SUNDAY
MAY 28
2017

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

PBS, 8:00 p.m. ET

SPECIAL: This is the 28th annual concert of this type, dedicated to military personnel and performed live from the Mall in Washington. D.C. Notably, in addition to PBS presenting the telecast for U.S. viewers, the American Forces Network broadcasts the whole thing live globally. And of all the special events on TV this weekend, this is the one that salutes the military literally, as well as figuratively. This year’s festivities, for example, include a tribute to the last surviving member of the Doolittle Raiders, who flew the high-risk bombing mission over Japan after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Joe Mantegna, Gary Sinise, and Laurence Fishburne preside. Jack Everly conducts the National Symphony Orchestra. Among the guest performers, watch for Auli’i Cravalho from the Disney animated musical Moana, who will sing that movie’s, and her character’s, anthem, “How Far I’ll Go.” In this setting, it ought to be exponentially effective.  Check local listings.

 
  
 
 

HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET

This is the penultimate episode for this season, and for this series. Next Sunday, The Leftovers ends – whether or not it provides a satisfactory conclusion. (I’ve always felt that answering questions is not exactly what this series prizes the most.) But tonight, the next-to-last episode provides some sort of potential answers in its episode’s title alone. It’s called “The Most Powerful Man in the World (And His Identical Twin Brother).” And in addition to being all about Kevin (Justin Theroux) in the title, the episode also pays due attention to Sarah, played by Carrie Coon – who’s also ripping it up this season as Gloria Burgle on FX’s Fargo.

 
  
 
 

Showtime, 9:00 p.m. ET

These are hours three and four of the new Twin Peaks series – the hours that Showtime has made available to watch On Demand since last Sunday at midnight. I watched them then, to write my review for last Monday’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross on NPR. And I’m still not sure what to think about them, except that despite so much use of Kyle McLachlan, the star of the original Twin Peaks back in 1990-91, they still haven’t used him very well, four hours in. We’ve seen him play a long-haired, leather-clad, evil doppelganger, and a traumatized-into-near-silence survivor from another plane of reality. But Dale Cooper, the guy who enjoys life’s mysteries and its good servings of coffee and pie? Where’s he? Because, if Twin Peaks: The Return is going to pick up speed, he’s sorely needed.

 
  
 
 

Starz!, 9:00 p.m. ET

Last Sunday, the two-hour premiere of Showtime’s Twin Peaks, despite all its advance hype and its defiant lack of advance screenings and information, drew fewer viewers than even this first-season Starz series – which, as it rolls out, may indeed be giving Twin Peaks: The Return competition not only in audience levels, but in levels of surrealistic unpredictability. Tonight, for example, the modern god known as Media, played by Gillian Anderson, adopts another of her high-profile guises. And this time, it’s David Bowie…

 
  
 
 

PBS, 9:30 p.m. ET

Ken Burns and Lynn Novick have a new documentary series coming out this fall on PBS: The Vietnam War. And tonight, for Memorial Day weekend, PBS is offering a special, perfectly timed sneak preview, to be televised right after tonight’s live Memorial Day concert on PBS. Check local listings.

 
  
 
 

HBO, 10:30 p.m. ET

In tonight’s episode, Selina (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) tries to complete her book manuscript, while planning for the unveiling of her official portrait – the one painted by the woman who slept with Selina’s ex-husband just as Selina was rekindling a romantic relationship with 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.