THURSDAY

JUNE 30

2016

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

BroadwayHD, 8:00 p.m. ET

Tonight’s Best Bets are entirely, coincidentally, musical – and the evening begins with a true rarity. She Loves Me, the current Roundabout Theatre Company revival of the classic Sheldon Harnick-Jerry Bock musical (which itself was based on the same Miklos Laszlo play that inspired You’ve Got Mail), is being performed tonight at 8 p.m. ET, as usual, on Broadway. It’s anything but usual, though, that it’s also being streamed live, and available for viewing nationwide, via the BroadwayHD website. The cost is $9.99 for the event, about half of what it costs you just to pay the toll into the Lincoln Tunnel. Laura Benanti, Zachary Levi and Jane Krakowski star, and the show’s Tony-winning set is indeed one of the most intricate, functional and beautiful sets I’ve ever seen on Broadway. Come for the set, then stay to be charmed by the utterly delightful music and performances.

CABARET

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

Movie Musical Thursdays, on TCM, has a ridiculously strong lineup tonight, beginning with Bob Fosse’s breathtakingly energetic movie version of Cabaret. Liza Minnelli is given her most indelible and iconic role – and slays it.

GREATEST HITS

ABC, 9:00 p.m. ET

SERIES PREMIERE: ABC is trying a lot of old tricks this summer – game and quiz shows, mostly – and here’s another one, a musical variety show that invites both current acts and oldies to perform numbers from a particular five-year era. It starts with the 1980s, so these are relatively newer oldies, but time goes on. Hosted by Arsenio Hall, who’s 60, and rising country star Kelsea Ballerini, who’s 22, this new six-part series, which is arriving without previews, may be a lot of fun. It’s executive produced by long-time Grammys producer Ken Ehrlich, whose tastes in music, and in pairing musicians from different eras and genres, has been a delightful Grammy staple for decades now.

SEX&DRUGS&ROCK&ROLL

FX, 10:00 p.m. ET

SEASON PREMIERE: For Season 2, Denis Leary and company don’t indulge in a moment of scene-setting: If you don’t know these characters well from last season, you’ll have little or no sense of how they came together, stay together, or are so comically dysfunctional. (A fast binge view of Season 1 is highly recommended.) But basically, Leary plays the former lead singer of a vintage rock band hoping to make a comeback, but with Leary’s long-estranged daughter, played by Elizabeth Gillies, as the new, very talented lead singer. The new season begins with the death of a former musical peer, and has several subplots going at once, with Leary’s trademark deadpan dialogue, the best thing about Rescue Me, so prevalent and enjoyable. My favorite subplot: The continuation of last season’s idea about band member Rehab and his pretentious idea to do a rock opera song cycle about the Irish potato famine. Last year, that was laughably ridiculous. This year, after the mega-success of Broadway’s Hamilton, suddenly it’s finding interest – and investors. For an interview with Robert Kelly (Bam Bam), see David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower.

HAIR

TCM, 10:15 p.m. ET

Speaking of Hamilton, when it comes to Broadway shows that introduced or popularized new types of music to Broadway, TCM includes two film musicals representative of that trend. First, at 10:15 p.m. ET, comes the 1979 film version of Hair, directed by Milos Forman, who loved the musical’s embrace of political, lyrical and visual freedom. John Savage and Treat Williams star, and Central Park is the setting for most of the action, and the hits include the title song, “Easy to Be Hard,” “Aquarius,” “Let the Sunshine In,” and many others.

THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW

BBC America, 11:15 p.m. ET

This is sort of a stretch for an all-Musical Best Bets, but it includes, as Norton’s guest stars, Rebel Wilson, now starring in London in the musical Guys and Dolls. So there. But the real reason is that other guests on Norton’s couch tonight include Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley, all three of whom are in a new Absolutely Fabulous film, and very vintage punk musician Iggy Pop.

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR

TCM, 12:30 a.m. ET

Jesus Christ Superstar may be the closest Broadway analogue to Hamilton, in both approach and reception, so seeing this 1973 movie adaptation in this new era is quite instructive. This rock opera, by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, started as a concept album, then was transferred to the stage, with Ben Vereen and Yvonne Elliman its breakout stars as, respectively, Judas Iscariot and Mary Magdalene. Elliman reprises her stage (and original LP) role in this film, but Vereen does not. Judas, in the film, is played by Carl Anderson, with Ted Neeley as Jesus. It’s not that good a film, really, but it does capture the intent, and an era.

SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET

TCM, 4:45 a.m. ET

Now here’s a classic. This is a filmed performance by the 1982 national touring company of Sweeney Todd, with George Hearn replacing Len Cariou in the title role (very commendably), but with Angela Lansbury still playing her Tony-winning role as cannibalistic piemaker Mrs. Lovett. Stephen Sondheim’s music and lyrics are as good as musicals get, the story is great, and this particular performance is well worth setting your DVRs to capture. Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd…

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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.

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BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

BroadwayHD, 8:00 p.m. ET

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

ABC, 9:00 p.m. ET

FX, 10:00 p.m. ET

TCM, 10:15 p.m. ET

BBC America, 11:15 p.m. ET

TCM, 12:30 a.m. ET

TCM, 4:45 a.m. ET

David Bianculli

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