Catching up with . . . David Bianculli

Those of you who worked in the BJ newsroom in the 1980s probably remember the ebullient David Bianculli, the TV critic when I was TV editor. I asked Mark Dawidziak, Plain Dealer TV critic who succeeded David as the BJ's TV critic, to catch me up on David's doings. His reply:

David is doing remarkably well, teaching full time at Rowan University, still a regular contributor to NPR's "Fresh Air" program and still living in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. His daughter is in Florida with a law degree and beginning her career there. His son is in Los Angeles, working as a reader for a Hollywood producer and hoping to work his way up the screenwriting food chain. But the big news from David is that he has finally completed his book about the Smothers Brothers. It's due to be published by Simon & Schuster early next year.

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David also has a web site,

www.tvworthwatching.com/

where he continues to write about television.

His first paying TV job ($5 per column) was in 1976, for Florida's Gainesville Sun, while a University of Florida student. Other TV critic stints: Ft. Lauderdale News (1977-80), Beacon Journal (1980-83), Philadelphia Inquirer (1983-87), New York Post (1987-93) and New York Daily News (1993-2007). He has been the TV reviewer for National Public Radio's "Fresh Air" since 1987.

David has written two books on television and its impact: "Teleliteracy: Taking Television Seriously" (1992) and "Dictionary of Teleliteracy: Television's 500 Biggest Hits, Misses, and Events" (1996).

If you Google "David Bianculli," as I did, you get 7,980 results.

To see photos of David in his post-BJ years, including one with the Smothers Brothers, click on the headline.