FRIDAY
DECEMBER 16
2016

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Amazon Prime Video, 3:00 a.m. ET

SEASON PREMIERE: For the new second season of The Man in the High Castle, the involvement of executive producer Frank Spotnitz reportedly has been reduced, which is a bad sign. But this season, there’s a new addition to the cast: the talented Stephen Root (one of my favorite things about the delightful O Brother, Where Art Thou?), playing the very elusive and mysterious title character. He’s seen for the first time on this series – and even though he’s real, the realities around him remain disturbingly… fluid. For a full review, see David Hinckley’s All Along the Watchtower.
 
  
 
 

Netflix, 3:00 a.m. ET

This 2016 biographical movie premieres today on Netflix, starring Devon Terrell as the young Barack Obama, seen here as an earnest and argumentative college student, just entering Columbia University at the start of the Reagan era. This movie is directed by Vikram Gandhi of HBO’s Vice – which ought to give you a sense of his in-your-face approach to the film’s politics and personal conflicts. But look at it this way, as a partnership of sorts you thought you’d never see: together again for the first time, Obama and Gandhi!

 
  
 
 

Netflix, 3:00 a.m. ET

SERIES PREMIERE: This new eight-part series was announced by Netflix only earlier this week, and drops today like a surprise Beyoncé album, all at once with little advance warning. It stars Brit Marling as a young woman named Prairie, who’s seen in the opening scene – captured on video from a camera phone – as she walks to the edge of a bridge and slides off. She survived the fall – but somehow, survived a lot more, too, including experiences that are a lot more mysterious and spooky. I’m not hiding any secrets from you, really. I’ve watched only the first hour, and everything, including the meaning of the title, remains unsolved at this point.

 
  
 
 

USA, 9:00 p.m. ET

NBC and its Universal parent company, which also owns USA, has a lock on TV rights to It’s a Wonderful Life – which is why it’s showing up on USA tonight, one of its rare prime-time appearances during the holidays. This delightful 1939 James Stewart movie is controlled by the corporations and money men – which makes the scenes with the bankers in this film even more disturbing and ominous.

 
  
 
 

Fox, 9:01 p.m. ET

SEASON FINALE: Season 1 of The Exorcist ends with this series already having served up more than its share of surprises – including the revelation (stop reading here if you’re behind, and care) that Geena Davis’ lead character turns out to be the grown-up Regan from the original Exorcist movie. And now, after last week’s show, she’s been possessed again, by the same old evil spirit of Pazuzu.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.