The history of television

Television historian David Bianculli researches in real time, chronicling the best (and worst) that TV has to offer, as he has since 1975.

A longtime journalist, Bianculli has been the TV critic for “Fresh Air with Terry Gross” on NPR since the program debuted nationally in 1987.

A full professor of Television Studies in Rowan University’s Department of Radio, Television & Film, Bianculli is writing his fifth book about television. He’s brought to Rowan, on at least three occasions, Ken Burns, perhaps the greatest living documentarian, and while teaching a special projects course in 2019 about Burns’ work, the auteur himself Skyped in to speak with students.

A collector of all things television, Bianculli in 2014 curated a show, Bianculli’s Personal Theory of TV Evolution, in New York City.

Often tapped by documentarians to speak about television, he’s been a key feature of CNN’s long running series that chronicled the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s.

“I began reviewing in 1975 and I haven’t stopped,” he said. “Nobody else has been watching TV professionally as long as I have.”

He’s also developed a graduate program in television, the Diana King Master of Arts in Television Studies, which graduated its first cohort in 2024.

For Bianculli, the channels change but the screen is always on, especially in the age of on-demand, multi-platform streaming. All of which makes for great classroom lessons.

“I want to know what my students think,” he said. “Not just if they liked something, but why. What worked and what didn’t?”

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