Mark Bianculli, son of former BJ TV critic David Bianculli, is
co-producer/writer of “Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt
for the Bone Collector,” a crime series that NBC will premiere as a 2020
midseason replacement.
Russell Hornsby
plays Lincoln Rhyme, a retired paraplegic forensic criminologist who continues
his work remotely to help NYPD detectives, played by Arielle Kebbel and Michael
Imperioli, solve cases.
The TV series is
based on “The Bone Collector” novel by Jeffery Deaver.
Mark has been
making his mark (sorry about the pun) as a writer and, now, a writer-producer.
As for his father,
David Bianculli, he tormented me repeatedly when I was his Television Editor at
Ol’ Blue Walls, entertaining the newsroom with his antics that included dancing on his desk as deadline
approached. Brilliant writer. Not so special at meeting deadlines.
David is the founder and editor-in-chief of the website TVWorthWatching.com, and
an associate professor of TV and film history at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey.
David skipped into the BJ newsroom from the
Fort Lauderdale News-Sentinel, where David spend his official childhood, then
danced into the Philadelphia Inquirer and New York Post before bouncing off to
the New York Daily News and then sauntering away into the academic world. The
University of Florida graduate also has been contributing to National Public
Radio’s “Fresh Air” for a zillion years.
I have had extraordinary luck during my 42-year
newspaper career. Hall of Famers crossed my path regularly.
As Television Editor, I began with Bianculli
as we gave birth to Channels, the now-defunct weekly television guide that
ushered the BJ into the computer technology age and the expansion of cable and
TV that rivaled the Big Bang of the universe.
When David headed for bigger
things in Philly and New York, Mark Dawidziak, the man from Tennessee by way of
New York City, became my next TV critic.
Mark since has written more books than
I can count, about Mark Twain, Edgar Allen Poe, Columbo, etc. and, I think,
rivals Hal Holbrook in doing Twain for his Mostly Literary Theatre Company. And still is a pop culture critic, at the
PD.
Next came Rich Heldenfels, who in the beginning refused to change his byline to that name from his R.D.
Heldenfels when he came to 44 E. Exchange Street.
Rich – I’m allowed to call
him that now – retired from the BJ but still collects checks for answering TV
trivia questions that are distributed by Tribune News Service.
When I was second in command at the Dayton
Daily News I worked under legendary Sports Editor Si Burick, who was named
sports columnist of the year in Ohio so often that they should have just named
the trophy after him.
Much like my 20-year Blue Room munch partner, Bob Dyer, has done with the Ohio Columnist of the Year award.
At the St. Petersburg Times I got ushered into
the office of owner/publisher/everything Nelson Poynter, along with all the
other recent hires. He was a big deal in newspapers, too.
But Poynter, in my mind, stands in a far more
giant shadow in John S. Knight, probably the best newspaper owner in American
history.
And I was hired by Ben Maidenburg, another giant, even though Ben knew
I had been fired in Dayton, after 13 years, for my union activities. Ben’s
advice: “Pick a side, and stick with it.”
But I disgress.
This is about David Bianculli’s
son, Mark Bianculli, who may well make his father look like a piker when it
comes to careers. And that’s what every father wants, including me, for his
children to far excel what their parents have achieved.
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