SUNDAY
AUGUST 24
2014

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET

SERIES FINALE: This is it: the end of the road for the True Blood story, and all its characters. I’ve liked how the producers have started to wrap things up and give certain characters their last moment in the sun. Which reminds me: With all these sudden suicidal mood swings by ailing vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), who has refused to drink the blood that could heal him, I can’t help wondering why, if he’s embracing the idea of the “true death,” he’s letting himself be consumed by the vampire-eradicating virus. Why doesn't he just walk outside one morning  – and have his own final, fatal moment in the sun?

 
  
 
 

MTV, 9:00 p.m. ET

This year’s VMAs will have no shortage of scene-stealing diva moments – the opening number alone features Nicki Minaj, Ariana Grande and Jessie J teaming up for a live rendition of their new collaboration, “Bang Bang.” Taylor Swift also will take the stage tonight, and Iggy Azalea and Rita Ora will team up, and Miley Cyrus will be featured prominently as an audience member. But the night will, or should, belong to Beyoncé, who receives the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, and is set to perform to cap the tribute. The awards themselves, of course, mean next to nothing, especially since finding videos on MTV is like finding tofu at a pulled-pork cook-off. But for the record, the most inventive video of the year, Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball” gyrations notwithstanding, was “Chandelier” by Sia, who doesn’t even appear in her own video. Instead, she’s represented by Maddie Ziegler, an 11-year-old dancer from the Dance Moms reality series who spends the video dancing around in a Sia-like white wig, and interpreting the song in a series of dance moves that are innovative and athletic without stooping to being at all provocative.

 
  
 
 

FX, 10:00 p.m. ET

Right after True Blood ends tonight, you can flip from HBO to FX and compare the cable vampire drama of today to the one of tomorrow – because The Strain, indeed, represents the next generation. It may not be bloodier, and it’s certainly not sexier, but it sure is scarier.

 
  
 
 

WGN America, 10:00 p.m. ET

One show not to forget about tonight: This WGN America drama, which gets more intense and interesting every week as the show’s clock is ticking, like a bomb timer, while the scientists in this show battle internally to produce the best design for an atomic bomb.

 
  
 
 

HBO, 11:10 p.m. ET

Another show not to forget about tonight: Oliver’s show will conclude its summer run next month – and he’s really carved out his own territory and solidified his singularly intriguing approach. While most comic performers and writers adopt the “Less is more” attitude, going for a fast one-liner or two and moving to the next topic, Oliver has gone the less traveled “More is more” route – and probes his selected story of the week from so many angles, he provides viewers not only with many, many opportunities to laugh, but opportunities to learn as well. And he’s getting rewarded for his superb efforts: Last week, his 15-minute piece on the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, MO, was the second most viewed late-night video clip of the week on the Internet.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.