THURSDAY
JANUARY 2
2014

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Crackle, 12:00 a.m. ET

SEASON PREMIERE: A new season of Jerry Seinfeld’s online series begins on Crackle today (available any time) with a visit with Louis C.K., for which Paul Revere would have to light three lamps: unlike the British, Seinfeld and his guest, in this outing, arrive both by land and by sea. They tool around in both a car and a boat, but I doubt whether it’s a back-door spinoff: Comedians in Boats Getting Coffee sounds a bit too… let them eat cake-ish. This series as it is, though, is my idea of one of the few perfect realizations of an Internet series. Focused, unique, brief, polished, and highly entertaining.

 
  
 
 

NBC, 8:00 p.m. ET

SEASON PREMIERE: Last year, this series plodded on without its creator Dan Harmon, whose departure from the show was more the network’s idea than his own. Tonight, after a long fall hiatus, Community is back, and so is Harmon, with an episode that jumps forward in time for a Season 5 shuffling of the deck, or at least the premise. “We can ‘Repilot,’” one character says, employing the title of the episode itself. “Like Scrubs, Season 9!” And they do, though, it seems, no more impressively. But still, there are loyal fans of this series, so here it is.

 
  
 
 

CBS, 8:00 p.m. ET

Years ago on Chuck Lorre’s Two and a Half Men, Jon Cryer’s Alan had a beautiful, blonde, not very bright significant other named April (played entertainingly by April Bowlby), an aspiring actress who got a job on a TV pilot very much like CSI: Miami. Tonight on The Big Bang Theory, Kaley Cuoco, as Penny, gets a similar acting opportunity – on another CBS TV institution, NCIS.

 
  
 
 

PBS, 9:00 p.m. ET

This Season 2 opener of Sherlock introduced an adapted version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s memorable character of Irene Adler, embodied on television by Lara Pulver. And I do mean embodied, since Irene introduces herself to Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) in a way that’s intended to rattle him: totally nude. Oh, and it works. It’s elementary, my dear Watson. Check local listings.

 
  
 
 

CBS, 10:00 p.m. ET

On the same day a Sherlock repeat featuring the character of Irene Adler shows up on PBS, a new episode of Elementary is presented, featuring the same character. But here, she’s played by Natalie Dormer, who also plays Margaery on HBO’s Game of Thrones – and she’s not only Irene Adler, but Adler herself also has been revealed to be Sherlock Holmes’ greatest adversary, Moriarty. Which means, in this CBS reboot of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle classic, that of the three key characters in the original series of stories, only the star detective himself (played on CBS by Jonny Lee Miller), for television, has not been rewritten as a female – since Dr. Watson, of course, is played by Lucy Liu.

 
  
 
 

NBC, 10:00 p.m. ET

Parenthood begins 2014 with an episode that slowly even sneakily, takes your breath away, with a character revelation that has been years in the making – and which, I’m equally thrilled and ashamed to say, I never saw coming. But whether or not you see it coming in advance, make sure to see it. Once again, by the opening credits, Parenthood had me shedding a tear, simply by watching the tender, intelligent depiction of the closest thing TV gives us, right now, to everyday life. Oh, and give extra credit to Ray Romano, in his recurring role as photographer Hank. Once again on this series, he proves to be as naturally gifted at drama as he is at comedy.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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4613 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.