WEDNESDAY
MAY 29
2019

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

Paul Newman has been showcased in many, many excellent movies as Star of the Month on TCM in May – but as we get near the end of the month, and the end of Newman’s film resume, some of his very best performances and films have been saved for last. Exhibit A: This 1982 courtroom drama, written by David Mamet, in which Newman plays an alcoholic attorney who summons the drive and self-respect to tackle one more tough legal case, and give it the energy and combativeness it requires. Co-stars include Charlotte Rampling, Jack Warden and James Mason – but this is Newman’s movie, and one of his all-time great screen triumphs. It earned him one of his 10 Oscar nominations for Best Actor, but not a win: His only Academy Award victory in that category came four years later, for The Color of Money, in which Newman reprised the role of pool player “Fast Eddie,” a role Newman played originally in The Hustler back in 1961. And for other late-career Newman classic on TCM before June arrives, stay tuned for 1977’s hockey comedy, Slap Shot, tonight at midnight.

 
  
 
 

FX, 10:00 p.m. ET

SEASON FINALE: Tonight is the Season 1 finale for Shadows, but never fear. Never fear because a) this is a comedy series about vampires, so it isn’t scary, and b) FX already has renewed Shadows for a second season. Tonight’s season finale is called “Ancestry,” and has Nandor tracking down one of his still-living descendants.

 
  
 
 

FXX, 10:00 p.m. ET

SEASON PREMIERE: This animated comedy premiered a decade ago, and has reinvented itself wildly over the years. In fact, for three seasons now, its titular hero has been in a coma, lingering near death, while his subconscious spins through a series of odd fantasies recasting his friends and co-workers in alternative roles in a string of unpredictable misadventures in exotic settings. This season, the setting is outer space, and Archer’s fertile imagination takes him and his “crew” on a string of disconnected galactic adventures, poking fun at everything from Alien to the Star Trek classic “The Trouble with Tribbles.” And while the original Star Trek lasted only three seasons, give Archer its due. Since its 2009 debut, it’s managed to survive for twice as long as Captain Kirk’s original five-year mission.

 

 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.