SATURDAY
MARCH 25
2017

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

TBS, 6:00 p.m. ET

The Elite Eight begin fighting tonight, with the winners of tonight’s two games moving on to prestigious Final Four. Both of tonight’s games are televised by TBS, beginning at 6 p.m. ET with the West’s No. 1-seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs vs. No. 11 Xavier Musketeers, the only double-digit seed still competing. The Musketeers notched a thrilling victory against the No. 2-seeded Arizona Wildcats Thursday night, with fervid Xavier fan Bill Murray rooting them on from the stands. Watch for him again tonight – and his enthusiasm is both precedented and personal. Murray was seen showing similarly vocal support in the stands of Wrigley Field, watching many games as his beloved Chicago Cubs won their historic World Series last year. But rooting for Xavier is a family affair as well: His son, Luke, is a staffer for Xavier coach Chris Mack. Later, at 8:45 p.m. ET, Midwest’s No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks battle the No. 3 Oregon Ducks.

 
  
 
 

HBO, 8:00 p.m. ET

Jeff Goldblum reprises his role, though Will Smith does not, in this 2016 sequel to the massive 1996 action film Independence Day, about aliens attacking the U.S. Twenty years later, this was the sequel…
 
  
 
 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

This 1963 movie, starring Peter Sellers as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau, was a film that still makes me laugh, a lot. But it also makes me a little wistful these days, because it was one of my late father’s favorite movies, and I remember the joy we had watching it together, first in the drive-in, then on TV. So I’m wondering: Are there movies whose personal impact and import, to you, are enhanced because of someone you saw, or associate, them with? If you don’t mind sharing, I’d like to hear…

 
  
 
 

BBC America, 9:00 p.m. ET

MINISERIES FINALE: Two episodes are shown tonight, back-to-back, to conclude BBC America’s powerful presentation of Planet Earth II. First up is this final installment in the series proper, called Cities, which looks at how untamed creatures have responded, and adapted, to their proximity with human civilization. I loved this episode – perhaps, in part, because I live in a New Jersey suburb with just enough woods and nearby woodland to have families of deer treating my yard as a combo shortcut and salad bar, and because I also had to trap and free several raccoons determined to use my home’s dog door to enter the house and eat the dry cat food. Several, as in 31. Thirty-one. So when you watch the Cities segments on urban deer, and on raccoons, think of me…

 
  
 
 

BBC America, 10:11 p.m. ET

MINISERIES FINALE: And finally, there’s this stand-alone episode of Planet Earth II, explaining how the nature documentary film crew captured some of its magnificent images. It’s a jaw-dropping episode on its own, but, to me, it adds to a very storied and tenure sub-genre of TV nature documentaries. The fabulous series NOVA, which is still on PBS, began its run with an episode I still remember fondly, and clearly: The Making of a Natural History Film, one of the first nature documentaries to turn some of its cameras on the filmmakers themselves, and reveal just how much patience, ingenuity and artistry was required to capture scenes of “raw” nature. And that was back in 1974, so long ago that it was a year before I became a TV critic. But truly, it was one of the television programs that made me want to be a TV critic. So you young people watching Planet Earth II tonight, watch carefully… and be careful what you wish for.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.