ABC, 8:00 p.m. ET
MINISERIES PREMIERE: This new miniseries is televised by ABC this weekend in an unusual configuration: three hours tonight, and the concluding hour tomorrow night. It’s an unusual co-production arrangement as well, with ITV Studios in Great Britain partnering with ABC, as well as TV entities in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Portugal and other countries, to finance and present this project. The big draw, other than the impending 100th anniversary of the oceanic disaster itself, is that this version is written by Julian Fellowes, currently riding high as the author of TV’s Downton Abbey. Stars include Linus Roache and Geraldine Somerville.
HBO, 8:00 p.m. ET
Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day play three friends who hatch a plot to kill their respective horrendous employers – the standout of whom, by far, is Jennifer Aniston, as a boss who sadistically redefines sexual harassment in the workplace. As for the subject stated in the movie's title: Over my long career as a TV critic for daily newspapers, I had only two. But boy, were they doozies.
ABC Family, 9:00 p.m. ET
What a coincidence. Thursday night in Las Vegas, I was at the Renaissance Galleries in the Venetian, checking out the oil paintings and reproductions of Beauty and the Beast as painted by my dear friend Paige O’Hara, the voice of Belle in that 1991 Disney animated classic. Paige visited the gallery that night – and so, quite unexpectedly, did Arnold Schwarzenegger and his all-male entourage. Go figure. And now here’s the original article – the movie, that is – presented tonight on ABC Family. Ask not for whom the Belle tolls…
Starz!, 9:00 p.m. ET
Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill make a fine pairing in this fact-based story of Oakland As manager Billy Beane, who found new ways to win, and build a team based on attributes no one else was valuing, despite a limited payroll. Pitt and Hill give very smart performances – and smart, too, is the screenplay, co-written by Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, based on the book by Michael Lewis. Play ball!
TCM, 10:00 p.m. ET
Clearly, this is one Titanic night for television. Tonight TCM presents this 1958 movie version of the ill-fated voyage, starring Kenneth More and featuring such now-familiar faces as Honor Blackman (Pussy Galore in Goldfinger) and David McCallum (who once played Illya Kuryakin in The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and now, on NCIS, is just Ducky).