FRIDAY
JANUARY 15
2016

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

NFL Network, 8:00 p.m. ET

The first Super Bowl game has long been considered one of the “lost” TV events – no surviving videotape was thought to exist, for some reason, of the 1967 game between the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs. Yet NFL Films has found in its archives enough raw footage, and surviving outtakes from other specials, to put together what it’s calling an every-play recreation of the game itself. As for the game, it wasn’t even called the Super Bowl at the time – that appellation didn’t arrive until the third game in 1969, the one in which New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath guaranteed, and delivered, victory against the Baltimore Colts. “Super Bowl I,” at the time, was known as the “AFL-NFL World Championship Game.” And check out all the empty seats in the stands…

 
  
 
 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

This 1939 movie, directed by John Ford, is one of the truly great classic Westerns. In part, it’s because of the way Ford uses the rugged frontier landscape. For another, it’s because of the way he uses the young actor tapped to be his leading man: John Wayne.

 
  
 
 

PBS, 9:00 p.m. ET

I haven’t seen this special in advance, but its list of performers, honoring the great Willie Nelson, guarantees I’ll be watching tonight. Nelson himself will be performing (unlike the recipients of the Kennedy Honors, the Gershwin Prize winners get to play, and sing, if they so wish). So will previous Gershwin Prize winner Paul Simon, and Simon’s wife, Edie Brickell, and Roseanne Cash, and Neil Young, and… if you need more names than that, you’re a lot harder to impress than I am. Check local listings.

 
  
 
 

HBO, 10:00 p.m. ET

SEASON PREMIERE: It’s the start of Season 14 for Bill Maher and his entertaining, interesting current affairs comedy and discussion show. It arrives one day after the latest Republican Presidential Debate, and two days before the next Democratic one, so there’s automatically lots to talk about. And the guests for tonight’s season opener include former Vice President Al Gore, Cornel West, John Krasinski, and others.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.