WEDNESDAY
NOVEMBER 13
2013

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

PBS, 8:00 p.m. ET

I know many nature documentaries always have relied, in part, on staging events for their cameras – but Parrot Confidential is the first time I’ve ever seen recreations that involved humans as well, with parrot-owner interviewees telling stories of their past interacts with their birds, which simultaneously are “acted out.” That’s ridiculous – but other parts of this hour, the real ones, are unexpectedly, effectively touching, as when we watch one rescued bird warm to another, or watch one young parrot, raised from a chick in temporary captivity, emerge tentatively from its outdoor cage to take its first flight to freedom. In all these stories, though, there’s one very subjective message: owning these birds is more problematic, and more of a commitment, than most people suspect. Check local listings.

 
  
 
 

PBS, 9:00 p.m. ET

Using previously unavailable technology, Nova sorts through the available evidence, forensic, ballistic and otherwise, to examine the still-controversial events surrounding the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. This new special is called Cold Case JFK, and is keyed to the 50th anniversary of that tragic event. It’s worth watching – but so was Who Shot President Kennedy?, a special with the same exact description that was presented as a Nova special back in November 1988 – on the assassination’s 25th anniversary. Remembering that is one of the things that makes me realize I’ve been a TV critic for an unnaturally long time. Check local listings.

 
  
 
 

PBS, 10:00 p.m. ET

This one-hour special focuses almost exclusively on how CBS News – with a nod to the UPI wire service – covered the tragic events in Dallas 50 years ago this month. Plenty of documentaries already exist in which CBS anchor Walter Cronkite provided his own account, including the multi-part Cronkite Remembers, but this one fleshes out the day with a clear, compelling timeline, back in the day when even competitive network news organizations labored to confirm news before reporting it. For a full review, see Eric Gould’s Cold Light Reader. Check local listings.

 
  
 
 

FX, 10:00 p.m. ET

In tonight’s haunting episode (or is it haunted?), Zoe, Queenie and Nan try to contact the evil spirit that seems to be occupying the school. Even from the safety of this side of the TV screen, that doesn’t seem like such a smart idea.

 
  
 
 

TCM, 10:15 p.m. ET

Burt Lancaster continues to be saluted this month by TCM, and tonight’s lineup is, quite literally, one great movie after another. The evening begins at 8 p.m. ET with 1957’s Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and is followed at 10:15 p.m. ET by the same year’s Sweet Smell of Success (pictured, with Tony Curtis), one of the best, most caustic movies about the media ever made. And after that, sit back, or set your recorders, for 1960’s Elmer Gantry at midnight ET, and 1964’s riveting Seven Days in May at 2:30 a.m. ET.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.