WEDNESDAY

MAY 22

2019

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

LIVE IN FRONT OF A STUDIO AUDIENCE: NORMAN LEAR’S “ALL IN THE FAMILY” AND “THE JEFFERSONS”

ABC, 8:00 p.m. ET

SPECIAL PREMIERE: For a TV history professor, this is the mother lode: An ABC experiment in which episodes of two of Norman Lear’s groundbreaking 1970s comedies, All in the Family and its spinoff The Jeffersons, are performed and broadcast live. I like the casting – Woody Harrelson as Archie Bunker and Jamie Foxx as George Jefferson – because both have solid experience in sitcoms. And you couldn’t find a better sitcom director than James Burrows, period. Norman Lear and Jimmy Kimmel (whose idea this was, though it long post-dated my own concept for Rerun Theatre) host. For my full reaction to this upcoming production on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, visit the Fresh Air website later today, or listen to today’s broadcast on your local public radio station.

ALL ABOUT “ALL IN THE FAMILY” AND “THE JEFFERSONS"

ABC, 9:31 p.m. ET

SPECIAL PREMIERE: After ABC’s 90-minute live special, in which scripts from vintage 1970s sitcoms are performed again with a new cast for a new generation, this special provides context and history regarding former hit CBS sitcoms All in the Family and The Jeffersons. You can get similar information and enlightenment in my TV History & Appreciation of the ‘60s and ‘70s classes at Rowan University – but ABC doesn’t require you to pay tuition. Not yet, anyway.

WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS

FX, 10:00 p.m. ET

Tonight’s episode is about the staging of the Biannual Vampire Orgy. I’m just guessing here, but I’m expecting something a lot less sexy than True Blood.

BROCKMIRE

IFC, 11:00 p.m. ET

SEASON FINALE: This Season 3 finale finds Brockmire (Hank Azaria) back at the big leagues at last – but that doesn’t mean it’s for long, or that it goes well. Again, I’m just guessing… but given Brockmire’s personal foibles and track record, it’s an educated guess.

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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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