FRIDAY
AUGUST 10
2018

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Amazon Prime Video, 3:00 a.m. ET

MINISERIES PREMIERE: It’s a new three-part Agatha Christie period mystery adaptation from England, but it’s not from PBS – or even, these days, Acorn. This particular miniseries comes from England, and puts the usually scruffy Bill Nighy (pictured) in posh threads as the widower patriarch of a well-to-do family. He’s about to remarry, which may be the worst possible time for new information to surface about his previous wife’s murder. Co-stars include Matthew Goode, Luke Treadway and Morven Christie. For a full review, see David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower.
 
  
 
 

Netflix, 3:00 a.m. ET

SERIES PREMIERE: This new Netflix series has been slammed more than almost any series in the streaming service’s history, accusing the dark comedy of fat-shaming and a litany of other major and minor sins. But actually, it plays like a sort of young-adult Desperate Housewives, with both its outrage and its character parodies spread in all directions. (There weren't a lot of proper role models there, either. Just a few models.) Debby Ryan plays a former fat girl who, after becoming thin and treated much differently by those around her, sets out on a course of mostly comic, sometimes serious revenge. Most of the critics upset about this series object to that premise in itself – but it’s been done for decades, literally, and sometimes to hilarious effect. Joan Rivers wrote a TV-movie in 1973, starring Stockard Channing as an ugly duckling turned vengeful swan, called The Girl Most Likely to… -- and in 1986, Julie T. Wallace and Patricia Hodge shared the role in the brilliant miniseries version (not the inferior subsequent movie) called The Life and Loves of a She-Devil. Ryan is good in Insatiable, and former Good Wife recurring player Dallas Roberts is even better, in a series that also provides against-type roles for Christopher Gorham, Alyssa Milano, and especially Robin Tunney. Insatiable isn’t great – but it isn’t an affront to television or humanity, either.
 
  
 
 

Netflix, 3:00 a.m. ET

SPECIAL PREMIERE: If you’ve seen any previous comedy specials featuring Demetri Martin, you already know whether you like his left-field, low-volume approach. And if this is your first exposure, you’ll know soon enough…

 
  
 
 

PBS, 9:00 p.m. ET

Tonight’s episode, titled “Patisserie,” takes on the tough art of French pastry. And the question is, will the remaining bakers be well-prepared as well as well-equipped? Or will some of them find themselves without a pot to patisserie in? Check local listings.

 
  
 
 

HBO, 10:00 p.m. ET

Bill Maher’s scheduled guests tonight include MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell (pictured), psychologist Steven Pinker, and roundtable panelists comic D.L. Hughley, journalist Christina Bellantoni, and Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.