NPR People: David Bianculli

The AMC series Breaking Bad and the new Discovery Channel nature series Life premiere on Sunday night — and Showtimes' Nurse Jackie and The United States of Tara are back Monday. TV Critic David Bianculli reviews all four — and tells you which ones are worth watching.

Starting tonight on the FX cable network, Deadwood star Timothy Olyphant is back playing another man with a badge — this time in Justified, a modern-day Western based on stories by Elmore Leonard. TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new series for Fresh Air.

After producing Band of Brothers in 2001, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg return to World War II with The Pacific, a 10-part historical miniseries beginning Sunday night on HBO. TV Critic David Bianculli reviews the series, which examines the Pacific theater of operations.

Last night, ABC presented the two-hour season premiere of Lost, the mystery-shrouded ABC drama that's beginning its final year. The network was so secretive about the show's contents that it made only the first five minutes available for critics to preview. TV critic David Bianculli reviews the premiere and takes a larger look at the Lost phenomenon.

Glenn Close's critically acclaimed legal drama launches its third season tonight, with a plotline about a Bernie Madoff-style Wall Street swindler. David Bianculli says that show — and a handful of other returning series — should warm up any TV-watcher's winter.

For those looking for gifts for the holiday season, TV critic David Bianculli has a few suggestions—recently released DVD sets of old and new TV shows. Match the right shows to the right recipients, he suggests, and the gift becomes hours and hours of passive pleasure.

The seventh season finale of Curb Your Enthusiasm capped a year-long storyline about Larry finally agreeing to a produce a reunion episode of Seinfeld which he co-created with Jerry Seinfeld. TV critic David Bianculli explains how both programs — the show and the show within the show — were a comedic coup and a perfect end to the season.

AMC's newest miniseries is an ill-advised attempt at a reboot of the cult-hit '60s spy series: A man known as Six (Jim Caviezel) finds himself trapped in a strange desert village, dogged by a mysterious watcher (Ian McKellen's elusive Two). Critic David Bianculli says that despite McKellen's captivating performance, the remake has none of the curious genius of the original.

Four decades after its premiere, Sesame Street is the same happy neighborhood it always was. TV critic David Bianculli takes a look at the newest episode — which features special guest Michelle Obama — and assesses the show's enduring legacy.

A new six-hour documentary about Monty Python's Flying Circus commemorates the show's 40th anniversary. Reviewer David Bianculli calls it entertaining and "completely different."

Twenty-two years after its debut on ABC, the iconic TV drama about yuppie family life is back — in DVD form. Critic David Bianculli reviews the first season of thirtysomething, and reflects on what made the show both infuriating and fascinating.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews last night's Emmy awards — and considers the future of broadcast television in light of what the results revealed.

For all the claims to the contrary, The Jay Leno Show is as close to a clone of The Tonight Show as it can get without being sued.

Don Hewitt, who died on Aug. 19 at age 86, didn't invent the TV newsmagazine, but he sure invented the most successful and durable one. David Bianculli offers a remembrance of the man behind 60 Minutes.

When last we saw the ad men and women of AMC's Mad Men, the firm had just been bought by a British company and the Cuban missile crisis was underway. Critic David Bianculli offers a sneak peak at what additional drama the new season might hold.