MONDAY

DECEMBER 2

2013

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

CBS, 8:00 p.m. ET

After last week’s poetry episode, How I Met Your Mother is back to playing with the prose. And tonight, Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) comes up with a questionable inspiration for the rehearsal dinner: laser tag.

A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS

ABC, 8:00 p.m. ET

It was only a handful of days ago that I complained about TV Christmas specials being televised too soon in the season. I should complain again, tonight, but I can’t. Not when any telecast of TV’s all-time best holiday special, now nearly 50 years old, appears in prime time on a broadcast network. So welcome back, Charlie Brown – and all the great music, and the inspirational themes, and one of the best family offerings television has ever produced.

THE HUDSUCKER PROXY

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

Made in 1994, this Coen Brothers film is so clever, in both plot and visuals, that it’s one of those movies that captures, reflects and shares the sheer joy of filmmaking. Tim Robbins stars as a simple toy-company employee who’s taken in by a ruthless corporate executive (Paul Newman). It’s one of the movies highlighted in tonight’s latest installment of TCM’s The Story of Film – An Odyssey.

THE BLACKLIST

NBC, 10:00 p.m. ET

MIDSEASON FINALE: This series will return after the holidays – but for right now, this concluding part of a two-parter leaves viewers with a surprisingly, disturbingly violent story line, in which Red (James Spader) is trapped inside his see-through cage, watching his vengeful enemy taking aim at those on the outside.

THE STORY OF FILM: AN ODYSSEY

TCM, 12:45 a.m. ET

This is the penultimate episode of this imported documentary series, which really is worth setting your recorders to catch. It’s so intelligent, insightful and informative that every episode leaves you enthused about films in general, and the movies discussed in particular. And TCM shows some of the films tonight as bonus treats, including Quentin Tarantino’s breakthrough film, 1992’s Reservoir Dogs (pictured), at 4:15 a.m. ET. So record and enjoy, despite some absurdly dull and lengthy episode titles for each entry in this 15-part series. Tonight’s part 14, for example, is subtitled The 1990s – The First Days of Digital: Reality Losing Its Realness In America and Australia? That may be the least appealing title for a pop-culture overview since, oh, my own first book, Teleliteracy: Taking Television Seriously. Seriously?

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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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BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

CBS, 8:00 p.m. ET

ABC, 8:00 p.m. ET

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

NBC, 10:00 p.m. ET

TCM, 12:45 a.m. ET

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