstinate health-insurance bureaucracy, failed cochlear-implant...

"Over the course of his nearly forty-year career, Fred Rogers revolutionized children's television and changed how experts thought about the educational power of media. But perhaps his most lasting legacy was demonstration of the power of kindness in his beloved Mister Roger's Neighborhood. In the interviews featured in this collection - including Roger's fiery (for him) 1969 Senate testimony that saved PBS, and early-career conversation with Terry...

Today more than ever, series finales have become cultural touchstones that feed watercooler fodder and Twitter storms among a committed community of viewers. While the final episodes of The Fugitive and M*A*S*H continue to rank among the highest rated broadcasts, more recent shows draw legions of binge-watching fans. Given the importance of finales to viewers and critics alike, Howard and Bianculli along with the other contributors explore these endings...