MONDAY

JANUARY 16

2017

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

Fox, 8:00 p.m. ET

Returning for the new year, this series continues to move forward, giving power to some of its nascent villains and taking power from others. In the fall sequence of shows, we saw the rise of the woman who would become Poison Ivy and the increased derangement of the man who will become the Riddler. And starting with tonight’s episode, there are more tests, travails, and power grabs by the man some people already are calling the Penguin.

TIMELESS

NBC, 10:00 p.m. ET

Tonight’s episode takes place at the 1893 Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World’s Fair. The promo ads trumpet an appearance by Harry Houdini, but there are other things from this particular fairground well worth celebrating. The world’s first Ferris wheel, for example, and a public exhibition by Eadweard Muybridge of his zoopraxiscope, showing some of his motion studies of animals, and naked women, in motion. And Helen Keller, who was taken to the Exposition by her teacher, Annie Sullivan. Oh, and a mayoral assassination to boot – how many will Timeless find time to include?

BIG FAN

ABC, 10:01 p.m. ET

This is a warning, not a recommendation. I threatened this last week, and tonight it arrives: The first installment of tonight’s Big Fan doubleheader, in which celebrities are pitted against fans to see who knows more about that celebrity, features Kim Kardashian West. One of the rotating slogans of TV Worth Watching used to be “No Kardashians,” and that unofficial edict still holds, at least in spirit. But for Kim Kardashian West herself, Big Fan, in which the entire show is built around questions asked about her, just might be the apotheosis of her life to date. So long as no one asks her the definition of apotheosis. The Big Fan centerpiece during the second episode shown tonight: Frozen and The Good Place co-star Kristen Bell.

THE OBAMA YEARS WITH BRIAN WILLIAMS

MSNBC, 11:00 p.m. ET

Tonight on MSNBC, we have an intimate interview special, spending time with a man who is striving to demonstrate how to maintain dignity while losing the power that once made him so prominent and influential. Oh, and President Barack Obama, in the last week of his presidency, is here, too – interviewed by former NBC News anchor, and now MSNBC mainstay, Brian Williams.

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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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BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

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ABC, 10:01 p.m. ET

MSNBC, 11:00 p.m. ET

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