SATURDAY
OCTOBER 12
2019

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Various Networks, 4:00 p.m. ET

We’re into the League Championship Series, when the two teams still standing from each league do battle to emerge as the representative of their respective league in this year’s World Series. On the National League side, the Washington Nationals, which qualified for postseason play by winning the Wild Card game, beat the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of their series last night, by a score of 2-0. Nationals pitcher Anibal Sanchez carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning, so it was quite a start for the NLCS this year. Today, in an afternoon game televised at 4 p.m. ET on TBS, they play Game 2. Then, at 8 p.m. ET tonight on Fox, the American League Championship Series begins, with the New York Yankees taking on the Houston Astros.
 
  
 
 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

This Broadway musical, with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, opened in 1957, updating Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and transplanting it to the ethnic neighborhoods of New York City. It was a hit then, and is a hit now: tickets are now on sale for a new Broadway stage version, beginning previews in December. And there’s a new movie version, too, directed by Steven Spielberg, with a script by Tony Kushner and with input from Sondheim himself, due a year later, in December 2020. Meanwhile, here’s the fabulous 1961 film version, presented uninterrupted, in widescreen format, by TCM. Watch for Richard Beymer and Russ Tamblyn, two future stars of Twin Peaks. When they’re a Jet, they’re a Jet all the way…
 
  
 
 

NBC, 11:29 p.m. ET

Tonight’s lineup: host David Harbour and musical guest Camilla Cabello. But this week, I’ll be most awaiting the news lampooned on “Weekend Update”…
 
  
 
 
 
 
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3696 Comments
 
 
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Mar 21, 2026   |  Reply
 
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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.