SATURDAY
NOVEMBER 24
2018

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

Tonight’s theme on TCM is “Blind Ambition” – and while it’s not showing the 1979 TV miniseries by that name, which starred Martin Sheen as central Watergate figure John Dean (with Rip Torn as Nixon!), it is showing a small collection of films featuring single-minded, ruthless, Iago-like antagonists. First up is one of the best: this 1950 backstage drama, in which Bette Davis plays a movie star whose adoring fan turns out to be scheming to steal the star’s career – and even her lover. George Sanders and Gary Merrill co-star, and Anne Baxter plays the scheming young woman.

 
  
 
 

TNT, 8:00 p.m. ET

Every year, poor Ralphie tries his best to convince everyone, especially his parents and Santa Claus, that there’s absolutely nothing wrong (and, in fact, everything right) with getting a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. Well, technically, Ralphie only tried it once, in this 1983 movie comedy – but TV has long made a holiday tradition out of showing this movie over and over, especially around Christmas day. But today, TNT is getting an early jump on Thanksgiving weekend, and showing it twice tonight in prime time, exactly one month before Christmas Eve, at both 8 and 10 p.m. ET. Jean Shepherd wrote the screenplay, based on one of his novels, and Peter Billingsley stars as Ralphie, with Shepherd providing his own narration, looking back as an adult on his own childhood memories, as ABC’s The Wonder Years would do a few years later. Co-stars include Melinda Dillon and Darren McGavin as Ralphie’s parents.
 
  
 
 

USA, 8:00 p.m. ET

Here’s another, even older movie that gets trotted out every Christmas season – and, like A Christmas Story, also shown right after Thanksgiving as a post-holiday “bonus.” This film, from 1946, stars James Stewart as a man who’s down on his luck, and experiencing severe financial difficulties because of some unsympathetic bank executives. This Frank Capra film always has been resonant, but after the Wall Street crash in the first decade of this century, it seems almost painfully relevant as well. Donna Reed co-stars.

 
  
 
 
 
 
Read and add comments HERE for today's Best Bets!
 
 
 
 
Leave a Comment: (No HTML, 1000 chars max)
 
 Name (required)
 
 Email (required) (will not be published)
 
XETCI
Type in the verification word shown on the image.
 
 
 Page: 1 of 224  | Go to page: 
4462 Comments
 
 
Here at this site extremely the critical material accumulation so everyone can appreciate a great deal
Aug 17, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Yes, I am entirely agreed with this article, and I just want say that this article is very helpful and enlightening. I also have some precious piece of concerned info !!!!!!Thanks.
Aug 17, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
I just want to let you know that I just check out your site and I find it very interesting and informative .
Aug 17, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Manusia yang menyedihkan, mencari uang dengan menipu orang jujur. Persetan dengan sampah ini.
Aug 17, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Health fitness points also propose that vices need to be stopped
Aug 17, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Wonderful article, thanks for putting this together! This is obviously one great post. Thanks for the valuable information and insights you have so provided here.
Aug 17, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this article. I am hoping the same best work from you in the future as well. In fact your creative writing abilities has inspired me to start my own Blog Engine blog now. Really the blogging is spreading its wings rapidly. Your write up is a fine example of it
Aug 17, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
I am happy to find this post very useful for me, as it contains lot of information. I always prefer to read the quality content and this thing I found in you post. Thanks for sharing
Aug 17, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Hanya sekelompok penipu lain yang melakukan bisnis kotor secara online.
Aug 17, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Para penipu licik menjalankan operasi kotor yang dibangun di atas kebohongan dan penipuan.
Aug 17, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Pemerintah Indonesia, persetan dengan situs web ini, mereka menipu orang.
Aug 17, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Para penipu ini benar-benar bajingan, berbohong kepada orang-orang dan mencuri uang seperti penipu kotor yang sebenarnya.
Aug 17, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Perilaku penipuan murni. Bajingan-bajingan ini tidak punya moral dan tidak ragu-ragu menipu orang lain.
Aug 16, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Para penipu yang memalukan memangsa orang-orang dengan klaim palsu dan kebohongan.
Aug 16, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Pemerintah Indonesia, persetan dengan para penipu itu, tangkap mereka dan persetan dengan mereka karena telah menipu banyak orang.
Aug 16, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Manusia yang menyedihkan, mencari uang dengan menipu orang jujur. Persetan dengan sampah ini.
Aug 16, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Pemerintah Indonesia tangkap situs web sialan itu
Aug 16, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Perilaku penipuan murni. Bajingan-bajingan ini tidak punya moral dan tidak ragu-ragu menipu orang lain.
Aug 16, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Para bajingan ini tidak punya rasa malu sama sekali, menipu orang-orang yang tidak bersalah setiap hari.
Aug 16, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Manusia sampah sejati, memangsa orang-orang tak berdosa hanya untuk mengisi kantong mereka yang serakah. Sungguh memalukan.
Aug 15, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
 
 Page: 1 of 224  | Go to page: 
 
 

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.