SATURDAY
MARCH 3
2018

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

HBO, 8:00 p.m. ET

Last night, HBO showed, in prime time, Ridley Scott’s reworking of his original Alien movie, Alien: The Director’s Cut. Tonight, HBO shows one of the sequels, or prequels, spawned from this idea of the morphing killer creature from outer space. This 2017 sci-fi thriller stars Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup – and, of course, that slimy, slippery, deadly shape-shifter.

 
  
 
 

BBC America, 9:00 p.m. ET

SERIES FINALE: There’s actually a Making of the Blue Planet II special still to come, but tonight’s episode is the final, stunning installment of the Blue Planet II series proper. In it, we see Sir David Attenborough, on camera as well as narrating, explaining why our planet’s ecosystem has arrived at a precarious point. But it also shows examples of reversing the tide, so to speak, with tales of dedicated scientists and environmentally concerned lawmakers working around the globe to change, effectively, the threatened populations of leatherback turtles, sperm whales and other literally irreplaceable species and environments. To read or hear my full review “Our Blue Planet,” the series finale, on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, visit the Fresh Air website.
 
  
 
 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

We’ve come to the end of TCM’s massive celebration of Oscar-winning and Oscar-nominated movies. The network’s "31 Days of Oscar” ends tonight, because the Academy Awards themselves begin tomorrow night. And on this last evening, “31 Days of Oscar” salutes, and presents, three sprawling, Oscar-winning epics about men who led a revolution. The action starts with the nonviolent social change of 1982’s Gandhi, starring Ben Kingsley as the peaceful social activist from India, at 8 p.m. ET. Then it proceeds at 11:30 p.m. ET to 1995’s Braveheart, starring Mel Gibson (pictured) as the face-painted Scottish warrior. Finally, it concludes, at 2:45 a.m. ET, with 1959’s Ben-Hur, starring Charlton Heston as a proud Jewish defender and warrior. The first two cinematic heroes defied British rule, and the final one opposed Roman rule and law.

 
  
 
 

NBC, 11:29 p.m. ET

Charles Barkley returns as guest host, with musical guest Migos. Not to knock Migos, or add undue pressure, but Barkley has hosted SNL three other times over a 25-year span, and each time, his musical guests have killed it. That was true of Kelly Clarkson in 2012, and of Alicia Keys in 2010 – and it certainly was true, way back in 1993 the first time Barkley the NBA star hosted, when the musical guest was Nirvana.
 
  
 
 
 
 
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3695 Comments
 
 
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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.