SUNDAY
DECEMBER 1
2013

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

CBS, 9:00 p.m. ET

What a smart, savvy show this is. Last week, it managed to put Alicia and Will (Juliana Margulies, Josh Charles) in the same courtroom, arguing different sides of the same case. And tonight, it finds a way to put two powerful mothers in the same room, in a rare and much-anticipated meeting between Alicia’s mother (played by Stockard Channing) and Peter’s mother (played by Mary Beith Peil). All that, and the newest cast member addition as well: Jason O’Mara (pictured), who made a great first impression last week as Will’s impulsive hire.
 
  
 
 

AMC, 9:00 p.m. ET

MIDSEASON FINALE: The previous two episodes have focused exclusively on the Governor (David Morrissey), leading him, ultimately, to the gates of the prison. This week, in the last episode before The Walking Dead walks away for a midseason hiatus, the Governor and Rick’s crew clash again. And, as always with this show, virtually no character is safe.

 
  
 
 

HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET

SEASON PREMIERE: “Thirty-eight months after.” To start the new season, the first piece of music we hear – played by our favorite Treme deejay, Steve Zahn’s Davis – is “Every Man a King,” corrupt vintage Louisiana politician Huey Long. A title card identifies the time as “thirty-eight months after,” with the “after” referring, of course, to Hurricane Katrina. That time span makes it Election Day in New Orleans, where Barack Obama and Joe Biden are being embraced as the deliverers of hope. But as Treme is co-created by David Simon of The Wire, don’t expect this focus on politics to be either superficial or single-sided. Because it isn’t. Welcome back, Treme.

 
  
 
 

Showtime, 9:00 p.m. ET

One thing you can’t accuse this series of, this season, is doing the expected. It’s managed to keep its three primary characters separated, one way or another, for most of this first half of the season. And no sooner does Damian Lewis’ Brody get returned to the United States than Saul and Carrie (Mandy Patinkin, Claire Danes) pack him off on a very dangerous mission to Iran. How dangerous? Most of this episode has him ensnared in the mission’s first phase: crossing the Iranian border.

 
  
 
 

CBS, 10:00 p.m. ET

Last week, The Mentalist finally put its Red John story to rest. And now, we follow Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) as he readjusts to life without his ongoing obsession with revenge – and life, it appears, takes him far from sunny California, to other, even sunnier climes. And it’s quite a distance, in more than miles: The action picks up two long years later.

 
  
 
 

MGM HD, 10:00 p.m. ET

All this month, sporadically but impressively, MGM’s High-Definition movie channel presents what it’s billing as the most complete retrospective of Woody Allen films ever televised. On this first day of December, this tribute kicks off at 10 p.m. ET with one of Allen’s all-time best, 1979’s Manhattan – followed by one of the first of his movies to confound many critics and fans at the time of its release, only to be reappraised and more warmly received later: 1980’s Stardust Memories.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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David Bianculli

Founder / Editor

David Bianculli has been a TV critic since 1975, including a 14-year stint at the New York Daily News, and sees no reason to stop now. Currently, he's TV critic for NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and is an occasional substitute host for that show. He's also an author and teaches TV and film history at New Jersey's Rowan University. His 2009 Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour', has been purchased for film rights. His latest, The Platinum Age of Television: From I Love Lucy to the Walking Dead, How TV Became Terrific, is an effusive guidebook that plots the path from the 1950s’ Golden Age to today’s era of quality TV.