SUNDAY

MARCH 3

2013

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

History, 8:00 p.m. ET

MINISERIES PREMIERE: This is a warning, not a recommendation. Survivor creator Mark Burnett and his wife, Touched By an Angel star Roma Downey, clearly want to treat their selected biblical stories with reverence and dramatic impact – but the road to bad TV is paved with good intentions. The Bible, presented by History with its first two hours premiering tonight, is more clunky and less dramatically effective than the spate of recent TNT biblical telemovies, not to mention such vintage TV miniseries as Jesus of Nazareth. To watch The Bible and enjoy it, you have to forgive an awful lot – which, I guess, is a virtue, for those who insist upon trying. For more on The Bible see Ed Bark's Uncle Barky's Bytes.

ANNIE HALL

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

One of the most brilliant comedies ever made: Woody Allen’s 1977 movie was the one that promoted him from frenetic funnyman to premier filmmaker. And it was a deserved jump in reputation, because everything about Annie Hall – the story, the structure, the editing, the music, and especially the performances, which provided depth and drama as well as laugh-out-loud moments – was so fresh, it still feels like a modern comedy all these decades later. And Diane Keaton? Perfection.

THE GOOD WIFE

CBS, 9:00 p.m. ET

Things at the law firm are pretty tense, now that Alicia (Julianna Margulies) has broken ranks with the other fourth-year associates whose offers to become partners were taken away from them. To keep those attorneys from protesting as a unified front, the bosses offered Alicia, and only Alicia, the chance to advance, and she accepted. Whatever’s going to happen for the rest of the season, it won’t be pretty. And tonight, the focus is on Eli (Alan Cumming), who’s the target of a corruption probe – and defended, in court, by the delightfully unpredictable Elsbeth (Carrie Preston).

THE WALKING DEAD

AMC, 9:00 p.m. ET

This show usually leaves me reeling with its sudden bursts of violence and its often unexpected deaths – but last week, in an episode with more than its share of gore and dread, the image that stayed with me the most was of the Governor’s damaged eye. The Governor (David Morrissey) removed his eye patch and put a match right up to his punctured eyeball, hoping to see something – anything. It was a quiet, powerful, moment, and as gory, in its own way, as any of the imaginatively rendered undead that now seem to be everywhere.

VIKINGS

History, 10:00 p.m. ET

SERIES PREMIERE: This nine-part series stars Gabriel Byrne as an old-style Viking, and Travis Fimmel as the embodiment of a new generation with new ideas – like sailing West, to reach and plunder a land called England. I’ve watched all the episodes sent by History for preview, and Vikings has its moments: about four episodes in, when a British holy man is brought back as a slave, the series takes on some of the flavor of a Scandinavian Shogun. But oddly, given the rarity of this particular subject matter as the source of a TV drama, it’s neither as compelling, nor as credible, as I’d like. Still, for rarity alone, give it a look. For more on Vikings see Ed Bark's Uncle Barky's Bytes.

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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.

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BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

History, 8:00 p.m. ET

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

CBS, 9:00 p.m. ET

AMC, 9:00 p.m. ET

History, 10:00 p.m. ET

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