TCM, 6:00 a.m. ET
Today on TCM’s “Summer Under the Stars,” it’s a 24-hour helping of movies starring or featuring Eva Marie Saint. One of her finest films arrives at 6 p.m. ET, when TCM televises 1954’s On the Waterfront, in which she stars opposite Marlon Brando. But watch, also, for another, which director Brad Bird, guest co-host of TCM’s Saturday night showcase “The Essentials,” makes room for an Alfred Hitchcock movie, 1959’s North by Northwest, in which Saint co-stars opposite Cary Grant. Two absolutely essential films, presented tonight as a TCM double feature.
HBO, 8:00 p.m. ET
This 2020 movie stars Ben Affleck in a dramatic role that has unfortunately uncomfortable parallels to the actor’s real life. In The Way Back, he plays a former young phenom (in this case, a high school basketball player) who tries to get his life back on track, many years later, by returning to his old high school to coach. Affleck, after winning a screenwriting Oscar with Matt Damon for their young breakout film, Good Will Hunting, in which they both also starred, rode the high and low waves of Hollywood, and has had such a volatile film career, and personal life, that this isn’t even considered his first comeback vehicle. But post-Batman, it’s a really respectable one.
CNN, 10:00 p.m. ET
This 2020 documentary about “Fake News” will be shown by CNN tonight – unless, in this weekend of storm coverage, post-convention feedback, and continued outrage about ever-increasing cases of police brutality and shootings against people of color, “Real News” causes it to be pre-empted.
BET, 11:00 p.m. ET
Already available on YouTube, this new documentary is presented tonight on BET – preaching to the choir, as it were, but presenting a perspective, and focusing on a tragic story and issue, that should be seen by everyone.