SATURDAY

JANUARY 31

2015

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE PRESENTS A SPORTS SPECTACULAR

NBC, 8:00 p.m. ET

This SNL clip special looks at the comic side of sports, compiling various sports-related sketches it’s done over the years. These could be as recent as last week’s Saturday Night Live opener, a spoof of the Deflategate scandal – and, most assuredly, will include the Peyton Manning mini-film from 2007, spoofing his charity work with young boys.

AUSTIN CITY LIMITS

PBS, 8:00 p.m. ET

Headlining tonight’s concert, and certainly worth hearing and watching: The Black Keys. Check local listings.

MEL BROOKS: LIVE AT THE GEFFEN

HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET

For his third HBO special, Mel Brooks drops the Q&A format and does stand-up instead, singing songs, telling jokes and unfurling some of his favorite Hollywood stories. It looks like Brooks has been doing standup all his life – but he stopped about 70 years ago. I guess some things you just never unlearn – it’s like riding a penny farthing. For a new interview with Mel Brooks – the fourth he’s given to TV Worth Watching over the years – see Bianculli’s Blog.

BAD WORDS

Cinemax, 10:00 p.m. ET

Jason Bateman both stars in and directs this 2013 comedy movie about a man who discovers a loophole in the entry rules for a spelling bee, and signs up, as a bitter adult, for the contest at which he fared so poorly as a child.

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE

NBC, 11:29 p.m. ET

J.K. Simmons is the guest host – so expect some skits about not only his fierce music instructor in Whiplash, but maybe his insurance ads and even his neo-Nazi bully in Oz. D’Angelo and the Vanguard are the musical guests.

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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

NBC, 8:00 p.m. ET

PBS, 8:00 p.m. ET

HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET

Cinemax, 10:00 p.m. ET

NBC, 11:29 p.m. ET

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