SUNDAY

SEPTEMBER 17

2017

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

CBS, 8:00 p.m. ET

SPECIAL: Stephen Colbert hosts this year’s Emmy Awards ceremony, which will end dramatically because of a scheduling quirk. Because of a long break between seasons of Game of Thrones, that HBO series, which won Outstanding Drama Series the past two years, isn’t eligible. That makes the field more wide open for the other contenders, only one of which, NBC’s This Is Us, emanates from a broadcast network. The others: AMC’s Better Call Saul (my favorite); Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale (the probable winner); HBO’s Westworld; and Netflix’s The Crown, House of Cards and Stranger Things. In comedy, HBO’s Veep has won the past two years, and is eligible again this year. Its competition includes two broadcast series, both from ABC – black-ish and once-perennial winner Modern Family – as well as FX’s Atlanta, Netflix’s Master of None and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and HBO’s Silicon Valley. For a full preview, see Alex Strachan's TV That Matters.

THE ORVILLE

Fox, 8:00 p.m. ET

This second episode of The Orville gets closer to what this new live-action Seth MacFarlane series intends to be – which, apparently, is a lighthearted but surprisingly sincere salute to the Star Trek series of old. Tonight’s episode, for example, has MacFarlane’s starship Captain Ed Mercer being captured for an interstellar zoo, and placed in exhibit with an attractive female. It’s a plot so old, in Star Trek lore, that it was used in the show’s original pilot – except here, the alluring female is Mercer’s fellow officer, and former spouse, Kelly Grayson (played by Adrienne Palicki from Friday Night Lights).

THE VIETNAM WAR

PBS, 8:00 p.m. ET

MINISERIES PREMIERE: I don’t think, in a decade of TV Worth Watching, we’ve ever blanketed coverage of a single program the way we are on The Vietnam War, the newest mega-documentary series from filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. Most of that is due to how impressive, important and captivating this story, and this TV series, is – and the rest is due to the stellar taste, and inexhaustible commitment, of many of the TVWW contributors. Read, in particular, the various Vietnam dispatches by Alex Strachan, David Hinckley, Ed Bark, Roger Catlin, and Gary Edgerton to get you started, or listen to and read my review of The Vietnam War on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, by visiting the Fresh Air website. Tonight is Part 1 of 10, with installments of The Vietnam War running Sunday through Thursday. Each night, we will provide new coverage, so stay tuned. Tonight’s installment begins in 1858, and devotes itself to the Vietnam wars and invasions before the United States got involved, as well as the rise of Ho Chi Minh (pictured) and our country’s earliest incursions into that part of the world. By the way: Each episode of The Vietnam War ends with a classic rock song played from start to finish over the closing credits – a song with amazing resonance as placed in its time and context. I checked with the Burns folks, and that music indeed will be broadcast intact, without being interrupted for promos for other PBS shows. What a relief. Check local listings.

THE DEUCE

HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET

This evocative new series from David Simon and company presents its second episode tonight, opposite the Emmy Awards. Next year at this time, it’ll be competing for those awards – and Maggie Gyllenhaal pretty much is a lock, already, as a nominee for Best Actress. Tonight, she, and other characters in The Deuce, get their first taste of the porn loops that are making the rounds in New York… and wonder how to get in on some of that lucrative, X-rated action.

RAY DONOVAN

Showtime, 9:00 p.m. ET

Abby (Paula Malcomson) continues down her very sad path, as she and her family deal with her increasingly alarming health problems. And for some reason, tonight’s episode is given the title of one of my favorite actresses from the 1970s and 1980s: “Shelley Duvall.”

EPISODES

Showtime, 10:00 p.m. ET

This series is showing its final few episodes of Episodes – but as this real-life TV series starring Matt LeBlanc is coming to an end, its plot concerns the development of one final Matt LeBlanc series.

VICE PRINCIPALS

HBO, 10:30 p.m. ET

SEASON PREMIERE: Danny McBride and Walton Goggins are back for Season 2 of Vice Principals. Their rivalry is over, sort of, and one has ascended to the seat both had coveted. But this season shifts from competition to investigation, as they team up to solve this show’s new, central mystery.

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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

CBS, 8:00 p.m. ET

Fox, 8:00 p.m. ET

PBS, 8:00 p.m. ET

HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET

Showtime, 9:00 p.m. ET

Showtime, 10:00 p.m. ET

HBO, 10:30 p.m. ET

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