FRIDAY
MAY 16
2014

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

ABC, 11:00 a.m. ET

Barbara Walters makes her final regular appearance as co-host of the daytime talk show she founded, on the day ABC devotes a total of three hours (two in prime time) to her official television farewell, after many storied decades on NBC and ABC. But three hours is a conservative estimate, since she’ll also be toasted on Good Morning America and, most certainly, ABC World News with Diane Sawyer. On The View, Walters’ final guests include Sally Field, James McAvoy, B.J. Novak and John Leguizamo.

 
  
 
 

ABC, 9:00 p.m. ET

From “Today girl” to the first female co-anchor of a network evening newscast, Barbara Walters ascended quickly through the ranks of network TV, shattering the glass ceiling all the way. Then, in the Seventies and ever since, conducting interviews with newsmakers and celebrities that often were as newsworthy and popular as the subjects of her inquiry.  Tonight, she becomes the interviewee for a while – but it’s the clips that will count the most here, a valuable compendium of pop-culture history whether or not you witnessed them the first time.

 
  
 
 

PBS, 9:00 p.m. ET

This latest American Masters program looks at the original, and still champion, professional amateur – a guy so curious, and so capable, that he was able to step into the shoes of other people and write stories about the experience. That was true even if those shoes belonged to the quarterback of a professional football team, and the lessons George Plimpton revealed in his book called Paper Lion was only one of his many triumphs in that arena. Yet he played in many other arenas as well, serving as co-founder and editor of The Paris Review for half a century, and becoming such an icon himself that the people gathered to discuss him here are like one of the celebrity-filled parties Plimpton was famous for hosting. Even Ken Burns shows up, consenting to be a talking head in someone else’s documentary. Check local listings.

 
  
 
 

HBO, 10:00 p.m. ET

I don’t mean to slight any of the politicians and scientists appearing on tonight’s show, but I’m particularly looking forward to another return appearance by Kevin Nealon. His dry delivery, and willingness to say just about anything he thinks, usually catches Maher off guard and makes him laugh out loud. Me, too.

 
  
 
 

NBC, 10:01 p.m. ET

At the end of last week’s show, NBC’s on-air promo flashed a series of all-caps phrases, which, when read together, asked: “WILL HANNIBAL FINALLY GET HIS JUST DESERTS?” I’m guessing he won’t – not unless he’s been clamoring for a private Sahara.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.