THURSDAY

JULY 3

2014

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

Esquire, 8:00 p.m. ET

Robert Redford could make almost any movie he wanted after 1969’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid upped his profile, but almost immediately, he started making movies that spoke to him personally for one reason or another. In 1972, he made two such films: Jeremiah Johnson, the story of a mountain man in Utah that utilized the rugged natural beauty that would later house Redford’s Sundance Film Festival, and The Candidate, in which he played a charismatic politician with a seemingly bright future. Peter Boyle plays his campaign manager, and the film has a message, and a set of concerns, far ahead of its time.

MAE WEST FILM SALUTE

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

Five films starring the outrageous Mae West are shown by TCM tonight, starting with a doubleheader of movies from 1933 in which, playing a knowing, leering femme fatale, she starred opposite a young Cary Grant. The first, I’m No Angel, starts at 8 p.m. ET, followed at 9:45 p.m. ET by She Done Him Wrong. Belle of the Nineties, from 1934, is up next, and the salute ends at 2:15 a.m. ET with 1943’s The Heat’s On – but don’t miss, at 12:45 a.m. ET, the biggest classic in the bunch: 1940’s My Little Chickadee (pictured), co-starring the great W.C. Fields.

BEDAZZLED

E!, 9:00 p.m. ET

This 2000 comedy, directed by Harold Ramis, is a very loose remake of the 1967 comedy starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, which itself was a very loose play on Faust and other devil-made-me-do it classics. In this version, Cook’s part of the satanic schemer who grants wishes that turn out horribly is played by Elizabeth Hurley, who fills out the role very nicely. Very, very nicely indeed. Brendan Fraser plays her poor pawn, and Frances O’Connor has one of the best roles – more than one of them, actually – as the elusive object of his desire.

RECTIFY

Sundance, 9:00 p.m. ET

It took the first two episodes of Season 2 for the quiet protagonist of this show, Aden Young’s Daniel, to awaken from his coma, after the brutal beating that he endured at the cliffhanger ending of Season 1. And now, after the touching reunion with his mother and sister at his hospital bed that ended last week’s episode, Aden is once again conscious. But since he had no direction before, once being suddenly released after 19 years in prison, in what direction will he be heading now?

NY MED

ABC, 10:00 p.m. ET

Tonight’s second episode of this year’s NY Med, ABC’s excellent medical documentary miniseries, is the one that first made me cry when I previewed the batch of new shows. Watch for yourself, and you’ll see why – and it’s not because of some terrible fate befalling some patient. It’s because of the love and dedication demonstrated throughout the hour. Tonight’s cases include a couple victimized by a brutal home invasion, and a young Marine who makes it through boot camp, only to encounter an even more daunting set of obstacles. Doctors profiled and followed tonight include a returning “featured player,” Dr. Debbi Yi. For a full review of this series, see Bianculli’s Blog.

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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.

New From TVWW

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

Esquire, 8:00 p.m. ET

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

E!, 9:00 p.m. ET

Sundance, 9:00 p.m. ET

ABC, 10:00 p.m. ET

David Bianculli

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