SUNDAY
SEPTEMBER 23
2018

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Fox, 8:00 p.m. ET

SEASON PREMIERE: This is not a recommendation. This is the second year in a row that TVWW hasn’t provided a mass rundown of the new fall shows on broadcast TV, with many of our critics offering their capsule verdicts, and this is as good a time and place as any to explain why we haven’t. Basically, it’s because, for the second year in a row, the broadcast networks – individually and collectively – have, by and large, come up with such a derivative and disappointing lineup of new shows that breaking them down in such a comprehensive way didn’t seem worth the effort. Any of the new shows that are worth watching, or even sampling, will be singled out, here and elsewhere on the website. Meanwhile, the new season is imminent, with returning as well as new shows beginning to appear. Hence, tonight, Fox gives The Simpsons a one-time Sunday day off to preview Season 2 of its high-action, low-subtlety 9-1-1 drama series. Worth noting? Yes, because it’s a 2018-19 TV season early arrival. Worth watching? Not really – even though it’s leading off with a major West Coast earthquake.

 
  
 
 

Showtime, 8:00 p.m. ET

For the moment, there are at least two Sunday shows related to recent news events that should be considered Must-See TV, because of the decidedly different perspectives they provide. One is this political documentary series, which burrows behind the headlines, and behind the press lines, to show how the news is gathered as well as generated. The other is HBO’s Last Week with John Oliver – and sometimes, the latter is even more instructive than the former.

 
  
 
 

PBS, 9:00 p.m. ET

MINISERIES CONCLUSION: Part 3 of 3. This three-part dramatic import from the U.K. concludes, with Anya-Taylor Joy playing Nella Oortman, an 18-year-old woman with an unsettling arranged marriage and her own personal, precarious house of cards. Or, in her case, a scale-model dollhouse based on her own new home.  Check local listings.

 
  
 
 

HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET

Among the corners to be turned this week are the successful attempt by Candy (Maggie Gyllenhaal), former prostitute and current aspiring porno filmmaker, to mount an X-rated, yet somehow artistic, version of a fairy tale. The source material she chooses is “Little Red Riding Hood.” And while I haven’t previewed this episode, I can easily imagine Little Red Riding Hood’s sense of wonder when she visits the Wolf in disguise: “My, grandma, what a big [noun deleted] you have!”

 
  
 
 

HBO, 11:03 p.m. ET

This year, I have a few can’t-miss, want-to-watch-live TV favorites. Better Call Saul is one, and this series is another. Watching these shows each week make me feel a little better somehow – especially about television.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.