SUNDAY
OCTOBER 21
2018

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Fox, 8:00 p.m. ET

Yes, The Simpsons has been churning out these annual, anything-goes Treehouse of Horror fantasy anthologies for XXIX years now. That’s astounding. And these installments always are among the show’s most inventive, because there are no rules, and most segments include the death of at least one familiar character along the way. Tonight’s show includes a segment spoofing Jurassic Park, in which at least one of the prize specimens is Jurassic, or at least geriatric, in her own right.

 
  
 
 

Showtime, 8:00 p.m. ET

This week’s show covers three key Senate races in the 2018 midterms – and covers them by sending correspondents there to test political temperatures at ground level. John Heilemann goes to North Dakota to interview Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (pictured); Alex Wagner interviews another Democrat, Nevada Representative Jacky Rosen, who’s running for the Senate opposite Republican incumbent Dean Heller; and Mark McKinnon travels to Arizona to cover both sides of one of the most competitive Senate races in this coming election, between Republican Representative Martha McSally and Democrat Representative Kyrsten Sinema.

 
  
 
 

BBC America, 8:00 p.m. ET

Jodie Whittaker, as the newest Doctor, has established both her presence and her personality, as well as a handy little alien self-defense move that’s even cooler than Spock’s Vulcan nerve pinch. Tonight, the Doctor takes the TARDIS, and the new companions, on a road trip through time, and to the planet Earth. The date: 1955. The place: Montgomery, AL. The person encountered there, whose historic contributions may be in danger of being altered by others: Rosa Parks (Vinette Robinson, pictured).

 
  
 
 

AMC, 9:00 p.m. ET

The bridge needs to be rebuilt – infrastructure is key, even after the apocalypse – and the different communities team up to accomplish that mission. But not without a lot of conflict, which has Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride) holding off a mutiny, and Daryl and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) taking off on their own (pictured). Maintaining the peace is tricky... but I guess they'll cross that bridge when they come to it...

 
  
 
 

HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET

Both bartender Vincent (James Franco) and aspiring filmmaker Candy (Maggie Gyllenhaal) are tasting success at the moment, which means change, and conflict, for both of them. Vincent may want to chuck it all, and give up life on the Deuce for a more mainstream existence in the suburbs, happily nested with Abby (Margarita Levieva). Candy, meanwhile, is wrapping up her “Red Hot” X-rated film version of the Little Red Riding Hood story – a project that has begun to attract both attention and investors. In the world of the Deuce, that could mean trouble rather than opportunity…

 
  
 
 

PBS, 10:00 p.m. ET

MINISERIES PREMIERE: This new five-part miniseries import from Great Britain takes a novel published in 1859, Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White, and adapts it anew, staying very close to the gothic novels’ plot, setting and characters, yet structuring the conflicts in such a way that it becomes a grippingly relevant drama about women’s rights and oppressions. Filmed in northern Ireland, this version stars Jessie Buckley as Marian Halcombe, who argues in court to protect the rights of her half sister, Laura, played by Olivia Vinall. Laura had been promised, without any say on her behalf, to the untrustworthy Sir Percival Glyde (Dougray Scott) – and, once married, she had been ordered by him to sign a paper without reading it, a paper which would transfer her family fortune into his name. Also figuring into this intrigue are Walter Hartright (Ben Hardy), who meets and loves Laura despite her commitment to Sir Percival, and Anne Catherick, the titular and mysterious woman in white Walter encounters early on a remote road. She, too, is played by Vinall (pictured), and the plot never stops thickening. Or being timely, to an almost absurd degree. Check local listings. For a full review, see David Hinckley’s All Along the Watchtower.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.