FRIDAY

APRIL 18

2014

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

CW, 8:00 p.m. ET

Boy, am I glad I don’t have to try to say this on the radio: Tonight’s guest, in this effortlessly endearing CW improv comedy sketch series, is champion sumo wrestler Byambajav Ulambayar.

ARGO

Cinemax, 8:00 p.m. ET

This 2012 fact-based thriller, directed by and starring Ben Affleck, is an intense and entertaining account of a bold and bizarre attempt to extricate some diplomats who had fled from the takeover of the American embassy in Iran in 1979, in a mission that remained top secret for decades after. The supporting cast is full of talented TV faces: Bryan Cranston from Breaking Bad, John Goodman from Roseanne, Victor Garber from Alias, Tate Donovan from Damages, and Kyle Chandler from Friday Night Lights.

THE LAST SONG

ABC Family, 9:00 p.m. ET

It was four years ago, back in 2010, that Miley Cyrus starred in this standard romantic drama, playing a somewhat rebellious young woman who gets closer to her dad (Greg Kinnear) because of their shared love of music. In real life, that same story line was acted out by Miley Cyrus too, in a way, but with a lot more tongue. And twerking. And notably, her love interest in this coming-of-age romance movie is played by Liam Hemsworth, who went on to co-star in The Hunger Games as Gale Hawthorne. So this is of interest as a social and pop-culture artifact – just not as a movie.

PARKLAND

Starz!, 9:00 p.m. ET

Peter Landesman, an investigative reporter for The New York Times Magazine and a former war correspondent, directed and co-wrote this fact-based 2013 movie with Vincent Bugliosi, the former prosecutor whose bestseller Helter Skelter provided a detailed look behind the scenes in the trial of Charles Manson. In Parkland, Bugliosi and Landesman follow the trails of many storylines ripping in and around Dallas in the immediate aftermath of the shooting of John F. Kennedy. The stars include Paul Giamatti (pictured) as Abraham Zapruder, who took what turned out to be the only filmed record of the assassination, and Billy Bob Thornton as a secret service agent.

THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE

TCM, 10:00 p.m. ET

This is as noir as film noir gets. In this 1946 study in love, lust and greed, John Garfield stars as a man who thinks he’s on to a good thing: the apparent love of a bad woman. Lana Turner plays that scheming woman, and plays her like a spider in full command of its web – and its prey.

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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

CW, 8:00 p.m. ET

Cinemax, 8:00 p.m. ET

ABC Family, 9:00 p.m. ET

Starz!, 9:00 p.m. ET

TCM, 10:00 p.m. ET

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