TUESDAY
JULY 10
2012

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Fox, 7:30 p.m. ET

The midway point of the pro baseball season arrives tonight, with a few elements that make it seem like a contest from long ago. For one thing, the National League is defending a winning streak. And for another, one of the pitchers on the roster tonight is a knuckleballer – but New York Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey won’t be starting for the NL, because of fears that catchers may have problms fielding his knuckleballs.

 
  
 
 

Encore, 8:00 p.m. ET

This isn’t a good James Bond movie, but it is a rarely televised one. Released in 1969, it’s the one and only film in which the role of 007 went to George Lazenby – and the only one in which Bond gets married, with his bride played by the always unforgettable Diana Rigg. In fact, Rigg has a connection to an earlier Bond girl, Honor Blackman, who played Pussy Galore in Goldfinger. In the early Sixties, Blackman starred opposite Patrick Macnee in The Avengers – before the series was imported to the U.S., with John Steed (Macnee) teamed with a new partner, Rigg’s Emma Peel. Oh, and playing the villain in this film? Telly Savalas.

 
  
 
 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

Bette Davis stars in this 1936 drama, playing a waitress at a small-town diner who finds herself waiting on some unusually complicated and volatile customers. One, played by Leslie Howard, is suicidal. Another, played by Humphrey Bogart, is homicidal – and ends up taking the diner exployees and patrons hostage. A solid drama, with some very intense performances and, for Bogart, a chance to play the bad guy.

 
  
 
 

TV Guide Network, 8:00 p.m. ET

The current NBC series is a very good version of this 1989 movie, but this original film, directed by Ron Howard, has plenty of charm to spare of its own. Steve Martin stars as a concerned father who agonizes a bit too much – but in ways that are both humorously and uncomfortably empathic. The cast is as deep as it is strong, and so is the script. Co-stars include Mary Steenburgen, Dianne Wiest, Keanu Reeves, Jason Robards and Rick Moranis.

 
  
 
 

ABC, 10:00 p.m. ET

SERIES PREMIERE: Here it is, the first fresh offering from a commercial broadcast network that’s worth watching this summer. From executive producer Terence Wrong, it’s his latest documentary fly-on-the-wall look at hospital staffers and patients, this time in some well-chosen, well-staffed New York hospitals. Wrong may be slipping (I didn’t shed tears, this time, until episode two), but I don’t think so. Once again, it’s a summer series that plays to, rather than insults, our intelligence –and how rare is that? For a full review, see Eric Gould’s Cold Light Reader column HERE.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.