David Bianculli, the TV critic for National Public Radio’s Fresh Air since 1987, is the founder and editor of a website called, TV Worth Watching. The title is called for because, as David Byrne said, “People like to put the television down,” but television is no more monolithic than movies, magazines or books.
There is good TV and bad TV. And having more control now than ever over the things we watch means that our choices tell more than ever about us. There have been some amazing things—new and not so new—on TV in the last several years, if you were watching:
- All Creatures Great and Small – 2021- (PBS)
- The Crown – 2016- (Netflix)
- Sherlock – 2015 (BBC/PBS/Netflix)
- How We Got to Now – 2014 (PBS)
- Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey – 2014 (Fox/National Geographic/Netflix)
- Father Brown – 2013- (BBC/PBS/Netflix)
- Call the Midwife – 2012- (BBC/PBS/Netflix)
The majority of these programs are British; they are short on guns, profanity and sex; and they are long on strong characters, stunning photography and provocative ideas. Coincidence or is that why they’re “good”?
The Truth is in the Middle 