SUNDAY

FEBRUARY 2

2014

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

Animal Planet, 3:00 p.m. ET

Every two hours, from 3 p.m. to 5 a.m. ET, Animal Planet taps into Super Bowl fever with its cute and fuzzy counter-programming stunt, Puppy Bowl, which has been around long enough to earn, this year, an “X marks the spot” suffix. It’s puppies rolling around, and doing other cute stuff, on a miniature football field, with kitty capers at halftime and penguin cheerleaders (no kidding) around for this year’s ride. In other words, it’s YouTube without the Internet. Also on TV today, on a competing network: Hallmark Channel’s Inaugural Kitten Bowl, which the Hallmark Channel shows every three hours, beginning at noon, until midnight. Not to be outdone, Animal Planet, at noon, presents a special Kitty Half Time Show Dress Rehearsal.

SUPER BOWL XLVIII

Fox, 6:30 p.m. ET

Perhaps you’ve already heard this is going to be on TV today. And here it is: the NFL’s best offense (the Denver Broncos, led by QB Peyton Manning) against the NFL’s best defense (the Seattle Seahawks, featuring Richard Sherman, whose last-second defensive play and defiant postgame rant in the NFC Championship Game drew equal attention). Despite initial fears, the weather is expected to be good enough to allow for the Broncos’ passing game, which should test both teams’ strengths, and weaknesses, equally. There are team legacies at stake, but individual ones as well: Sherman, with a win, could turn into the defensive equivalent of Joe Namath – while Peyton, with a win, would become the first QB to win a Super Bowl with two different teams. And in addition to the game, there’s the halftime show – Bruno Mars this year – and, of course, the commercials.

MASTERPIECE CLASSIC: "DOWNTON ABBEY"

PBS, 9:00 p.m. ET

Few networks are presenting first-run programming against the Super Bowl tonight, but PBS is one of them. Tonight on Masterpiece Classic is the fifth episode of Season 4 of Downton Abbey – in which a surprise party is thrown for Robert, the relationship of Anna and Bates is redefined again, and, as always, Maggie Smith’s Dowager Countess gets all the best lines. Check local listings.

MASTERPIECE MYSTERY!: "SHERLOCK"

PBS, 9:58 p.m. ET

SEASON FINALE: Last week’s episode, Sign of Three, was a mostly comic departure for Sherlock, but you have to admit, the last-second reveal that added new meaning to its title – a play on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original Sign of Four Sherlock Holmes mystery – was as clever as it was unexpected. Tonight, the third and final story in Season 3 of Sherlock is presented. It’s His Last Vow, and introduces a new criminal mastermind for Holmes to confront: a media mogul named Charles Augustus Magnusson, played by Lars Mikkelsen, of Borgen and the original version of The Killing. Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman star. Check local listings.

NEW GIRL

Fox, 10:30 p.m. ET

Whenever the Super Bowl post-game show ends, tonight’s special showing of Fox’s New Girl sitcom begins. And as befitting its lofty status, and its potentially huge lead-in audience, tonight’s show gives Zooey Deschanel a very high-profile guest star: the artist formerly, and once again, known as Prince. Seven years ago, Prince performed a bit earlier in the evening – as the sizzling halftime show headliner for Super Bowl XLI.

BROOKLYN NINE-NINE

Fox, 11:00 p.m. ET

Here’s a trivia question with which you can stump people at today’s Super Bowl party: Which actor has starred in two different TV series in an episode featured after a Super Bowl, playing cops in both of them? The answer: Andre Braugher, whose NBC drama series Homicide: Life on the Street was launched with a special post-Super Bowl showcase in 1993. Tonight, he shows up again, opposite Andy Samberg, in a Fox sitcom, this time playing gay Brooklyn police captain Ray Holt.

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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

Animal Planet, 3:00 p.m. ET

Fox, 6:30 p.m. ET

PBS, 9:00 p.m. ET

PBS, 9:58 p.m. ET

Fox, 10:30 p.m. ET

Fox, 11:00 p.m. ET

David Bianculli

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