SUNDAY

JUNE 17

2018

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

2018 FIFA WORLD CUP

Various Networks, 8:00 a.m. ET

Fox gets to televise one game today before shifting its focus to U.S. Open golf. At 8 a.m. ET, Costa Rica faces Serbia in a Group E contest. Then Fox Sports 1 takes over for the day’s remaining, and more high-profile, two games. In the first, Group F leaders Germany and Mexico duel at 11 a.m. ET. Following that, the leaders of Group E, Brazil and Switzerland, take to the pitch, and attack and defend one another.

2018 U.S. OPEN MEN'S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP

Fox, 10:00 a.m. ET

The course this year at Shinnecock Hills has proven so unforgiving that not only Tiger Woods, but Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy, failed to make the cut for weekend play. Dustin Johnson, the world’s top-ranked golfer, led the field for the first half of the tournament – but, as always with pro golfers who take and maintain an early lead, the equally tricky part is to finish with the lead still intact. If that’s going to happen, it’ll be during today’s final round.

DEATH OF A SALESMAN

TCM, 5:30 p.m. ET

Here’s something tricky, and uncomfortable, to contemplate. This 1985 made-for-TV filmed adaptation of the Arthur Miller classic, starring Dustin Hoffman as iconic past-his-prime traveling salesman Willy Loman, is a brilliant piece of work. Not only is the play itself heart-wrenching and important – attention must be paid – but the core performances, by Hoffman and by Kate Reid, John Malkovich and Stephen Lang, who play his wife and sons, respectively, are flawless. Yet this is the production on which Hoffman recently has been accused of backstage sexual harassment by Anna Graham Hunter, who was a 17-year-old production intern at the time. So do you value and continue to watch and enjoy the work while disapproving of the behavior of the artist at its center? Or are the alleged acts so heinous that the work of art itself is tainted and devalued as a result? (See also, for discussion points, Roman Polanski with Chinatown and Bill Cosby with The Cosby Show.)

WESTWORLD

HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET

Tonight’s new episode is the penultimate one of Season 2, and spends some time outside of the increasingly bloody theme parks. Specifically, it flashes back in the life of the Man in Black, the Ed Harris character, to a time when he was more like the Man in Black Tux – and when his wife, played by the always impressive Sela Ward, was still alive.

THE AFFAIR

Showtime, 9:00 p.m. ET

SEASON PREMIERE: It’s Season 4, and the principal characters of this Rashomon-style love story continue to intersect and interact. It’s no longer a love triangle, or even a pentagon, and new sides are being added all the time. But as the new season begins, a year has passed in the show’s narrative, and things are notably different. Alison (Ruth Wilson) has remained in New York, as a crisis counselor. Noah (Dominic West), with whom she had one of this show’s titular affairs, has moved to Los Angeles, taking a new job as a professor. Helen (Maura Tierney), Noah’s ex, has moved to L.A. too, with their children and with a new boyfriend. And speaking of exes: Alison’s ex, Cole (Joshua Jackson), is still around too, remarried but unable to let go of his feelings for Alison. And here we go again, with more unreliable perspectives than ever. For a full review, see David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower.

SUCCESSION

HBO, 10:00 p.m. ET

The intrigue continues as the power in this very wealthy family shifts suddenly and substantially, like a financial tectonic plate. And when the ground settles, there are new faces standing at the top.

LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER

HBO, 11:00 p.m. ET

I wrote this last week, but it still applies: There may never be a slow news week again. But in the meantime, on many weeks such as this one, at least we have John Oliver to make sense of it all. And nonsense, too.

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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.

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BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

Various Networks, 8:00 a.m. ET

Fox, 10:00 a.m. ET

TCM, 5:30 p.m. ET

HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET

Showtime, 9:00 p.m. ET

HBO, 10:00 p.m. ET

HBO, 11:00 p.m. ET

David Bianculli

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