TUESDAY

APRIL 24

2018

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

NBC, 8:00 p.m. ET

Last night, this show’s Top 12 performed their own cover versions of songs that meant a lot to them personally. Tonight, one of those singers is eliminated from the competition – which means that for one of those artists, the song they chose will never again resonate quite so sweetly.

GENIUS: "PICASSO"

National Geographic, 9:00 p.m. ET

SEASON PREMIERE: When you start with Einstein, what can you possibly do for an encore? In the case of Genius, you find another astoundingly original thinker to examine in a multi-part biographical drama. And just as with this show’s examination of Albert Einstein last season, which had Johnny Flynn playing the genius as a young man and Geoffrey Rush his more mature counterpart, this new Genius divides the title role between two actors. Alex Rich plays the painter as a younger man, and the exceptional Antonio Banderas portrays Picasso from age 42 to 92. Keep an eye out for both performances – and if you can, just for fun, keep both those eyes on the same side of your face. And our TVWW correspondents are all over this one. For separate full reviews, see, in alphabetical order, Ed Bark's Uncle Barky's Bytes, Roger Catlin's TV Eye, and David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower.

RISE

NBC, 9:01 p.m. ET

As this series about a high school musical performance group nears its Season 1 finale, building towards a performance of Spring Awakening, tonight’s episode is devoted to “tech week,” which is when the backstage crew and designers put their visions in motion. In my own high school performing arts class, that’s where I resided: backstage, as lighting designer and stage manager, making friendships with some of the crew and cast that continue to this day. Will I be watching this week’s Rise? Yes. And I expect this inspired-by-a-true-story drama to reflect one of the theater’s truest truisms: the shakier the final dress rehearsal, the better the opening-night performance.

NO DIRECTION HOME: BOB DYLAN

AXS TV, 10:00 p.m. ET

When this two-part Martin Scorsese biography of Bob Dylan premiered on public television in 2005, I called it “an American Masters masterpiece for PBS.” Tonight on AXS, you can see both parts in one delectable, double-scoop helping. And you should, without much more prodding on my part. You don’t need a weatherman to know the way the wind blows…

LEGION

FX, 10:00 p.m. ET

Last week’s episode of Legion was so original, so unpredictable, so inventively visual, I did a special review of it on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross. This follow-up episode doesn’t disappoint, or let up on the drama’s mystery-laden momentum. Legion creator Noah Hawley presents an episode tonight that is a full hour of a visual and logical puzzle – a warped cross between Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Groundhog Day, in which David (Dan Stevens) keeps working his way through the maze that is the mind of Syd (Rachel Keller), in an effort to decrypt not only her past, but her mysterious mental message to him.

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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

NBC, 8:00 p.m. ET

National Geographic, 9:00 p.m. ET

NBC, 9:01 p.m. ET

AXS TV, 10:00 p.m. ET

FX, 10:00 p.m. ET

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