SATURDAY

APRIL 16

2016

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

PBS, 7:00 p.m. ET

What a conveniently scheduled same-week repeat this is. Tonight at 7 ET, you can watch both installments of Jackie Robinson, the newest nonfiction film from the Ken Burns quality TV factory, as a baseball doubleheader. This touching and informative four-hour biography, in this particular broadcast, can be gobbled up in its entirety – along with as many hot dogs, popcorn, peanuts and Cracker Jacks you care to bring along for the experience. Check local listings.

CONFIRMATION

HBO, 8:00 p.m. ET

TELEMOVIE PREMIERE: It’s been 25 years since Clarence Thomas, going through the confirmation process in his quest to become to next U.S. Supreme Court Justice, hit an unexpected, unprecedented roadblock when a law professor named Anita Hill, a former assistant to Thomas, testified against him, describing such matters of alleged misconduct as… well, sexual harassment of a very memorable kind. In this made-for-TV dramatization by HBO, Kerry Washington from Scandal stars as Anita Hill, and is an executive producer, while Clarence Thomas is played by Wendell Pierce from The Wire. For a full review, see Ed Bark's Uncle Barky's Bytes.

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

TCM presents an unusually goofy double feature tonight: two horror-movie comedies that know enough about the subject they’re spoofing to have some very smart fun with them. First up: Mel Brooks and his 1974 black-and-white Young Frankenstein comedy classic, photographed as lovingly as the James Whale originals. Gene Wilder is perfect as the young doctor, and Peter Boyle is better than perfect, somehow, as his creature, especially when he’s “Puttin’ on the Ritz.”

THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS

TCM, 10:00 p.m. ET

Next up in TCM’s double feature of horror comedies: Roman Polanski’s 1967 The Fearless Vampire Killers, a film that’s as much silent slapstick as atmospheric spookiness. Polanski has a supporting role, and Jack MacGowran stars as the vampire-hunting old professor – but the movie is stolen by young actress Sharon Tate. Two years later, as Polanski’s girlfriend, she was murdered – one of the victims of the gruesome slayings by the Charles Manson family in 1969.

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE

NBC, 11:29 p.m. ET

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who used to be an SNL regular cast member back in 1982-85, returns to the show to host for the third time. (She has hosted previously in 2006 and 2007.) After this, two more times, and she’ll earn her SNL Five-Timers blazer. The musical guest this week: Nick Jonas.

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3685 Comments

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Mar 21, 2026 | Reply

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Arvid Berggren

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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.

New From TVWW

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

PBS, 7:00 p.m. ET

HBO, 8:00 p.m. ET

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

TCM, 10:00 p.m. ET

NBC, 11:29 p.m. ET

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