TUESDAY
DECEMBER 23
2014

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Amazon Prime Video, 12:00 a.m. ET

SERIES PREMIERE: Amazon Prime allowed its subscribers to sample, and vote on, this new series back in February, when its pilot was streamed for viewers to sample and, potentially, support with positive votes – which they did, for good reason. Based on the book Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs and Classical Music, by Blair Tindall, this comedy-laced drama, or vice versa, features Lola Kirke as Haley, an ambitious and talented young oboist who tries out for the fictional New York Symphony. Saffron Burrows plays a veteran cellist, Bernadette Peters an arts patron, Malcolm McDowell the retiring maestro, and Gael Garcia Bernal, last seen in Jon Stewart’s Rosewater, plays the “rock star” young maestro who is handed the reins in the show’s opening installment. It’s an interesting show set in a little-explored arena, and the first season’s 10 episodes are available beginning today. This is a big year for Amazon: Between this and Transparent, it’s grabbed the attention and acclaim that Netflix, with such recent efforts as the clunky Marco Polo, has let slip.

 
  
 
 

ABC, 8:00 p.m. ET

This 2007 TV special is a holiday sequel to the cinematic Shrek franchise, but by no means is a cheap knockoff. Like the films, it features Mike Myers as Shrek, Eddie Murphy as the Donkey, and Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona. And yes, this one also allows for a return appearance by Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots. It’s a fun movie-to-TV Christmas special – and ABC follows it at 8:30 p.m. ET with another one, a same-month repeat of the new Toy Story That Time Forgot computer-animated special, featuring the voices of Tom Hanks as Woody, Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear and, hooray, Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head.

 
  
 
 

NBC, 8:00 p.m. ET

Fresh off their Saturday Night Live appearance last weekend, the members of One Direction become Ready for Prime Time Players on the same network. I know at least one young woman who will be watching this new one-hour music and biography TV special very, very closely. I also know there will be millions of others – though I don’t know them.

 
  
 
 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

Jeffrey Hunter stars in this literally and figuratively faithful 1961 dramatization of portions of the New Testament story of the birth, life and death of Jesus Christ. The narrative, in this epic movie, actually begins a few generations before the birth of Jesus, and goes on long enough to enact how John the Baptist lost his head after meeting the ruthless temptress Salome. Robert Ryan plays John the Baptist, Brigid Balzen portrays Salome, and other players in this biblical drama include a few surprises: Hurd Hatfield of The Picture of Dorian Gray, as Pontius Pilate, and Rip Torn, later of The Larry Sanders Show, as Judas.

 
  
 
 

ABC, 9:00 p.m. ET

Robin Roberts anchors this two-hour look at the year’s biggest, most meaningful news stories. If the producers are taking their job seriously, they’ll have been working against the clock to include a last-second overview of the Sony-North Korea-The Interview hacking story, which is one of the biggest media stories in years, and, I suspect, will only get bigger in 2015.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.