SUNDAY
DECEMBER 30
2012

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Spike, 3:53 p.m. ET

The mini-marathon continues today with three more films in the Star Wars canon – including the newest, and the oldest. First up, at 3:53 p.m. ET, is 2005’s Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, the final film in the modern-era prequel trilogy. Next, at 7 p.m. ET, comes the retitled Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, the 1977 George Lucas film that launched the entire Star Wars enterprise (as opposed to the Star Trek Enterprise, another subject entirely). Finally, at 10 p.m. ET, there’s 1980’s Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, the second entry in the original trilogy, now repositioned as the overall Part 5.
 
  
 
 

TCM, 5:45 p.m. ET

In this 1946 tearjerker, Jane Wyman and Gregory Peck play parents, living in the Florida backwoods in the post-Civil War era, who permit their son (played by Claude Jarman Jr.) to adopt a young deer as a pet. Maybe because it was set in rural Florida, maybe because the kid had a deer as a pet, and more probably because of its raw emotional story, this movie had quite a pull on me when I was young. Now that I’m not, I’m eager to revisit it – and I expect the climax will have the same profound impact.
 
  
 
 

PBS, 7:30 p.m. ET

This new holiday TV special is the best bet of the night. It’s a self-contained Call the Midwife telemovie, set at Christmas time, and will delight fans of the series while serving as a perfect entry point for newcomers. Either way, know this going in: This isn’t your sort of generic, treacly, syrupy holiday special. Even though it has a Nativity play, and a birth or two, not every ending is happy. But with Call the Midwife, every scene, and every character, is memorable. Check local listings.
 
  
 
 

PBS, 9:00 p.m. ET

Catch tonight’s conclusion of Season 2, and get ready – because a week from tonight, on the first Sunday of the New Year, Downton Abbey rises again, with Season 3. Check local listings.
 
  
 
 

TCM, 9:00 p.m. ET

Steven Spielberg directed this 1997 historical drama, about a slave ship whose unwilling passengers staged a mutiny during one voyage in 1839 – and about the subsequent court case about the free man who sparked the onboard revolution. Morgan Freeman, Djimon Hounsou star in this movie, which may be one of the most recent films TCM has ever shown.
 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.