THURSDAY
APRIL 20
2017

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Encore, 7:59 p.m. ET

It’s been 20 years since Howard Stern starred, quite effectively, as a younger version of himself in this 1997 biographical film comedy, based on his bestseller. Betty Thomas directs the movie, and Mary McCormack stars as his wife Alison, whose loving relationship with shock-jock radio personality Stern forms the core of the film. In real life, they divorced in 2001. In Private Parts, the scene-stealer, in addition to Stern himself, is Paul Giamatti, in an early breakout role as WNBC radio executive Kenny, whose clashes with Stern are hilarious.

 
  
 
 

NBC, 9:00 p.m. ET

SERIES RETURN: After a hiatus, and a time-slot grab by inferior spinoff Blacklist: The Redemption, the original article, starring James Spader, returns – with a doubleheader. For a feature story, see David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower.
 
  
 
 

CNN, 10:00 p.m. ET

DOCUMENTARY SERIES PREMIERE: This new series aims to trace and point out some of the connections between music and real life – singling out some of the songs that reflected or propelled the events of the time. The topic for this opening hour is Martin Luther King, Jr., from the rise of the civil rights movement to King’s assassination and beyond. In that context, Soundtracks makes room for everything from James Brown’s “Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud)” to Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright.” And I’m hoping, at some point, it also makes room for Dion’s quiet, moving 1968 anthem “Abraham, Martin and John,” which also managed to allude to the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, and Bobby Kennedy.

 
  
 
 

Starz!, 10:51 p.m. ET

With this week’s first taste of Season 3 of FX’s Fargo, Noah Hawley has now made three delectable variations on the Coen Brothers’ original theme. But tonight on Starz, you can revisit their 1996 original, starring Frances McDormand as a Minnesota police chief investigating a particularly bizarre and brutal murder case. Hawley’s TV miniseries versions of Fargo have been superb… but the original film, co-starring William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare, was utterly flawless.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.