MONDAY
MAY 15
2017

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Acorn TV, 3:00 a.m. ET

MINISERIES PREMIERE: Evelyn Waugh’s novel Brideshead Revisited inspired one of the most celebrated miniseries ever made, the 1981 version starring Jeremy Irons. Now, from Acorn TV, comes another import devoted to a work by the same author. Decline and Fall, though, while it’s set in the same gorgeous posh British estates and institutions, is a lot more comic and playful an approach. It’s Waugh’s first novel, and he delights in playing with his caricatured characters – which, in turn, allows the TV show’s actors to play with almost giddy abandon. Jack Whitehall plays the naïve yet resourceful young man at its center, but Decline and Fall is stolen by two more familiar faces: David Suchet, once the great Poirot, now playing a silly and stuffy headmaster, and Eva Longoria, who plays Margo Beste-Chetwynde – a privileged American married into British society and then widowed, as though she’s a costumed cougar sent through time straight from Desperate Housewives.

 
  
 
 

Fox, 8:00 p.m. ET

Just as Bates Motel got even more interesting, in its final season, as it neared the point when its story line began to merge with the familiar one we knew from Psycho, this Fox series prequel to the Batman saga is getting even sharper as its characters turn, slowly but ever so surely, into the familiar heroes, and villains, from the established lore. Last week, Camren Bicondova’s Selina, whose character is destined to be the future Catwoman, finally aligned with a key moment from the Catwoman origin story, when she was pushed from a tall building to her near-death, and revived by alley cats – just as the future Catwomen played in the movies by Michelle Pfeiffer and Halle Berry before her. And tonight, more villains come to the fore, including Michael Chiklis as the evil-infected Det. Nathaniel Barnes, and DB Wong as Professor Hugo Strange, the mad scientist who not only altered Barnes, but has kept him alive… and angry.

 
  
 
 

NBC, 8:00 p.m. ET

Last week’s competitions included a few tears, a pair of eliminations, and, yes, an awful lot of talent. We’re down to the Top 8 this season – and now, as tonight’s performances help pare things down to the Final 4, the coming eliminations will be some of the deepest cuts of all. There’s very little deadwood left – so it could well depend, tonight, on the song choices, and who best grasps the moment.

 
  
 
 

AMC, 10:00 p.m. ET

Michael Mando’s Nacho, the Iago-like gang functionary in Better Call Saul, is caught between two evils in tonight’s episode – and both of those evils, Mark Margolis' Hector Salamanca and Giancaro Esposito’s Gus Fring, are very evil indeed. And since Nacho never made it to the events depicted in Breaking Bad, whose narratives post-dates those in Saul, there’s every reason to be nervous about Nacho’s long-term survivor. Meanwhile, tonight’s episode offers another reason for heightened anticipation: The promos on AMC included the first-ever time, in this series, the name “Saul Goodman” was uttered aloud. For a column about Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad and what might come next, see Eric Gould’s Cold Light Reader.
 
  
 
 

ABC, 10:01 p.m. ET

SEASON FINALE: In this Season 2 finale, Priyanka Chopra’s federal agent trainee has a lot to deal with – including a new chief executive, President Roarke, who embarks on a whirlwind activity of concocting, presenting and signing a big batch of executive orders. Now where did the writers cone up with that idea? Sometimes, these TV shows write themselves. Other times, they get help from outside inspiration…

 
  
 
 

TBS, 10:30 p.m. ET

In tonight’s episode, Angie and the gang pursue a case, and some very unusual clues, by heading to New York City. The episode’s title, a nice nod to Midnight Cowboy and Dustin Hoffman’s famous “I’m walking here” ad lib: “I’m Solvin’  Here.”

 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.