THURSDAY

MARCH 2

2017

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

TCM is up to W in its alphabetical salute to the Oscars – and that means West Side Story, one of the best movie musicals ever made, gets a prime-time showing tonight. This 1969 version of the Broadway musical, with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, choreography by Jerome Robbins, and starring performances by Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Rita Moreno, and Russ Tamblyn. Tamblyn and Beymer would reunite in the original Twin Peaks TV series – and are reuniting again in Showtime’s upcoming Twin Peaks sequel.

WHEN WE RISE

ABC, 9:00 p.m. ET

Night III. Tonight’s episode, the third of four, takes the narrative up to the early 1990s, as Cleve (Guy Pearce) devotes himself to organizing the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt – while feeling the effects of AIDS all around him, and within him.

RIVERDALE

CW, 9:00 p.m. ET

Last week, I offended a few TVWW readers by writing about Riverdale with a phrase considered uncomfortably cavalier and insensitive. I apologize. I should have said something closer to the phrase that Riverdale was “like a shotgun wedding between Twin Peaks and Gossip Girl.” We live, we learn. So tonight, I’m treading softly. Tonight’s episode, in which Archie, and Josie and the Pussycats perform at the annual Riverdale variety talent show, is titled “Faster, Pussycats! Kill! Kill!” Which is a reference, for some reason, to that classic 1965 Russ Meyer exploitation film, “Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!,” in which three go-go dancers hold a young girl hostage. There are things I could say… but this week, I'm not going to go-go there...

THE HISTORY OF COMEDY

CNN, 10:00 p.m. ET

Tonight’s installment in this impressively thoughtful miniseries is called “Spark of Madness” – a phrase attributed to, and applicable to, Robin Williams – whose moods and mental afflictions, and those of other gifted but partly troubled comedians, are the subject of tonight’s hour.

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?

TCM, 11:00 p.m. ET

This is another W movie showing up alphabetically in TCM’s Oscar salute tonight – but the timing of this particular showing couldn’t be more fortuitous. This 1962 cult horror film starred two legendary actresses, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford (pictured) – and on Sunday, FX launches a new anthology miniseries, Feud, that begins with a multi-part dramatization called Bette and Joan, recreating the behind-the-scenes battles in making What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? This Feud miniseries, starring Susan Sarandon as Bette Davis and Jessica Lange as Joan Crawford, is deliciously acted and is great fun – and what better way to prepare for it than by familiarizing yourself, again or anew, with this over-the-top low-budget psychological horror film? And record it – because as Feud: Bette and Joan unspools in the coming weeks, you’ll want to keep referring back to it.

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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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