TUESDAY

MARCH 20

2012

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

Public Television, 8:00 p.m. ET

Public TV (Check local listings), iTunes and DVD -- This new documentary, by MTV senior VP Benjamin Wagner and his brother Christofer, is a love letter to Fred Rogers – an exploration of the very personal ways the late public TV children’s host and educator influenced and affected those who watched and met him. I have my own stories about this (they’re in my 1992 book Teleliteracy, in which I interviewed, among others, Rogers himself) – and so do all the people in this fine, from-the-heart film study. It’s on public TV this month, but also available, beginning today, on iTunes, and for sale on DVD HERE – because today is Fred Rogers’ birthday.

GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

Cartoonist Jules Feiffer is the Guest Programmer for TCM tonight – and as you might guess from a mind this dark, even the comedies he selects to start his evening are a bit twisted, pointed and sarcastic. That’s certainly true of his leadoff entry, this 1933 musical that confronts the then-ongoing Depression by singing about it. That starts with the opening song, in which Ginger Rogers, dressed in a giant coin and not much else, sings “We’re in the Money.” And that’s just for starters. By the second verse, she’s singing in Pig Latin. Don’t ask. Just watch.

WIN WIN

More Max, 9:00 p.m. ET

Paul Giamatti and Amy Ryan play a married couple in this character 2011 study, which has him coaching a high school wrestling team and finding a diamond in the rough with one new wrestler in particular. Alex Shaffer, who plays the new recruit, was a real-life high-school wrestler who had never acted in a film before. Giamatti should get partial credit for coaching him there, too: Their scenes together are quite good. And, at times, quite surprising.

JUSTIFIED

FX, 10:00 p.m. ET

“Man Walks Into a Bar” is the name of tonight’s hyper-charged episode – and the man is Quarles (Neal McDonough), who is seeing his dreams of a southern empire implode, and is on the prowl for people to blame, and hurt. By the time he walks into that bar and gets to Raylan (Timothy Olyphant), the camera circles them as they get in each other’s faces – a terrific directorial choice. They’re still as can be, the camera is swirling, an effect which makes them seem like they’re standing in the eye of a hurricane. And with the threats and other remarks they’re calmly throwing at each other, there’s quite a storm brewing. For more, see TVWW contributor Eric Gould’s Cold Light Reader column HERE.

MY MAN GODFREY

TCM, 10:00 p.m. ET

Here’s the second movie selected by Jules Feiffer to show tonight – a 1936 screwball comedy classic staring William Powell and Carole Lombard. He plays in the parlance of the time, a bum, hired by a socialite to serve as her butler and mix with high society, which he wastes no time in ridiculing, often to their faces. It’s a financial class warfare movie that was way, way ahead of its time. Think of the diners at the table as the “1 percenters,” and this movie seems 100 percent topical.

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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

Public Television, 8:00 p.m. ET

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

More Max, 9:00 p.m. ET

FX, 10:00 p.m. ET

TCM, 10:00 p.m. ET

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