WEDNESDAY
MAY 30
2018

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Rob Marshall’s energetic, whipsaw-paced 2002 movie version of the long-running musical Chicago is a provocative examination of fame, betrayal, and the cynical manipulations of the media, politicians, and lawyers. In 2018, it’s almost a song-by-song primer, preparing us for the evening news. And with Renee Zellweger as headline-grabbing murderess Roxie Hart, competing for media attention and juror sympathy with Catherine Zeta-Jones’ equally deadly Velma Kelly, this Chicago is packed with talent, as well as with the songs of John Kander and Fred Ebb. Shown unedited and uninterrupted tonight on HBO, it’s a good place, as well as time, to revisit Chicago

 
  
 
 

NBC, 10:00 p.m. ET

SERIES PREMIERE: The good news: This new sci-fi summer series stars Sarah Shahi, the Person of Interest co-star who’s been an impressive but underrated TV player ever since playing Carmen in The L Word and starring opposite Damian Lewis in 2002’s Life. The bad news: This new series comes from Mickey Fisher, whose last broadcast network summer series was CBS’s senseless Extant. And this new one, Reverie, stars Shahi as a woman who ventures into the artificial realities of others to try and retrieve them – a plot and premise that’s part Total Recall, part The Cell. The opening hour is a disappointment, even with low expectations. But perhaps, visually, it’ll expand in time, and get at least as innovative as Fox’s virtual-reality-exploring drama series VR.5 – which starred Lori Singer, and was made way, way back in 1995. For a full review, see Ed Bark's Uncle Barky's Bytes.

 
  
 
 

FX, 10:00 p.m. ET

SERIES FINALE: This is it. The final episode of The Americans, which has saved, until the very last, the answers to so many key questions. Will Soviet spy moles Philip and Elizabeth survive? Will their marriage? Will FBI agent Stan act upon his suspicions and confront Philip and Elizabeth? And will their daughter, Paige, ultimately align herself with one parent or the other, and either revoke or embrace her budding spy career? (Regarding that last question, I vote for the latter… and hope for an eventual sequel spinoff: The Americans: The Next Generation…) For some preview thoughts from series producer Joe Weisberg, see David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower.
 
  
 
 

TBS, 10:30 p.m. ET

Tonight, expect outspoken comedienne Samantha Bee to deliver her opinion on outspoken comedienne Roseanne Barr – one of whom, at this writing, still has a TV show.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.