David Zurawik
The Sun's TV/media critic since 1989, David Zurawik earned a Ph.D. in American Studies (pop culture-media studies) from the University of Maryland, College Park. He has an M.A. from the University of Wisconsin in specialized reporting (pop culture) and is the author of "The Jews of Prime Time," a look at 50 years of Jewish identity in network TV (Brandeis University Press/University Press of New England, 2003). He was previously TV critic/columnist at the Dallas Times Herald.
Recent Articles
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Social media, toxic masculinity make big trouble in Ohio town, throughout the culture today
If “Roll Red Roll,” the film that launches a new season of the PBS documentary series POV on Monday, only chronicled the facts of the case of a 16-year-old girl who was raped by members of a high school football team in Ohio, I would still be urging everyone to go out of their way to see it. It...
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Sony announces reboot of 'Boondocks' with Aaron McGruder onboard
A reboot of “The Boondocks” is in the works with creator and University of Maryland graduate Aaron McGruder on board, according to reports out of the 2019 Annecy International Animated Film Festival. Sony made the announcement today, calling the production scheduled for 2020 a “complete re-imaging”...
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Axios on HBO, New York Times on FX: Can journalism find new audiences on Sunday night TV?
I love seeing the surge in non-fiction TV programming, as more and more news and information platforms try to find new audiences with new formats in a medium some critics have been incorrectly calling a dinosaur for the last 20 years. I have sung the praises of docu-series like Showtime’s “The...
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Ratings show WJZ lost almost half of key audience for 5 p.m. news in wake of Bubala controversy
WJZ-TV lost almost half of its 5 p.m. news audience in a key demographic during the May sweeps in the wake of a controversial question by anchorwoman Mary Bubala and her subsequent firing, according to figures confirmed by the Nielsen Co. and WJZ. While ratings can be read, analyzed and spun in...
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Idris Elba, Laura Linney, Russell Crowe: Summertime is TV's best time for fine drama
Idris Elba, Russell Crowe, Emma Thompson, Ben Kingsley, Ruth Wilson and Laura Linney. Even in an era that has rightfully come to be known as a golden age of TV drama, that’s a lot of talent for any new season. But that’s only part of the lineup for dramas premiering just in June on cable or streamed...
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Doctored video of Pelosi: Trump, Giuliani, Fox hit new low - even for them
If the ugly video attempt to smear Nancy Pelosi that was fully aided and abetted by the president of the United States, his personal lawyer and the Fox Business Network makes you as angry as it has me, here’s more maddening news: It’s only a warm-up for where our politics are headed in coming weeks...
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Zurawik: Why Democrats need to take moral high road and just say no to Fox town halls
Democrats need to just say no to Fox News once and for all. The party has a wide, deep, diverse and very impressive cast of candidates for president in 2020 at a time when the nation faces profound choices thanks in part to the governmental chaos caused by President Donald Trump. And what has been...
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Preakness TV audience down about 10 percent year to year in Baltimore — and twice that nationally
The TV audience in Baltimore for Saturday’s Preakness race was down 10.65 percent compared with that in 2018. Those are household figures from Nielsen that measure the size of the audience during the actual running of the race. They are provided by WBAL-TV, the NBC affiliate that aired NBC’s coverage...