FRIDAY
NOVEMBER 29
2013

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Spike, 2:00 p.m. ET

Well, it’s a mini-marathon, really: a sequential showing of what are now the first three movies in the Star Wars cinematic narrative. (In other words, these are the three prequels to the story begun with George Lucas’ first Star Wars film in the mid-Seventies.) The action begins at 2 p.m. ET with 1999’s Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. And features a markedly young Natalie Portman as Padmé, a role she would repeat in the next two films as well. 2002’s Episode II – Attack of the Clones follows at 5:30 p.m. ET, and today’s trilogy of Star Wars films concludes at 9 p.m. ET with 2005’s Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.

 
  
 
 

ABC, 8:00 p.m. ET

Here’s how I, as a TV critic Grinch, review tonight’s telecast of this 1966 holiday classic: It’s shown on the wrong #&$^*! holiday. This is the day after Thanksgiving, and it’s far too early for me to watch, much less recommend, a Christmas special, when the calendar still reads November, and when I haven’t even had my first meal of turkey leftovers. Ebenezer Scrooge would say “Humbug.” Today, so do I. If you want to record tonight’s ABC telecast for later viewing, be my guest. Just don’t watch it now, or soon. Life is too short. And the holiday “season” already is too long.

 
  
 
 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

Another Preston Sturges comedy masterpiece, this one, from 1941, gave Henry Fonda one of the funniest straight-man roles of his career, and absolutely gave Barbara Stanwyck one of the best and sexiest and most outrageous of hers. She plays a con woman who encounters newly minted millionaire Fonda on a cruise ship, and, after perceiving he insulted her, sets out on an elaborate, and delicious, plan for revenge.
 
  
 
 

PBS, 9:00 p.m. ET

Barbra Streisand was 69 when she filmed this 2012 concert at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, and demonstrates how to hold a large crowd (19,000) without expending Mick Jagger-like arena energy. She does it with her voice, and a few guests (including her son, Jason Gould, singing solo and with his mother) – and with some very funny vintage film clips. Not of her, but of old fans from Brooklyn. Songs include “The Way We Were,” “My Funny Valentine,” and “Funny Girl.” Check local listings.

 
  
 
 

CW, 9:00 p.m. ET

This show, now in is final season, isn’t really good enough to warrant a Best Bets nod. But it’s a very slow TV night on a Thanksgiving weekend, and Nikita is aiming to shake things up during this final season – and tonight’s plot has the villainous Amanda making doubles of various VIPS. I always wonder about this particular sci-fi plot, and this is what I always wonder: Once you perfect the technology to create perfect physical duplicates on anyone you choose, why don’t you use it to make copies of gorgeous male and female movie and TV stars through the ages, and open the world’s most expensive a) dating services, b) movie production companies, and/or c) whorehouses?

 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.