MONDAY
DECEMBER 21
2015

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

AMC, 8:00 p.m. ET

It’s another holiday showing for this 1947 movie, starring Edmund Gwenn as a department-store Santa Claus who may be the real deal – but as holiday movies go, this one is easy to rewatch, over and over again. Which is convenient, since AMC shows it twice in prime time tonight, at 8 p.m. ET and again at 10:15 p.m. ET.
 
  
 
 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell are paired as conniving singers in this 1953 comedy – and while Monroe walked (or strutted) away with the most iconic production number, singing “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” Russell scored her own big and outrageous moments too. Watch for her number where she sings as an entire men’s Olympics team, on board the same cruise ship, serves as nothing more than objectified props.
 
  
 
 

HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET

This is Nick Read’s documentary about a disturbing and violent attack that took place in the fine arts world, when Sergei Filin, director of the Bolshoi Ballet, had acid thrown in his face. By whom and why? Those are two of the questions examined in this film.
 
  
 
 

Showtime 2, 9:15 p.m. ET

The Who have been performing live for 50 years now – well, surviving original band members Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey have been, anyway – and in this concert film from London, the group starts in broad daylight and plays through sundown and into the evening – the perfect time for a medley from Tommy. See them, hear them. Half a century later, the Who still rocks.
 
  
 
 

TCM, 9:45 p.m. ET

Paula Prentiss is fun and adorable, and Yvette Mimieux is gorgeous, in this 1960 comedy about girls on spring break in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. But when I watch it, because I grew up there, I watch it for the non-human scenery. Very little of the city looks the same 55 years later – not even the beach. But the Elbo Room is still there…
 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.