THURSDAY
JANUARY 15
2015

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Amazon Prime Video, 12:00 a.m. ET

PILOT PREVIEW: Today’s the day Amazon unveils its newest batch of pilots, letting website visitors watch them, react to them and therefore have some sort of say, however marginal, in which shows are picked up for series. Here’s the best new drama of this 2015 crop, and a show well worth supporting. It’s from Frank Spotnitz, one of the veteran X-Files writer-producers, and is an excitingly intriguing adaptation of the novel by Philip K. Dick, whose other stories inspired, among other great speculative movies, Blade Runner. This alternate-reality series, set in 1962, imagines a world in which the Allies lost WWII, with the U.S. split up into Japanese and German territories. To see the show, visit Amazon’s Pilot Season web page. For a full review, see Bianculli’s Blog.
 
  
 
 

Amazon Prime Video, 12:00 a.m. ET

Among the comedy pilots on view today from Amazon, in its first batch of proposed new series for 2015, the one most worthy of getting a series order is this one, which stars Leslie Bibb as a former supermodel emerging, with bad attitude and behaviors intact, after 15 years in rehab. Rachel Dratch plays her former assistant, and the two make an instantly hilarious female odd couple. To see the show, visit Amazon’s Pilot Season web page. For a full review, see Bianculli’s Blog.
 
  
 
 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

The first movie made with this title was in 1903, from the Edison company, directed by Edwin S. Porter, with its famous final shot of a bad guy pointing his gun directly at the audience. (My Rowan University film students know it well – at least after taking my Introduction to Film course.) But this particular movie is a comedy thriller, made 75 years later, and written and directed by Michael Crichton, whose prolific and fertile imagination has given us Westworld, Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Strain, and even TV’s ER. Sean Connery and Donald Sutherland play the dashing men who scheme to rob a shipment of gold from a moving train in Victorian England – and Lesley-Anne Down, from Upstairs, Downstairs, steals the show as their very vital female accomplice. Lots of fun – and, like everything Crichton writes, very, very smart.

 
  
 
 

NBC, 10:00 p.m. ET

There are only three episodes left until the finale, so expect each of these final hours to be even more packed with sentiment, and surprises, than usual – and that’s really saying something. Tonight, in one of several subplots, Sarah (Lauren Graham) ponders how to react to the marriage proposal by Hank (Ray Romano).

 
  
 
 

IFC, 10:00 p.m. ET

Two more of the many characters populating Portlandia come to the fore tonight. This week, it’s Lance and Nina, whose relationship is disrupted by a visit from Lance’s mom and her new boyfriend.

 
  
 
 
 
 
Read and add comments HERE for today's Best Bets!
 
 
 
 
Leave a Comment: (No HTML, 1000 chars max)
 
 Name (required)
 
 Email (required) (will not be published)
 
TVSCK
Type in the verification word shown on the image.
 
 
 Page: 1 of 201  | Go to page: 
4016 Comments
 
 
Thank you so much for sharing this great blog.Very inspiring and helpful too.Hope you continue to share more of your ideas.I will definitely love to read
Jun 16, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
?? ??? ???? ?? ? ??? ?? ?? ?? ?? ??? ?????. ? ??? ??? ?? ?????
Jun 16, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Thank you so much for sharing this great blog.Very inspiring and helpful too.Hope you continue to share more of your ideas.I will definitely love to read
Jun 16, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
? ?? ?? ??? ?????.
Jun 15, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
??? ???? ??? ??????. ?? ?? ??????.
Jun 15, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Stunning! Such an astonishing and accommodating post this is. I super love it. It's so great thus amazing. I am simply stunned. I trust that you keep on doing your work like this later on moreover.
Jun 15, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
I definitely enjoying every little bit of this blog. It is a great website and nice share. I want to thank you. Good job! You guys do a great blog, and have some great contents. Keep up the good work
Jun 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
??? ???,? ???? ??? ?? ??????. ? ???? ????? ????? ???? ??? ?? ???? ?? ???? ?? ?? ??? ? ??? ?? ???? ?????!
Jun 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
??? ???,? ???? ??? ?? ??????. ? ???? ????? ????? ???? ??? ?? ???? ?? ???? ?? ?? ??? ? ??? ?? ???? ?????!
Jun 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
??? ??? ??????. t ? ?? ind personilly wtll certitnly dtgtt? ?????. t'm conftdent ??? thts webstte?? gitned ? ????
Jun 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
I will right away clutch your rss feed as I can not in finding your e-mail subscription hyperlink or e-newsletter service. Do you have any? Please let me recognize so that I may subscribe.
Jun 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
??? ??? ?????? ????? ? ???? ???? ???? ??? ????. ??? ???? ??? ?? ? ??? ?? ???? ?? ? ? ????.
Jun 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
This Post is providing valuable and unique information, I know that you take a time and effort to make a awesome article
Jun 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
This is a fantastic website, thanks for sharing. There's no doubt i would fully rate it after i read what the idea about this article is. You did a nice
Jun 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
This is a fantastic website, thanks for sharing. There's no doubt i would fully rate it after i read what the idea about this article is. You did a nice
Jun 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
It’s really a fantastic website, thanks for sharing. There's no doubt i would fully rate it after i read what the idea about this article is. You did a nice
Jun 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Thank you for taking the time to share with us
Jun 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Cool stuff you have and you keep overhaul every one of us
Jun 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
This is my first time i visit here. I found so many entertaining stuff in your blog, especially its discussion. From the tons of comments on your articles, I guess I am not the only one having all the leisure here! Keep up the good work. I have been meaning to write something like this on my website and you have given me an idea.
Jun 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
i was just browsing along and came upon your blog. just wanted to say good blog and this article really helped me
Jun 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
 
 Page: 1 of 201  | Go to page: 
 
 

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.