SUNDAY
MAY 18
2014

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

CBS, 9:00 p.m. ET

SEASON FINALE: A lot happened in last week’s episode, as various hidden motives and agendas came to light. Louis Canning (Michael J. Fox) was revealed as the fox in the henhouse, trying to poison his own law firm at the roots. Eli Gold (Alan Cumming) found out about the actual status of the marriage of convenience between Peter (Chris Noth) and Alicia (Julianna Margulies). And at the startup law firm of Florrick Agos, there are problems too – while at Alicia’s home, both her mother and mother-in-law show up, and team up, in the kitchen.

 
  
 
 

HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET

Last week, Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) was betrayed by his lover, and rejected the secrecy deal for clemency by demanding trial by combat. And whom will he be forced to fight? I’m guessing this particular duel will be all in the family – as in brother against brother.

 

 
  
 
 

AMC, 10:00 p.m. ET

Last week’s Mad Men had some really arresting scenes in its freewheeling story line, including a shocking scene involving deluded self-mutilation. (What was in the box that was given as a gift to Elisabeth Moss’s Peggy? Yikes.) But there also was another impulsive act in last week’s show: a steamy Ménage a trois, featuring Don (Jon Hamm), his wife Megan (Jessica Paré), and Megan’s actress friend Amy (Jenny Wade from Reaper). Everyone seemed to regret it the next morning – some more than others – and the fallout from that should continue in tonight’s episode.

 
  
 
 

Showtime, 10:00 p.m. ET

Tonight’s episode features a séance featuring Vanessa (Eva Green), and, because of Green’s acting rather than any special effects, it’s one of the scariest and most effective séance scenes I’ve ever seen. Also this week: Billie Piper, from Secret Diary of a Call Girl and Doctor Who, is introduced as a poor Irish immigrant with a grim medical prognosis.

 
  
 
 

Sundance, 10:00 p.m. ET

This 1979 movie is now 35 years old – but my, is it still effective, timely and memorable. Peter Sellers, in one of his most restrained yet very best roles, plays a simple-minded gardener who, by circumstance and misunderstanding, becomes embraced as a very wise and influential man. Shirley MacLaine co-stars, Hal Ashby directs, and Jerzy Kosinski adapts his own novel. If you’ve never seen Being There, please take this opportunity.

 

 
  
 
 
 
 
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3695 Comments
 
 
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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.