WEDNESDAY
JULY 19
2017

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

My TiVo DVR memory has been swallowed almost totally by this TCM month-long presentation of the films of Alfred Hitchcock, a ridiculously generous overview that continues every Wednesday and Friday night all month. Truly, almost every film contains enough ingenuity and artistry to justify diving into it all over again – and if any of these films is new to you, please take full advantage of the opportunity. The movie that opens tonight’s tribute, for example, is 1948’s Rope (pictured), the director’s first full-color film, and one for which he set himself a fascinating, restrictive method of filming: Rope, about the execution and investigation of a cold-blooded “random” murder, would be performed by its actors in uninterrupted 10-minute takes (the length of a reel of film), then spliced together at carefully constructed, seemingly seamless edit points to make the action seem like a real-time, unbroken narrative. Take that, Birdman! That was almost 70 years ago – and it’s only the first of tonight’s Hitchcock movies shown until dawn tomorrow. Among the others: 1950’s Stage Fright (9:30 p.m. ET), and 1954’s classic Dial M for Murder (3:30 a.m. ET).

 
  
 
 

NBC, 9:00 p.m. ET

Tonight’s episode has Cynthia (Loretta Devine) learning that her parents, after all this time, are having some marital difficulties. It leads to a multi-generational discussion about marriage – and also makes room for guest stars Starletta DuPois and Bill Cobbs, playing her parents. Jerrod Carmichael stars.

 
  
 
 

BBC America, 10:00 p.m. ET

In tonight’s new episode, sexual assault victim Trish (Julie Hesmondhalgh) returns to the scene of the crime – a visit that may or may not jog her memory, and that also may or may not place her in additional danger.

 
  
 
 

TBS, 10:30 p.m. ET

Comedy Central’s The Daily Show didn’t get an Emmy nomination this year in the variety talk series category. Neither did NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. But Samantha Bee’s TBS show – the little talk show that could – did. And tonight, she returns, to talk Trump, Putin, Trump Jr., and health care. For starters.

 
  
 
 

TCM, 11:30 p.m. ET

Alfred Hitchcock wasted no time whatsoever in getting this particular murder story to the screen. Patricia Highsmith published the novel of the same name in 1950 – and by1951, Hitch had the movie in theaters, starring Farley Granger and Robert Walker as the titular new acquaintances – one of whom suggests to the other that they each murder an enemy of the other, thus committing murder without any apparent connections to the crime. Great premise – and, in Hitchcock’s hands, a very suspenseful movie, especially when one of the strangers has second thoughts.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.