TUESDAY

JUNE 19

2012

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

HBO Signature, 7:30 p.m. ET

I’ve become addicted to this 2010 documentary, watching and enjoying it each time it’s televised. Phil Rosenthal pulls off the very difficult trick of directing a documentary in which he is both subject and narrator – yet without making himself look too good or his film too self-absorbed. It’s the story of the effort to take the sitcom he created with Ray Romano, Everybody Loves Raymond, and help produce a version tailored specifically by and for Russian television. What does and doesn’t get lost in the translation is hilarious – and immensely entertaining, as is Rosenthal’s dry-as-sawdust commentary.

SPARTACUS

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

They are lots of wonderful stories – many of them conflicting – about how star Kirk Douglas persuaded Stanley Kubrick to take over the direction of this 1960 gladiator epic. What’s inarguable, though, is the sheer scope of this thing, populated with thousands of extras in an era long before CGI. Lots more extras than in the photo at left, I should stress. Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton and Jean Simmons co-star. I am Spartacus! (Well, not really, but I’m quoting accurately.)

2012 NBA FINALS

ABC, 9:00 p.m. ET

The Miami Heat is up two games to one, though neither of the victories has been that dominant. And tonight is Game 4, with the Heat enjoying home-court advantage once again, and with the Oklahoma City Thunder fighting to win its first road game in this year’s Finals.

DISCOVERING LENNON

BBC America, 9:00 p.m. ET

Broadcast in the U.K. last December, this documentary offers a modern perspective on John Lennon’s musical and social impact – but not much else. Still, it’s a slow summer night, and it’s a new TV show about the Beatles. So I’m there.

TOSH.0

Comedy Central, 10:00 p.m. ET

SEASON PREMIERE: It seems as though this series returns more than once a year and perhaps it does – but Daniel Tosh’s impish way with a punch line is welcome at any time. He manages to make fun of the videos and video subjects he presents without being gleefully cruel. He also, from time to time, gives his virally humiliated guests a shot at redemption. The fact that they miss that shot as often as they hit it, well, that’s not Tosh’s fault. But watchable? Absolutely.

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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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