MONDAY
JULY 22
2013

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Encore, 8:00 p.m. ET

With Stephen King’s Under the Dome established as one of TV’s few hits of the summer, Encore tonight presents a Stephen King prime-time double feature, showing film adaptations from early in King’s career. The Dead Zone, from 1983, is televised at 10 p.m. ET – but before that, 1984’s Firestarter, starring Drew Barrymore as a child with a (literally) fiery temper, is shown at 8 p.m. ET. By the way: Also in this nearly 30-year-old movie, which co-stars George C. Scott, is Heather Locklear, pre-Dynasty.

 
  
 
 

Sundance, 8:00 p.m. ET

This 2000 Curtis Hanson film, based on the novel by Michael Chabon, is worth revisiting for so many reasons. Its story of a college professor with writer’s block stars Michael Douglas (one of his career bests), with strong co-starring support Tobey Maguire, Robert Downey Jr., Frances McDormand, Rip Torn and, holding her own, Katie Holmes. Wonder Boys also features a superb musical soundtrack. There are four songs by Bob Dylan (including “Things Have Changed,” written expressly for the film), as well as recordings by Tim Hardin, Tom Rush, Leonard Cohen, John Lennon, Buffalo Springfield and Van Morrison. Listening to Wonder Boys is as enjoyable as watching it.

 
  
 
 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

Mel Brooks is being saluted by TCM on Wednesday. Meanwhile, today, as an appetizer, TCM leads off tonight’s Carson on TCM compendium at 8 p.m. ET with a 1975 Brooks appearance on The Tonight Show, taking place the year after he released both Blazing Saddles (pictured) and Young Frankenstein. Following that: Johnny Carson interviews Dom DeLuise, from 1976 (8:12 p.m. ET), Bette Davis, 1983 (8:24 p.m. ET), Burt Reynolds, 1972 (8:36 p.m. ET), and Fred Astaire, 1979 (8:48 p.m. ET). An evening of Fred Astaire movies caps the evening, starting at 9 and 11 p.m. ET with the one-two punch of 1934’s The Gay Divorcee and 1935’s Top Hat.

 
  
 
 

CBS, 10:00 p.m. ET

It’s Visitors’ Day at the dome – where, just as in any other prison, loved ones are glimpsed on opposite sides of a clear but divisive partition. And tonight, there are plenty of other divisive issues as well, as the mysterious Barbie (Mike Vogel) and the nervous Dodee (Jolene Purdy) soon discover.

 
  
 
 

PBS, 10:00 p.m. ET

A pair of bloggers receive the P.O.V. profile treatment in High Tech, Low Life, because they spend time on the internet gathering and disseminating news items and other things they find of interest. Why is that considered unusual enough to make a documentary about it? Because these two are doing this in China, which doesn’t exactly have a freedom-of-speech national policy. For a full review, see Eric Gould’s Cold Light Reader. Check local listings.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.