Sundance, 5:30 p.m. ET
The only good thing about TV’s dead week, between Christmas and New Year’s, is how many networks fill the time by programming good movies and better double features. Here’s an example of both. Sundance showed this 1980 Stanley Kubrick film in prime time recently – last night, in fact, as recently as you can get – but tonight it leads off a double feature of horror films, followed at 9 p.m. ET by 1973’s The Exorcist. The two scariest movies ever made, shown as a double feature? Count me in…
Encore, 8:00 p.m. ET
Here’s another strong prime-time double feature of movies, this time showcasing two of Robert De Niro’s most classic performances. The action, and there’s lots of it, begins at 8 p.m. ET with Martin Scorsese’s 1980 Raging Bull, and concludes at 10:10 ET with the same director’s Taxi Driver, made four years earlier.
Lifetime, 8:00 p.m. ET
This isn’t a double feature, but doesn’t have to be: This 1994 adaptation of the Stephen King story, starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, is a fantastic viewing experience all by itself.
HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET
How did heroin resurface to become such a popular and pervasive drug recently, even (especially?) among the young and middle class? This HBO documentary sets out to answer that question – but focusing on eight young addicts, all in their twenties, residing in Cape Cod.
Sundance, 9:00 p.m. ET
This 1973 classic horror film is the second half of a great double feature, preceded at 5:30 p.m. ET by 1980’s The Shining. Watch them both, Decide which is scarier. Then marvel that both were made without CGI.
Encore, 10:10 p.m. ET
Yeah, I’m talking to you. This 1976 Martin Scorsese film, starring Robert De Niro, is an amazing movie, and has as much pull and tension as it did when it was released almost 40 years ago.