SATURDAY

DECEMBER 16

2017

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

BBC America, 9:00 a.m. ET

Whenever I travel to another country, I like to check out the local TV and watch what passes for entertainment there. In Germany, it’s very serious. In England, it’s much more bizarre and oddly comforting than you might suspect. I first watched a British baking show over there – and also watched a darts tournament, and was captivated. Now you can see why, as BBC America packages the current World Championship Darts contest for U.S. consumption. And don’t imagine grizzled old Brits in a darkened pub. This is more like a combination of a cage match with pointy projectiles, and a circus-atmosphere chicken wings eating contest.

MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET

AMC, 8:00 p.m. ET

This is one movie that’s appropriate to show any time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, because that’s when it takes place. The setting: New York City. The plot: a department-store Santa, played by Edmund Gwenn, claims to be the real deal – and a young girl, played in this 1947 holiday film by a sweet and tiny Natalie Wood, believes him. Maureen O’Hara and John Payne co-star. The store, by the way, is Macy’s, and this movie, over the decades, has generated more free publicity, and good will, for the store and its annual Thanksgiving parade and Christmas festivities that there’s probably no real way to calculate it.

SINGIN' IN THE RAIN

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

This 1952 musical probably is the best movie musical ever made, and has the added bonus of telling the story of Hollywood’s transition from silent pictures to the sound era. I just showed it again in my film class, as I do every semester, after teaching all about silent movies. It’s such a fun transition, and Debbie Reynolds, who was 19 when she filmed it, is about the age of my students, so they tend to relate to that as well. And then, of course, there’s Gene Kelly and the spectacularly staged title number, which is nothing less than a song-and-dance ode to joy.

THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW

BBC America, 10:00 p.m. ET

Tonight’s guests include Jessica Chastain, Jack Black, Rebel Wilson, Dawn French, Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart. Now that’s a guest roster. And it’s one couch, no waiting…

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE

NBC, 11:29 p.m. ET

Tonight’s guest host is Kevin Hart, who also can be seen earlier (and taped, from earlier this week) on tonight’s The Graham Norton Show. Musical guest: the Foo Fighters.

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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

BBC America, 9:00 a.m. ET

AMC, 8:00 p.m. ET

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

BBC America, 10:00 p.m. ET

NBC, 11:29 p.m. ET

David Bianculli

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