FRIDAY
NOVEMBER 11
2016

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

PBS, 9:00 p.m. ET

We’ve already got at least two classic filmed iterations of the 1959 Stephen Sondheim-Jule Styne musical Gypsy. First was the 1962 movie starring Rosalind Russell as the ultimate stage mother, Mama Rose, and Natalie Wood, who went from stage performer Baby Louise to famous stripper Gypsy Rose Lee. Then came the 1993 made-for-TV version shown by CBS, with Bette Midler as Mama Rose and Cynthia Gibb as her ultimately rebellious ecdysiast daughter. It may sound heretical, but the TV version was much better, and Midler’s performance, in particular, a stunner. Now, imported from England, comes another version presented by TV – this time with Imelda Staunton as Mama Rose and Lara Pulver in the title role. Pulver comes by her strip-teasiness in this role naturally: She once played Irene Adler in Sherlock, famously flustering Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock Holmes by receiving him stark naked. And Staunton’s TV credits, in England, go all the way back to The Singing Detective in 1986, where she played one of the fussy staff nurses. For a full review of this new Gypsy, see David Hinckley’s All Along the Watchtower. Check local listings.

 
  
 
 

Fox, 9:00 p.m. ET

The secrets have ben revealed slowly but surely on this show, such as the relationship of the show’s central family to the one whose possessed plight was dramatized in the original movie version of The Exorcist. We now know this new TV story is an official sequel – and in tonight’s episode, the demon gets stronger, and the news of the possession spreads.

 
  
 
 

CW, 9:00 p.m. ET

After her seismic romantic setbacks in last week’s episode, Rebecca (Rachel Bloom) decides to shake up her personal life’s status quo – by getting a makeover, to see whether, in this modern day and age, blondes still have more fun. Regardless of what happens, the song she sings about it is too much fun to miss.

 
  
 
 

HBO, 10:00 p.m. ET

On last week’s show, the final pre-election edition of the 2016 campaign, Bill Maher very clearly and emphatically said and did what almost no TV political pundits, other than a couple on MSNBC’s Morning Joe and Showtime’s The Circus, like frequent guest Michael Moore, dared to even suggest. Maher ran through Donald Trump’s history of defying expectations – defeating opponents on the Republican debate stages, winning primaries, and securing his party’s nomination – and told his panel, and the show’s viewers, that the pundits who had underestimated Trump every step of the way could do it again. “And now these same people are saying, ‘He’s not going to win the election.’ Yeah – he could win the election,” Maher said. So Maher, on tonight’s live program, has the almost exclusive right to tell his TV audience, “I told you so.” And then, to tell us something else…

 
  
 
 

CBS, 11:35 p.m. ET

On Election Night, Stephen Colbert hosted a live, unedited political special on Showtime, which got more and more surreal, and funereal, as the night went on. By the end, it was more like a funeral service than a celebration, and when, in the final minutes, Colbert asked comedian Jena Friedman for any last thoughts, she advised the show’s female viewers to “get your abortions now.” Colbert laughed very nervously, and pointed out the show was being rebroadcast on Friday on CBS. “I’m not sure what parts of it might be edited out,” he said, smiling, “but I’ve got some idea.” Here, three days later, is that CBS rebroadcast – and there’s a very simple way to compare and contrast the edited version with the original unexpurgated version on Showtime. First, watch this cleaned-up CBS presentation. Then, less than an hour after this show is over, tune to…

 
  
 
 

Showtime, 1:10 a.m. ET

…And watch a repeat of the entire show. Both versions are captured-in-amber visions of Colbert and company being shocked by a very unexpected reality – but this uncensored version even more so. For a taste, see Eric Gould's latest Video Worth Watching, another timely TVWW feature.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.