SUNDAY
SEPTEMBER 3
2017

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

ABC, 7:00 p.m. ET

Because of the holiday weekend, it’s an exceptionally quiet Sunday night for television – a temporary condition that, I assure you, will be corrected by this time next Sunday. But for now, tonight’s slim pickings include this ABC Fall Preview special, which highlights the new and returning ABC series. In some cases, this is less treat than trick – especially in the case of The Inhumans, the new ABC Marvel Comics series that premieres later this month on the network, but on Friday began a two-week special showing at Imax theaters nationwide. I attended the first preview showing, and all that’s accomplished by the giant screen and booming sound of the Imax system is to magnify the painful flaws of The Inhumans –already the show to beat as worst new TV series of the fall.

 
  
 
 

Showtime, 8:00 p.m. ET

SERIES FINALE: The TV event of the night, without question, is the two-hour, two-episode finale of Twin Peaks: The Return. Last week, in hour 16 of this 18-hour revisit by David Lynch and Mark Frost, Kyle MacLachlan’s Dale Cooper finally, finally, showed up, at least mentally. But with two hours to go, Sheryl Lee’s Laura Palmer, the central mystery of the original Twin Peaks series, has yet to appear, except as a vision – and since she appeared with Cooper, in the original series, in a flash-forward of the Black Lodge set some 25 years in the future, she should appear tonight. But if you expect logic, or consistency, much less closure, from Lynch and company, you haven’t been watching. But if you have, and have seen such deliciously odd moments as the reprisal of Audrey Horne’s dance by Sherilynn Fenn, then you’re sure to be here for tonight’s finale – whatever it does, and doesn’t, accomplish.
 
  
 
 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

Another classic movie showing up this weekend on TV, 1969’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is one of my favorite films – and certainly one that I’ve written about, and recommended, in Bianculli’s Best Bets more than almost any other. But when a film is this perfectly realized, that can’t be against the rules. Rules? In a knife fight? No rules!

 
  
 
 

Smithsonian, 9:00 p.m. ET

SERIES PREMIERE: This is one of two new Smithsonian travel series premiering tonight. The other, at 8 p.m. ET, is Mighty Cruise Ships, and both, basically, are free advertising for specific travel lines. But so many people, young and old, have a particular fascination about trains, that I thought mentioning it would keep me, with those particular vacationing enthusiasts, on the right track.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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4483 Comments
 
 
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Aug 19, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Robin_B
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Aug 18, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
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Aug 18, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
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Aug 18, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
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Aug 18, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
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Aug 18, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
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Aug 18, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
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Aug 18, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
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Aug 18, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
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Aug 18, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
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Aug 18, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
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Aug 18, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
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Aug 18, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Para penipu ini adalah pembohong profesional. Siapa pun yang mempercayai mereka hanya ikut memperkuat penipuan mereka.
Aug 18, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
Pemerintah Indonesia, persetan dengan situs web ini, mereka menipu orang.
Aug 18, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
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Aug 18, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
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Aug 18, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
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Aug 18, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
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Aug 18, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
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Aug 18, 2026   |  Reply
 
 
 
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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.