MONDAY
SEPTEMBER 18
2017

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

ABC, 8:00 p.m. ET

SEASON PREMIERE: This is not a recommendation. This is cycle number 25 for this competition reality show – and really, weren’t two dozen iterations enough? (Especially since the producers of this show keep snubbing Dick Smothers, who’s taken dancing lessons and, for years, has wanted to appear.) But look at the list of this year’s “stars” on Stars, starting with Nick and Vanessa Lachey, and Drew Scott of Property Brothers, and tell me how far ABC is stretching the definition of its acceptable firmament.

 
  
 
 

PBS, 8:00 p.m. ET

Episode 2. Tonight’s installment of this outstanding new series from Ken Burns and Lynn Novick is called “Riding the Tiger,” and focuses on Vietnam during the JFK years, when it was downplayed as a military action of sorts. Last night’s opening installment set the stage for the dangerous quicksand trap that was Vietnam – no bottom, few ways out – and tonight, we see President John F. Kennedy allow his military advisers and others to drag him right into it. This is a fabulous series, and episode. Don’t miss it. Or any of the others. For a full review of this particular episode by Alex Strachan, who will be providing nightly reviews of the entire Vietnam series, see his TV That Matters blog. Check local listings.
 
  
 
 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

Director Cecil B. DeMille had staged one massive biblical epic in 1923, with The Ten Commandments. But after a few years, that was old news, or at least Old Testament. In 1927, DeMille returned with The King of Kings, a silent-movie retelling of the New Testament story of the last days of Jesus Christ. H.B. Warner portrays Christ, and DeMille outdoes himself by going for visual scale and spectacle. In other words, don't expect this particular biblical silent movie to be a run-of-DeMille kind of thing.  Spoiler Alert: Jesus is crucified.
 
  
 
 

NBC, 10:00 p.m. ET

SERIES FINALE: This is not a recommendation. This is the Season 1 finale for this summer supernatural series from the original author of the book series that gave life to HBO’s True Blood. This new series is much less enjoyable, watchable, well-acted and commendable – so much so that I wouldn’t be surprised if this show’s biological clock expires at Midnight, and never gets to Season 2.
 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.