THURSDAY
JULY 16
2020

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

National Theatre at Home, 2:00 p.m. ET

National Theatre at Home concludes its what-a-gift season of TV recordings of stage plays from its archives with this 2016 revival of the Peter Shaffer play Amadeus. And what a great way to bring down the curtain on a series of wonderful stage performances, because Amadeus, the story of the musical rivalry between Antonio Salieri and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, began life as a National Theatre production in 1979. Paul Scofield starred as Salieri then, with Simon Callow as Mozart. A year later, in 1980, a production of Amadeus was mounted on Broadway. That’s the first time I saw Ian McKellen, on stage or anywhere else, playing Salieri to Tim Curry’s Mozart. (Yes, that Tim Curry, from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.) In 1984, Hollywood made a movie version, with Tom Hulce as Mozart, and with F. Murray Abraham winning the Best Actor Oscar as Salieri. And now, for one week only starting this afternoon, the National Theatre at Home website and YouTube channel presents its most recent Amadeus production, with Lucian Msamati as Salieri and Adam Gillen as Mozart – and with Southbank Sinfonia providing live musical accompaniment. I’m really, really looking forward to this one.
 
  
 
 

NBC, 8:00 p.m. ET

The promos for this one-shot 30 Rock special are hilarious – but whether and where you can see it depends upon your location and ingenuity. Tina Fey and company designed this One-Time Special as a one-hour comedy, parody and promotional vehicle, with a plot built around the no-longer-in-person NBC upfronts (which promote the planned fall season to advertisers), including either actual or tongue-in-cheek promos for NBC Universal shows and its brand new Peacock streaming site. But at the last minute, more than half the country’s NBC affiliates have rebelled against televising the prime-time 30 Rock special, complaining that it gives too much prominence and promotional airplay to Peacock, a direct threat to local broadcast stations. You can still see 30 Rock in most major cities, because the stations in those bigger markets tend to be owned and operated by the network itself – but if you can’t, NBC Universal is rubbing salt in the wounds of those annoyed local stations by replaying the 30 Rock special, one day later, on such NBC Universal-owned cable networks as Syfy and USA Network. And, of course, also on a one-day-later basis on Peacock itself. And the idea of local NBC broadcast stations refusing to air what is likely to be their most entertaining TV show since Saturday Night Live stopped doing At Home pandemic specials? Well, put that right in the super-stupid “Cut Nose, Spite Face” file…Just the sight of Fey’s Liz Lemon screaming at New Yorkers who aren’t properly socially distancing, and screaming behind a mask that shows her screaming (pictured), is enough to make it a classic.
 
  
 
 

CW, 8:00 p.m. ET

SERIES PREMIERE: This five-part British import is a reality show with a pretend deadly twist. Imagine a Survivor-type reality competition show in which, when a contestant is eliminated at the end of each episode, he or she is eliminated in a literal sense. As in murdered. It’s all pretend – but once the game begins, the players are in it to survive as best they can.
 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.