THURSDAY

DECEMBER 15

2016

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

CBS, 8:00 p.m. ET

Tonight, just before going away for the winter break, The Big Bang Theory presents the new episode in which Bernadette has her baby – and Howard becomes a father. Such classic CBS sitcoms as I Love Lucy and The Dick Van Dyke Show, playing with this birthday premise, have really delivered. Here’s hoping Big Bang, given its title, does the same.

HEARTRADIO JINGLE BALL 2016

CW, 8:00 p.m. ET

Taped at Madison Square Garden last Friday night, this CW musical special features performances by Justin Bieber, Fifth Harmony, DNCE – and Ariana Grande, who’s managed to show up on three prime-time showcases in a single week: this one, The Voice, and last week’s Hairspray Live!

THE GREAT AMERICAN BAKING SHOW

ABC, 9:00 p.m. ET

Tonight’s challenges force the contestants to bake meringue pies and hors d’oeuvre tartlets. Too bad it doesn’t force them to spell them. But it reminds me of one of my favorite Mason Williams poems, Them Hors D’oeuvres. It goes, it in entirety: “How about them hors d’oeuvres, ain’t they sweet? / Little piece o’ cheese, little piece o’ meat.”

NASHVILLE

CMT, 9:00 p.m. ET

SNEAK PREVIEW: This is weird but welcome. CMT, which is taking on the production and presentation of the former ABC series Nashville this season, is offering a sneak preview of the new season, which doesn’t begin officially until January 2017. But the new Nashville season premiere will be two hours long, and CMT is showing only the first half tonight. But it’s still a treat, and it’s still a chance to see how new showrunners Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick, the talented writer-producers behind thirtysomething, will deal with this show now that they’ve inherited it. The last show they did together was the Internet-only series quarterlife, which was wonderful – but that was back in 2008. One of the changes to Nashville this season: the addition of Rhiannon Giddons, lead singer of the fabulous Carolina Chocolate Drops, in her first acting role. For a little preview of the preview, see David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower.

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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.

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ABC, 9:00 p.m. ET

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