SATURDAY
MAY 27
2017

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

CNN, 8:00 p.m. ET

MINI-MARATHON REPEAT: Tonight, CNN is planning to pad out some of its Memorial Day weekend schedule by replaying many episodes from its 2016 documentary miniseries The Eighties, beginning with an episode devoted to television in that decade – including the slow but steady and important rise of NBC’s Cheers. I’m one of the people interviewed for that particular episode – but as with almost any special programming scheduled for CNN these days, whether it actually appears depends on whether world news in general, and President Trump in particular, has a quiet spell for a day. Which, these days, seems to be happening almost never.

 
  
 
 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

TCM’s Memorial Day weekend marathon continues, featuring military-themed movies all day today, tomorrow, and Monday. But tonight, the film schedule takes a deliberate tack towards the lighter side, offering up a series of comedies as a uniform mini-marathon within the larger marathon. First up is 1958’s No Time for Sergeants, the film that actually began as an adaptation of the comic novel presented on live TV. In 1955, on The U.S. Steel Hour, Ira Levin – yes, the eventual author of Rosemary’s Baby – adapted the book for TV, starring Andy Griffith in a delightful comedy that moved quickly to Broadway, then became a motion picture. Most of the original Broadway cast, led by Griffith, showed up for this film version – including Don Knotts, a supporting actor who later called Griffith and offered to team up again for Griffith’s then-upcoming CBS comedy series, The Andy Griffith Show. Griffith never won an Emmy for that show, but Knotts did – plenty of them.

 
  
 
 

BBC America, 9:00 p.m. ET

Last week, the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) saved the day again, but lost his eyesight. This week, he continues to fight evil and try to save the human race and the universe – but this time while continuing to be blind. And the problem he faces, this week, is the sudden appearance on a pyramid from nowhere, which heralds a countdown to the end of life as we know it.
 
  
 
 

HBO, 9:30 p.m. ET

Last year’s newest entry in the X-Men movie franchise set up a time frame, and new set of heroes and actors playing them, to be able to deal with stories inspired from the Marvel Comics series’ generally agreed-upon most creative dramatic streak. James McAvoy continues to play the “new” Charles Xavier, and Sophie Turner from Game of Thrones plays Jean Grey, whose transition to cosmic darkness will be explored in the next film in the franchise, the already announced X-Men: Dark Phoenix.

 
  
 
 

TCM, 10:30 p.m. ET

As another entry in tonight’s comedy mini-marathon of military movies, presented for Memorial Day, TCM presents another uniformed wartime comedy classic: 1955’s Mister Roberts, co-directed by John Ford, who himself served in WWII, and Mervyn LeRoy, who also directed the movie adaptation of No Time for Sergeants. It stars Henry Fonda and Jack Lemmon.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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)
 
AVJWB
Type in the verification word shown on the image.
 
 
 Page: 1 of 251  | Go to page: 
5012 Comments
 
 
Such a very useful article. Very interesting to read this article. I would like to thank you for the efforts you had made for writing this awesome article.
Oct 15, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Very good topic, similar texts are I do not know if they are as good as your work out. These you will then see the most important thing, the application provides you a website a powerful important internet page:
Oct 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Nice work i love your work keep it up.....
Oct 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
I'm really enjoying the design and layout of your site. It's a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more pleasant for me to come here and visit more often. Did you hire out a developer to create your theme? Superb work!
Oct 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Excellent post.I want to thank you for this informative read, I really appreciate sharing this great post.Keep up your work
Oct 14, 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. Thanks..
Oct 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Impressive work on the essayist's part.
Oct 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
After research a couple of of the weblog posts in your website now, and I really like your method of blogging. I bookmarked it to my bookmark website record and will probably be checking back soon.
Oct 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Sweet internet site , super pattern , real clean and employ genial .
Oct 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Very useful info. Hope to see more posts soon!.
Oct 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
I really like the new design. It is a lot easier to use and visually attractive.
Oct 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Thanks for sharing these informations. I really like your blog post very much. You have really shared a informative and interesting blog post .
Oct 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
This is a fantastic website, thanks for sharing. There's no doubt i would fully rate it after i read what the idea about this article is. You did a nice
Oct 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
very nice post, i surely really like this website, go on it
Oct 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
I’ve read some good stuff here. Definitely worth bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how much effort you put to create such a great informative website.
Oct 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Fabulous post, you have denoted out some fantastic points, I likewise think this s a very wonderful website. I will visit again for more quality contents and also, recommend this site to all. Thanks.
Oct 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
I got what you mean , thanks for posting .Woh I am happy to find this website through google.
Oct 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Good post but I was wondering if you could write a litte more on this subject? I’d be very thankful if you could elaborate a little bit further. Appreciate it!
Oct 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Thanks for the nice blog. It was very useful for me. I'm happy I found this blog. Thank you for sharing with us,I too always learn something new from your post.
Oct 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
I got too much interesting stuff on your blog. I guess I am not the only one having all the enjoyment here! Keep up the good work.
Oct 14, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
 
 Page: 1 of 251  | 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.