FRIDAY
DECEMBER 14
2018

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Netflix, 3:00 a.m. ET

Alfonso Cuaron’s new black-and-white film is a salute to his own childhood, and arrives as one of the most anticipated Netflix movies to date. It would be among many TV critics’ end-of-year Top 10 lists, except that Netflix thinks so much of Roma that, before streaming it today on Netflix, it released it in theaters, where you can still go see it on the big screen. So that means Roma may be eligible for an Oscar, not an Emmy – but will film critics consider it one of theirs, for their Top 10 lists?

 
  
 
 

Netflix, 3:00 a.m. ET

Season 1 of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina arrived in time for Halloween – but here’s a new stand-alone special to add to the canon, and give fans something new for this holiday.

 
  
 
 

CBS, 8:00 p.m. ET

CBS and the folks responsible for these vintage TV restorations have done such a great job with computer-colorizing old episodes that, even as TV critic purist, I find it impossible to complain. And these annual showings around the holidays have become a new CBS tradition, one which I happily endorse. Tonight’s two episodes of I Love Lucy this year, presented in living color, are “The Christmas Episode,” which has been shown every year on this new prime-time showcase, and “Pioneer Women,” a battle of the sexes in which Lucy and Ethel endeavor to churn their own butter and, even more disastrously, bake their own bread.

 
  
 
 

USA, 8:00 p.m. ET

Here’s another showing of this classic Frank Capra Christmas movie, which NBC and its sister networks show on TV exclusively these days. James Stewart and Donna Reed star – and every time this movie plays, an angel in heaven gets his residuals.

 
  
 
 

CBS, 9:00 p.m. ET

This year’s collection of Dick Van Dyke Show episodes features two episodes written by series creator Carl Reiner. First is the Season 1 episode “Where Did I Come From?,” in which little Ritchie asks about the circumstances of his birth – and that’s followed by “Never Bathe on Saturday,” in which Laura’s toe gets stuck in the tub faucet. And somehow, it managed to be shown (barely) on television…

 
  
 
 

PBS, 9:00 p.m. ET

In a concert taped at San Antonio, TX, k.d. lang performs her brilliant, landmark Ingenue album in its entirety. Why? (Ready to feel older?) Because she’s celebrating the 25th anniversary of that album’s release, and her ascent to stardom. Check local listings.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.