MONDAY
DECEMBER 29
2014

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

It’s the last Monday in December, which means it’s the last night on TCM to enjoy an evening of movies starring Cary Grant – featuring, tonight, the ones from the end of his long, impressive career. The evening begins with this 1964 comedy, in which Grant plays an island recluse whose isolation is interrupted during WWII – not by invading troops, at last not initially, but by a woman (Leslie Caron) and the seven schoolgirls in her charge.

 
  
 
 

TruTV, 10:00 p.m. ET

SERIES PREMIERE: I’m not recommending this, necessarily, but it’s certainly worth noting, as television’s first reality-series musical of sorts. It takes place in Branson, MO, the place where show-biz performers past their prime come to perform for aging, enthusiastic audiences. And it concerns the Baldknobbers Jamboree, the unfortunately named family revue that has operated in Branson for 55 years. That’s an astounding feat of show-business longevity, but understandably, the Mabe family business is a little frayed around the edges, and looking to survive by injecting some “new blood.” This sets up some unpredictable auditions, and even an All About Eve subplot, with one veteran singer, Megan McCombs, feeling threatened by the younger, obviously ambitious Heather Gentry. And sometimes, when these folks air their grievances to the camera, they do so in song – which is weird, but, you have to admit, different.

 
  
 
 

TCM, 10:15 p.m. ET

This Cary Grant romantic comedy, made in 1958, paired him with a female sex symbol every bit as magnetic, and widely admired, as he was: Sophia Loren. The plot is a trifle, but the pairing is indeed inspired.

 
  
 
 

TCM, 2:15 a.m. ET

One of Alfred Hitchcock’s most classic films, featuring several cinematic set pieces that have become understandably iconic, is shown very late tonight – so set those recorders. This 1959 thriller, co-starring Eva Marie Saint, a crop-dusting plane and Mt. Rushmore, always is worth seeing.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.