NBC, 8:00 p.m. ET
The fringe events are all over the dial today, or what used to be called a dial, and you can find on TV what also can be found on the Internet: table tennis on MSNBC, women’s water polo during the day on NBC, and archery and badminton on NBC Sports Network. But in prime time, in the repackaged NBC showcase, you can get reliably full coverage of the day’s big events, even if you can’t watch during the day: men’s swimming and women’s beach volleyball.
AMC, 8:00 p.m. ET
Sunday’s episode of AMC’s Breaking Bad included a scene in which Bryan Cranston’s Walter White, all but forcing his way back into his old home, watched Al Pacino mow down rivals with his “little friend” in Scarface, to the delight of Walt’s son and the horror of Walt’s wife, who saw in Walt way too much of Scarface – exactly the road map laid out by series creator Vince Gilligan when Breaking Bad began (“Mr. Chips turns into Scarface”). But during that same hour of Breaking Bad, AMC ran promos for this week’s “Mob week” movies, in which Pacino and his “little friend” were featured prominently. Don’t blame Gilligan: he wrote and filmed his Pacino TV scene long before AMC decided to cash in on it. But here’s the 1983 movie remake of the classic gangster film from half a century earlier – the first film in which Michelle Pfeiffer proved she had major talent as well as exceptional beauty.
Flix, 8:00 p.m. ET
In my current
Bianculli’s Blog story about “spider-web” movies that snare you every time they’re televised (read it
HERE), my son, Mark, identified 1998’s
The Big Lebowski as one of his. And here it is: a Coen Brothers film that gave Jeff Bridges one of his best roles, and served up a loopy cult classic at the same time. Dude!
DirecTV Audience Network, 9:00 p.m. ET
The deposition scene in last week’s episode was an intense cat-and-mouse game – and this time, Ellen (Rose Byrne) was the cat, not the mouse, and got Patty (Glenn Close) and her lying client right where she wanted them. But that was last week, and just a preliminary round. The main bout is still ahead – and flash-aheads suggest things won’t end that well for either of the two rival attorneys.
DirecTV Audience Network, 10:00 p.m. ET
Chloe Sevigny’s conflicted assassin survived a particularly dangerous assignment in last week’s show – but this week, has another tough confrontation ahead of her. And this one is personal…