TUESDAY
AUGUST 15
2017

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Showtime, 5:15 p.m. ET

I’m used to dull TV days during the summer, especially in August – but today may well be the dullest day of the year, with next to nothing to recommend, much less watch. In such cases, it’s best to scour the listings to find some entertaining old movies. I’ve found two, and this is one of them. From 1983, directed by John Landis and showcasing some photogenic Philadelphia locations, this comedy was part of the pop-culture trifecta vaulting a young Eddie Murphy to stardom (the others were Saturday Night Live and 48 HRS.). In this clever comedy, Murphy plays a street hustler, and Dan Aykroyd a privileged preppie, whose lives a pair of wealthy brothers (Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche) overturn and disrupt on a bet. Everyone’s terrific, as are Denholm Elliott as an eventually sympathetic butler and, lest we forget, Jamie Lee Curtis as an eventually sympathetic hooker. Or lust we forget, because Curtis not only was hilarious, but was unforgettably slinky.   

 
  
 
 

Sundance, 6:30 p.m. ET

Here’s another entertaining movie worth seeking out on a slow TV day. From 1990, director Rob Reiner worked with the great screenwriter William Goldman to present a stellar adaptation of the Stephen King story. James Caan plays a writer who is aided, then virtually imprisoned, by an unhinged fan – played, in a star-making, Oscar-winning turn, by Kathy Bates.

 
  
 
 

NBC, 8:00 p.m. ET

If you’re at all curious about the talented that’s been assembled on this show this season, now’s the time to dive in. This is the first live show, with a dozen of the 36 remaining acts performing in hopes of advancing to the next round. Tyra Banks hosts.

 
  
 
 

Discovery, 10:01 p.m. ET

Part 4. Give Discovery some props here. Two weeks ago, it presented the premiere of its first major scripted dramatic series – and surprised almost everyone by how good it was, and remains. Tonight is the fourth installment of this eight-part miniseries, which stars Paul Bettany as the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, and Sam Worthington as FBI profiler James Fitzgerald. And, because of half-hearted scheduling from other networks, Discovery can claim to be presenting the best first-run offering on TV tonight.
 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.