SUNDAY
MAY 17
2015

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Ovation, 8:00 p.m. ET

I’ve been writing for years about Isabella Rossellini’s bizarrely entertaining, delightfully informative short films about animal behavior, which she presents under the provocative but somewhat misleading title of Green Porno. Yes, she talks mostly about sexual matters, with a combination of straight talk and scientific accuracy and nomenclature that makes her a kind of nature-world Dr. Ruth. But only if you imagine Dr. Ruth dressing up in costumes -- as spiders, ducks, giant sea lions, tiny rodents --  and interacting with elaborately designed “co-stars” crafted out of paper, like a science project South Park. This special documentary follows the actress as she presents her Green Porno project live on stage, performed in three different languages on several continents – something I’ve only heard of one other performer, standup comic Eddie Izzard, attempting successfully. She will charm you here. And she’ll also teach you, I suspect, why ducks have more proportionally impressive penises than gorillas.

 
  
 
 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

Here’s a decadent double feature: Two movies about enticing cabaret singers in Germany, in different eras but with similarly destructive tendencies. First up, at 8 p.m. ET, is Bob Fosse’s superb 1972 movie musical starring Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey, about a Berlin nightclub and the slow but steady and unnerving encroachment of the Nazi Party. Then, at 10:15 p.m. ET, it’s The Blue Angel, from 1930, starring Marlene Dietrich – in her star-making role – as a singer who teases and targets a formerly respected professor (Emil Jennings).

 
  
 
 

HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET

The nooses are tightening, and so are the plot threads. More and more, major characters that we’ve followed separately for years are embarking on paths that will result in a collision course. Family members reunited, sometimes unexpectedly and even unwillingly, as with last week’s sad reunion of siblings – one surrounded by the murderers of her father, the other a broken shell of his former self. And this week, the battle lines continue to be drawn, and redrawn, as the various families struggle to maintain power and protect their respective kingdoms.

 
  
 
 

AMC, 10:00 p.m. ET

SERIES FINALE: It’s all come down to this. Will this final episode of Matthew Weiner’s Mad Men provide a finite conclusion to the story of Don Draper, or will it just stop, as did The Sopranos (on which Weiner was a writer and producer), and as does life? If I had to guess – and some of my close friends keep trying to get me to do just that – I expect that Don, after a steep fall and scary descent, will emerge on his feet, sitting comfortably in some new situation. Because that’s what he’s done, all these years, in the Mad Men opening credits. Whatever happens, I plan to review it tomorrow on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross – so stay tuned…

 
  
 
 

Showtime, 10:00 p.m. ET

In Season 2 of this series, the newest set of supernatural adversaries, the witches, already have proven more powerful – and more creepy and captivating – than the ones in American Horror Story: Coven. And a few episodes in, their battle with our Penny Dreadful band of demon-fighting Scoobys is just getting started. For a full review, see new TVWW contributor Alex Strachan’s TV That Matters.
 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.