SATURDAY
JULY 11
2015

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

ESPN, 9:00 a.m. ET

Serena Williams is chasing history. Her opponent, Garbine Maguruza, is chasing Serena. And today is the women’s championship, which, as I type this, just started.

 
  
 
 

CBS, 8:00 p.m. ET

Not a recommendation. You want to encourage the networks to program original shows, rather than reruns, during the summer months – especially scripted shows, rather than cheapo reality-TV tossaways. But when the lineup consists, as it does tonight on CBS, of two “fresh” episodes of The Millers left over after that show was deservedly canceled, followed at 9 p.m. ET by two “fresh” episodes of The McCarthys (ditto), it’s time to start rooting for reruns again.

 
  
 
 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

This 1940 romantic comedy, starring Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart, is the film on which director and co-screenwriter Nora Ephron based her 1998 comedy You’ve Got Mail, in which Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks play bookstore rivals who detest one another at work, but unknowingly correspond anonymously and flirtatiously via email at night. In this 1940 movie, their correspondence took place through the U.S. mail, and took a lot longer – but the influence of that film is obvious when looking at You’ve Got Mail. For one thing, look closely at this picture from You’ve Got Mail, and see the name of Meg Ryan’s independent bookstore.

 
  
 
 

HBO, 10:00 p.m. ET

This could be the title of any random week from my life – but in this case, it’s the title of a faux sports documentary telemovie, celebrating a powerful tennis rivalry of two champions engaged in an epic (and vintage) match at Wimbledon. Obviously, it plays off the legendary Bjorn Borg-John McEnroe on-court duel – and just as obviously, is scheduled to fall halfway between today’s Wimbledon women’s championship and tomorrow’s men’s championship. The athletes in this spoof are played by Kit Harrington of Game of Thrones and Andy Samberg of Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

 
  
 
 

BBC America, 11:15 p.m. ET

This is a compilation show featuring some of the funniest moments from the current season– and any time The Graham Norton Show presents a “best-of” show, it’s guaranteed that you’ll be laughing out loud. Hasn’t failed me yet.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.