THURSDAY
JULY 2
2015

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Destination America, 5:00 p.m. ET

In anticipation of all the outdoor grilling to be attempted this weekend, weather and vegans permitting, BBQ Pitmasters serves up a seven-hour marathon of grilling tips. Included among the recipes: bacon-covered bison brisket, which may be the most audacious and aromatic alliterative I’ve ever encountered. The coals start heating up at 5 p.m. ET, and the last dishes are served at 2 a.m. ET.

 
  
 
 

CNN, 9:00 p.m. ET

Because this is heading to a holiday weekend, CNN is opting not to present an original installment of its newest documentary series. That’s the bad news. The good news is that, starting tonight at 9 p.m. ET, it’s repeating the three episodes televised so far: on television, Watergate, and the Vietnam War, respectively. Oh, and consider this a warning, as well as a recommendation: In the first part, on television in the Seventies, I appear on camera from time to time. But watch it anyway…

 
  
 
 

IFC, 10:00 p.m. ET

On tonight’s episode, Marc Maron accepts an invitation from his friend Adam Goldberg to visit Adam’s college class and lecture on comedy. I haven’t seen the entire episode, just a preview clip – but even the clip made me laugh out loud, once the students starting interrupting Maron’s lecture. “Academic heckling,” he responded wearily. “Is that a thing, really?” It can be. When I tell a joke or make a reference in one of my classes and am greeted with the sound of silence, I often say, “When I went into teaching, I was told that if I reached only one person, that would be enough. I just didn’t know that, most of the time, that person would be me.” And if they don’t respond to that, either, it just makes me laugh all the more, in a disconnecting downward spiral. Makes me laugh, every time it happens. Makes me laugh – just not them. Good luck tonight, Marc.

 
  
 
 

Comedy Central, 11:00 p.m. ET

In these last Daily Show programs before he steps down, Jon Stewart has made it clear that he doesn’t want a Cal Ripken-style farewell tour – just a last lap with good guests and good friends. Tonight, he has both. His scheduled guest is author Sarah Vowell, who’s not only a former contributing editor to This American Life, but also was a former correspondent for The Daily Show.

 
  
 
 

Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m. ET

Larry Wilmore, in the wake of news events the past few weeks, has done his very best work since launching The Nightly Show – great pieces, provocative discussions, and brave, funny, intensely honest personal reflections and history lessons. (For a sample of these, listen to my report, on cable comedy shows and their reactions to recent news events, on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross website.) Tonight, reacting to news events in his booking of guests as well, Wilmore welcomes LaBree Newsome, the woman who recently climbed the flagpole in front of the South Carolina Statehouse and took down the Confederate flag. On Monday, Wilmore said, “It’s kind of like that old saying: ‘If you want something done, wait around and do nothing until a kickass black woman comes along and does that s**t for you.’” Tonight, he talks to her in person.
 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.