WEDNESDAY
NOVEMBER 30
2016

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

NBC, 8:00 p.m. ET

It’s one for the money, two for the show, and tree to get ready. Tonight’s the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, an annual ceremony that only in the past decade or so has been deemed worthy of being televised. But here it is, with not only the visuals of the lights, but the sounds of the holidays – as delivered in song by Tony Bennett, Josh Groban, Dolly Parton, Garth Brooks, and others.

 
  
 
 

CW, 8:00 p.m. ET

The CW superhero parade of DC Comics characters continues tonight, as Arrow – a.k.a. Green Arrow, at least in the vintage comics – hosts the latest hour in this week’s four-episode, four-series crossover story. And if the prospect of that make you all a-quiver – well, Arrow is the place for quivers, so why not?

 
  
 
 

NBC, 9:00 p.m. ET

This new NBC holiday telemovie is a sequel to last year’s Coat of Many Colors Dolly Parton holiday biography. If anything, the sentimental quotient is upped for this continuation movie, which once again stars Alyvia Alyn Lind as the young Dolly Parton – and the current Dolly Parton as a vision of herself billed as the Painted Lady.

 
  
 
 

Comedy Central, 9:30 p.m. ET

There are only two episodes left in this season’s new shows, and its continuing story line of an international computer hack aimed at trolls in general – and, in tonight’s episode, at South Park residents in particular.

 
  
 
 

Syfy, 10:00 p.m. ET

SERIES PREMIERE: Behind the scenes, this new Syfy series about a dystopian future is produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. On screen, its stars include Dennis Haysbert of 24 and Julia Ormond of Mad Men. It’s set in 2074, and, as with the movie Minority Report, what’s most impressive – at least in tonight’s premiere episode – is its detailed vision of its imagined future, which is ruled by corporations instead of countries and is divided into green and red “zones” populated respectively by the privileged and the masses. The green zones are polished and posh; the red zones are more like Times Square a century earlier, all neon and vice – and, at least initially, a lot more compelling, at least around the edges. For a full review, see Ed Bark's Uncle Barky's Bytes and for an interview with star Julia Ormond, see David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower.
 
  
 
 

TCM, 12:45 a.m. ET

Please, please, stay up to watch this, or record it for viewing at a later date. This 1982 film bears the title of a Hopi Indian word meaning "life out of balance," and it's basically an entire movie showing scenes, of nature and of civilization, either sped up or slowed down so we can see them in a different way -- all scored to the perfectly matched music of Philip Glass. When I saw this documentary for the first time, 33 years ago, it blew me away. When I watch it again tonight, it'll do the same thing... especially the scenes of clouds shot from above and sped up, making them look like white, billowing, undulating cotton-candy oceans.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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You made karaoke night the highlight of the evening, fantastic job!
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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.