Showtime, 6:50 p.m. ET
This 1997 drama is worth revisiting, for many different reasons. It catches both Ben Affleck and Matt Damon at the start of their careers, when on screen, they look like, and play, the very young men they are. And since they co-wrote the original screenplay, and were awarded an Oscar for their efforts, it’s a great lesson in one very unorthodox way to launch a career – by writing your own roles. And finally, it provided a strong dramatic (and also Oscar-winning) role for Robin Williams, who portrays a therapist carrying the sort of angst that, in retrospect, is that much sadder.
NBC, 8:00 p.m. ET
Those veteran producers of televised musical specials, Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, revived the live-TV musical genre with 2013’s The Sound of Music, then went one step backward with the much lower-rated, and less satisfying, Peter Pan last year. Tonight, they’re back to try,try again, this time with a revamped production, even with some new music, of the Tony-winning 1975 The Wiz. This new television adaptation of the colorful take on The Wizard of Oz stars a newcomer, 19-year-old Shanice Williams, as Dorothy. Co-stars include Queen Latifah as the Wiz, Uzo Aduba of Orange Is the New Black as Glinda the Good Witch, and Mary J. Blige as the Wicked Witch of the West. Playing Dorothy’s traveling companions: Ne-Yo as the Tin Man, Elijah Kelley as the Scarecrow, and David Alan Grier as the Cowardly Lion. And, worthy of the exclamation mark in the title, it’s The Wiz Live!
ABC, 8:00 p.m. ET
This 2014 Toy Story special features the gang, including Tom Hanks as Woody, Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear and Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head, bundled up for a play date after Christmas – and forced to deal with a very different type of toys. In a word: dinosaurs…
TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET
This 1947 movie, starring George Sanders, is the first of tonight’s TCM salute to the actor – but this particular film is more interesting because of the drama’s female lead. Playing a woman who hopes to lure a serial killer out into the open, and into the hands of the police, is a young actress named Lucille Ball – just a few years before turning to TV in I Love Lucy. Boris Karloff co-stars.
CBS, 8:25 p.m. ET
CBS gets another Thursday game – and this time it’s featuring two teams on opposite trajectories, the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions. The Packers has a record of 7-4, the Lions 4-7.