FRIDAY

DECEMBER 12

2014

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

Netflix, 12:00 a.m. ET

SERIES PREMIERE: All 10 episodes of the first season of Netflix’s newest drama series, Marco Polo, are available today beginning in the very early morning – but this one may have a tougher time gaining traction, even if it gets a sizable initial sampling. It sets out to be an epic period drama, colorful and fascinatingly unusual in the manner of the classic NBC miniseries Shogun – but that 1980 drama, starring Richard Chamberlain as a seafaring stranger in a very strange land, was much more credible and compelling, and sophisticated. This new drama has its international cast all speaking English, as best they can, with more emphasis on set design than character development. Lorenzo Richelmy plays the title role, with Benedict Wong as Kublai Khan. But it’s the women, played by Olivia Cheng, Shu An Oon and others (including Joan Chen from Twin Peaks), who make the best argument for tuning in. That, and the Mongolian throat singing used on the soundtrack to open the series.

CADDYSHACK

IFC, 6:30 p.m. ET

This is an unintentional changing of the guard movie. Made in 1980, it stars Chevy Chase, the first member of Saturday Night Live to quit the show early to pursue a movie career, and features Bill Murray, his SNL replacement, who basically steals the movie out from under him. Chase indeed became a movie star for a few years, embodying the sardonic, self-satisfied smug humor of a new generation – but Murray, in time, proved the more durable movie star and much better actor. But here they are together, in a raucous golf comedy directed by Harold Ramis, and also starring Ted Knight and a vibrant Rodney Dangerfield. In a few weeks, Caddyshack will be 35 years old.

NAS: TIME IS ILLMATIC

Showtime, 9:00 p.m. ET

Twenty years ago, the hip-hop artist Nas released his Illmatic album, which had a major impact on the industry and on many of the rap artists to follow. This documentary tries to explain why, especially, but not exclusively, to the uninitiated.

TRUST ME

Starz!, 9:00 p.m. ET

What a dream team of talented character actors: Clark Gregg, star of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., plays a down-on-his-luck talent agent who sees a young actress as his ticket to the big time, and the rest of the cast of this Hollywood comedy-drama includes Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy, Allison Janney and Sam Rockwell. Saxon Sharbino plays the talented teenager.

THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH CRAIG FERGUSON

CBS, 12:35 a.m. ET

Rashida Jones, a regular on both NBC’s The Office and Parks and Recreation, shows up to say goodbye to Craig Ferguson, in another entry in what’s been a very enjoyable, truly freewheeling couple of final weeks. Jones is another of the plays-well-with-others celebrities whom Ferguson took on one of his overseas travel-week shows, so expect a very warm, and funny, farewell.

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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.

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BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

Netflix, 12:00 a.m. ET

IFC, 6:30 p.m. ET

Showtime, 9:00 p.m. ET

Starz!, 9:00 p.m. ET

CBS, 12:35 a.m. ET

David Bianculli

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