WEDNESDAY

JULY 23

2014

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

This 1968 Steve McQueen movie, featuring one of the best car chases ever filmed, is one of four movies selected and presented tonight by guest programmer William Friedkin, who directed one of the other all-time speeding-car classics, The French Connection. Friedkin has great taste in movies, based on this quartet, all of which can and should be devoured and enjoyed. After Bullitt, TCM and Friedkin present 1948’s The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (10:15 p.m. ET), 1967’s Belle de Jour (12:30 a.m. ET), and 1966’s Blow-Up (at 2:15 a.m. ET). I know why I love those films – but tune in, as I will, to learn why Friedkin does.

EXTANT

CBS, 9:00 p.m. ET

Episode three of this summer sci-fi series advances plot lines that should have percolated to the surface almost immediately: How does Molly’s husband react to news of her out-of-this-world pregnancy, and how do other parents at their boy’s school react to his status as a humanoid robot? Halle Berry stars.

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

TLC, 9:00 p.m. ET

SEASON PREMIERE: This Lisa Kudrow nonfiction series, which first appeared as a TV series on NBC, now appears on TLC, with a mix of old and new episodes. Tonight’s new one, at 9 p.m. ET, features an exploration of the family tree of Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon, and the steps that she’s retracing take her to a Missouri prison. The old episodes, bookending it on either side, feature another Sex and the City star, Sarah Jessica Parker at 8 ET, and her real-life husband, Mathew Broderick, at 10 ET. Talk about keeping it all in the family – which, given the program, is completely appropriate.

THE BRIDGE

FX, 10:00 p.m. ET

Diane Kruger and Demian Bichir star in a drama series that, once again this season, involves a high-profile, highly volatile case, with plenty of suspects and discoveries that are no less volatile.

THE DIVIDE

WE TV, 10:00 p.m. ET

Marin Ireland and Damon Gupton star as two people on opposite sides of a Death Row murder case – and tonight’s second episode, now airing in the show’s regular 10 p.m. ET slot, reveals their respective positions to be even more complicated and nuanced than before.

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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.

New From TVWW

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

CBS, 9:00 p.m. ET

TLC, 9:00 p.m. ET

FX, 10:00 p.m. ET

WE TV, 10:00 p.m. ET

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