MONDAY

JUNE 1

2020

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

Shout Factory TV, 3:00 a.m. ET

Now that its weekend of marathon teaser previews is over, Shout! Factory has added to its website every season and episode of The Carol Burnett Show. These are not, by any means, the original hours in their entirety – ridiculously prohibitive union contracts from musicians and others continue to restrict use of most musical elements. But anyone visiting the Shout! website can take a self-guided tour of what’s left of every episode from all 11 seasons, seeing sketches that haven’t been shown. In some cases, for decades. I went straight to the Season 1 episode with The Smothers Brothers, but you can pick the guest star of your choice, and dive in. And while you’re there, also sample the recently available segments from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Amazing little TV time capsules.

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

Two weeks ago, one of my Best Bets was the one-week showing of National Theatre at Home’s production of A Streetcar Named Desire, starring Gillian Anderson as Blanche DuBois. Tonight, TCM presents the brilliant, incendiary 1951 movie version, in which the fragile Blanche is played by Vivien Leigh, with Kim Hunter as her sister, Stella. And at the center of this film, of course, is Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski. Brando’s naturalistic style of acting changed movies, and influenced generations of actors. Watch it anew, and it's still easy to understand why. Karl Malden co-stars. Elia Kazan directs. And when this Tennessee Williams play premiered on Broadway in 1947 and ran for two years, Kazan was the director for the stage version as well, and Brando, Hunter, and Malden all acted together for the entire run. So for them, the roles captured on screen already had been performed hundreds of times on stage – 855 times, to be precise. But for Vivien Leigh, it was a first-time job: on Broadway, the leading lady was Jessica Tandy, the one central player to be replaced for the movie version. But Leigh, who had starred in Gone with the Wind a dozen years earlier, was an excellent choice for a faded, narcissistic Southern belle. And when Leigh was offered the role of Blanche, she didn’t. Blanch, that is…

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3685 Comments

Gerda Lundgren

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Mar 21, 2026 | Reply

Dave Bianculli

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Sincerely,

Dave

Mar 22, 2026

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Mar 21, 2026 | Reply

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Mar 21, 2026 | Reply

Sigrun Lindholm

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Mar 21, 2026 | Reply

Solveig Johanson

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Mar 21, 2026 | Reply

Arvid Berggren

Long-time TVWW devotee here. I manage a commercial vehicle operation and Colorado Springs Mobile Mechanic (https://coloradospringcosmobilemechanic.com) keeps our fleet going. Bianculli's picks keep us sane during maintenance delays - essential reading!

Mar 21, 2026 | Reply

Frida Sundberg

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Mar 21, 2026 | Reply

Viggo Lundqvist

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Mar 21, 2026 | Reply

Tyra Stromberg

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Mar 21, 2026 | Reply

Olle Lindgren

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Mar 21, 2026 | Reply

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Mar 21, 2026 | Reply

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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.

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