MONDAY
SEPTEMBER 2
2013

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

TCM, 5:45 p.m. ET

This 1982 documentary by Les Blank follows director Werner Herzog as he attempts to make a movie, the same year’s Fitzcarraldo, about an indefatigable visionary who had a dream, against all odds, to drag a steamship across a strip of mountainous dry land in Peru to reach an otherwise inaccessible Amazon tributary. In making the film, Herzog tries the same thing, rather than relying on special effects – and Blank’s movie is almost as amazing as Herzog’s, which originally starred Mick Jagger, and ended up starring Klaus Kinski. It’s followed, at 7:30 p.m. ET, by another documentary showing the insane genius, or stubborn persistence, of Werner Herzog. It’s the filmed culmination of his loss of a bet. The title of this documentary short, shown at 7:30 p.m. ET, says it all: Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe.

 
  
 
 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

A prime-time look at the origins of cinema begins with this TCM compilation, which spends 90 minutes showing some of the earliest films to emerge from the Edison Studios under the auspices of inventor Thomas Edison. My film students will be covering this next week, so they can get a head start here. But everyone should watch this, because I’m sure it will include one of my favorite Edison productions, a film that makes a clear link between the earliest film shorts made for public consumption and the rise of YouTube more than a century later: 1894’s super-brief novelty film, Boxing Cats. And this compilation is followed by another from the earliest days of cinema: Lumiere’s First Picture Shows (1895-1897), at 9:30 p.m. ET.

 
  
 
 

CBS, 10:00 p.m. ET

In tonight’s new episode, Angie (Britt Robertson) tells Junior (Alexander Koch) that the two of them will never, ever, ever get back together, in part because he chained her up in his family's bomb shelter – and her Taylor Swift moment has him threatening to walk away, rather than help with her investigation of the mini-dome. Then again, he can’t walk very far, which is kind of the point.
 
  
 
 

Comedy Central, 10:00 p.m. ET

Seth Rogen is the Roastmaster for this new Comedy Central Labor Day special, a roast of actor James Franco. Nick Kroll asks Franco about his appearance hosting the Oscars with Anne Hathaway, which would seem to be hitting as far below the belt as possible. But with Sarah Silverman, Andy Samberg, Jonah Hill, and others on hand, it’ll get lower.

 
  
 
 

Sundance, 10:00 p.m. ET

Now here is a writers’ room I want to listen in on: Tonight’s show is devoted to FX’s American Horror Story, the first season of which was riveting and daring, and the second season of which, American Horror Story: Asylum, was… strange. Series creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, who also collaborate on Fox’s Glee, will explain what they’ve been up to. And what’s coming next, with the coming season’s American Horror Story: Coven.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.