FRIDAY
MARCH 2
2018

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Netflix, 3:00 a.m. ET

DOCUMENTARY MINISERIES PREMIERE: Eight-part documentary about Flint, MI. focuses mostly on the police force – like an episode of COPS set in the former poison-water capital of the U.S., except taking place over a year or more. And that year was after the 2014 poisoning of the city’s water supply, and, over the course of its eight episodes, includes both a local and a presidential election.

 
  
 
 

PBS KIDS, Check local listings

What do you do with the mad that you feel? Fred Rogers explains it all for you – and so does Daniel Tiger – in this week’s final paired double feature of the animated Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood series and its Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood vintage forebear. From the former, today’s episodes are “Daniel Gets Mad” and “Katerina gets Mad.” From the original Fred Rogers PBS series, it’s “Mad Feelings” – one of the most famous Mister Rogers topics of all. Check local listings.

 
  
 
 

HBO, 8:00 p.m. ET

It’s not unusual, especially in the era after the introduction of home video releases, for directors to go back to pet projects and reassemble them as official “Director’s Cuts.” The studio releasing these films, you’d think, might be opposed to playing with a movie’s history, contents and approach – but to a movie, an alternate release merely means a new stream of revenue, giving the most loyal fans something else to watch and purchase. Ridley Scott’s Alien, a space thriller starring Sigourney Weaver in one of the most influential action movies of its era, was released in 1979. This new version, supervised by Scott himself, was released 28 years later, in 2003. And unlike almost all other re-edited projects of this sport, Alien: The Director’s Cut actually comes out shorter than the original – by 47 seconds. Scott did add several alternate or deleted scenes to his new version but also tightened the edits and pacing throughout, streamlining its pace for a more modern generation of viewers.

 
  
 
 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

TCM’s annual “31 Days of Oscar” celebration is almost over, because the Oscars, which are televised Sunday, are almost here. Tonight, though, TCM squeezes in a few more Academy Award-winning films – and the first two tonight, which are excellent films indeed, share another, more dubious distinction. Both of tonight’s prime-time movie offerings, starting with Woody Allen’s 1977 comedy classic Annie Hall, star actors who have been accused, during this recent, still-percolating #MeToo movement, of sexual misconduct or harassment. But if you begin pondering the question about whether you can separate the art from the artist, Annie Hall is a potent starting point, because it is, inarguably, one of the best comedy movies ever made – as well as one of the few comedies to win the Best Picture Oscar. But to make things comfortable while watching tonight, focus on Diane Keaton’s peerless, perfect performance, not only as a dramatic and comic actress, but as a singer. The closing scene, when she’s in a club performing “Seems Like Old Times,” gives Annie Hall the emotional capper it demanded, and needed.

 
  
 
 

PBS, 9:00 p.m. ET

This new installment of Frontline, reconstructing the long history of allegations swarming around film mogul Harvey Weinstein, gets most of its strength, as did the start of the #MeToo movement, by women coming forth to testify against him, in detailing their allegations of Weinstein’s previous mistreatment of them as young actresses or others in his powerful orbit. Some voices you’d expect to take part are not present here, which gives the documentary, like the case against Weinstein, the feel of a persuasive work in progress. For a full review, see Alex Strachan’s TV That Matters. Check local listings.

 
  
 
 

ABC, 9:01 p.m. ET

When ABC and Disney snatched up the Marvel universe, you knew it would lead to more marketing of all its related major franchise properties. But tonight’s move may have been less expected. In an obvious yet surprising move to bring Disney Channel viewers to ABC and its televised, ongoing Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. series, the network has cast Dove Cameron, its standout young Disney Channel star from both Liv and Maddie (a sitcom where she played both roles) and the Descendants telemovies (where she stars Maleficent’s daughter Mal), in a guest role as Ruby, a rebellious young daughter of a military mom poised to hunt and capture the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., who in this midseason return are back in their own time – but hunted as fugitives.

 
  
 
 

HBO, 10:00 p.m. ET

Tonight’s scheduled guests include former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and frequent MSNBC-consulting expert historian Jon Meacham. That’d make an interesting Real Time show right there – but what’s likely to make it a great one are the show’s opening interview guests. Usually, Maher restricts that space to presenting a single interviewee, but tonight he plans to present a twofer: David Hogg and Cameron Kasky, student survivors of last month’s mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, and co-founders of the student advocacy gun control group Never Again MSD. Hogg, especially, as a standout student journalist interviewing and recording fellow students as they hid in school during the siege, has had plenty of opportunities to express his story and views on TV (pictured) – but not in an uncensored format, with Maher there to lead the discussion. Should be fascinating. Should be emotional, too.
 
  
 
 

TCM, 10:00 p.m. ET

Here’s tonight’s other Best Movie winner in prime-time on TCM – and the other movie to star an actor recently accused of sexual misconduct or sexist abuse of power in Hollywood. That would be Dustin Hoffman, and, once again, you can have a heated argument about art vs. artists, because Kramer vs. Kramer, too, is a wonderful movie. And once again, I’d suggest focusing this time on the female co-star: It’s Meryl Streep, in 1979, in her first film role.. and she’s fantastic. She won the Oscar that year for Best Supporting Actress, Hoffman for Best Actor, and Robert Benton for both Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. And, of course, the movie won as Best Picture, too...
 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.