TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET
This 1951 movie about opportunistic reporters reacting to an ongoing mining-disaster cave-in is more than 50 years old now. Regardless, its dissection and criticism of the mass media is so dead-on, and still so astoundingly applicable, it could almost be an extended segment from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Kirk Douglas stars as a reporter who will do almost anything to get the story – and to insert himself deeply into it. Jan Sterling co-stars.
PBS, 9:00 p.m. ET
This new Michael Meyers production transplants the action of Verdi’s opera from 16th-century Mantua to 20th-century Nevada – specifically, to Las Vegas of the Rat Pack 1960s era. (Maybe this version should be called Rig-a-Lotto.) The production, which opened in January, is conducted by Michele Mariotti, and stars Diana Damrau, Piotr Beczala and Zeljko Lucic. Man, am I happy I didn’t have to read that sentence on the radio… Check local listings.
Starz!, 9:00 p.m. ET
This episode takes a curiosity from history – that Leonardo Da Vinci and Vlad the Impaler lived at the same time during the Renaissance – and reimagines it as a dramatic “fact,” with the impulsive Da Vinci (Tom Riley) and the bloody ruler (played by guest star Paul Rhys) crossing paths. Sounds like a Vlad idea to me… but you never know.
HBO, 10:00 p.m. ET
What a lineup for tonight’s new show: Andrew Ross Sorkin, author of Too Big to Fail, is one of Maher’s guests tonight. But so is American diplomat Richard Haass, whose booking couldn’t be more timely. And Zach Galifianakis. Need I say more? How about saying Moore – as in Michael Moore?
TCM, 10:00 p.m. ET
I don’t remember ever seeing this 1954 comedy televised, so it qualifies as a real rarity. Phil Silvers stars, in what essentially is a filmed record of his hit Broadway show. Some of the musical numbers have been cut from surviving prints of this show, but there’s still a lot left. Silvers, later the fast-taking star of the classic sitcom You’ll Never Get Rich, plays a TV comedy star – think Milton Berle – who tries to impress a girl while regaining his former television clout. The cast, most of whom were in the original stage show, include Rose Marie, Jack Albertson, Judy Lynn and Joey Faye. It was filmed, but never released, in 3-D. Now that’s scary, boys and girls…