FRIDAY
APRIL 29
2016

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Netflix, 3:00 a.m. ET

PREMIERE: This Netflix movie premiere, written, directed by and starring Ricky Gervais, is based on a 2009 French comedy, Envoyes Tres Speciaux, but is adapted and updated to fit Gervais’ comedy styles and rhythms. He plays a nebbishy radio producer teamed up with a glamorous, vain radio reporter, who together are dispatched to cover a possible coup in Ecuador. When their passports and other travel papers and cash are accidentally trashed on the way to the airport, the two decide to hole up in hiding and fake their war reports, hidden safely near their New York radio headquarters. None of it makes any credible sense if you examine too closely, but Gervais, as always, casts his projects with people who are enjoyable to watch. Eric Bana plays the egotistical radio reporter (do those still exist?), and the women get the best roles: Vera Farmiga from Bates Motel as Gervais’s opportunistic and unfaithful wife, Kelly Macdonald from Boardwalk Empire as his empathic co-worker, and America Ferrera from Ugly Betty as a dim but well-meaning co-conspirator. It’s a rather slight film, and predicable, but still pleasant and entertaining.

 
  
 
 

Netflix, 3:00 a.m. ET

PREMIERE: This is a new documentary about the murder of Dave Schultz, the wrestler allegedly killed by millionaire John E. du Pont in 1996. The real-life murder case already was dramatized in the 2014 movie Foxcatcher, with Steve Carell playing du Pont – but where that story ended, Team Foxcatcher keeps going. It also shows lots of home movies by the wrestlers befriended and housed by du Pont, bringing a sense of intimacy to the environment and case being reexamined. Very spooky – and very good.
 
  
 
 

PBS, 9:00 p.m. ET

Part 5. This is a fascinating episode of this repeat documentary series, showing how the nation and its leaders responded during the Great Depression – with the creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps. It was a great idea then, and seems like a good one today as well. Check local listings.

 
  
 
 

HBO, 10:00 p.m. ET

Among tonight’s guests: actor, director and political activist Rob Reiner.

 
  
 
 

Showtime, 10:00 p.m. ET

On his previous TV show, Totally Biased, W. Kamau Bell seemed straightjacketed by the show’s rigorously divided format – but on this first standup special of his, he roams the stage and his subject matter freely. Watch and see. And laugh.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.