THURSDAY
JULY 31
2014

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

We adore Mel Brooks here at TVWW, and it’s good to know TCM feels likewise. Tonight, that network turns its lineup over to Brooks, by showcasing him in four of his films and an interview, as well as showing the original version of a movie he remade. Starting things off at 8 p.m. ET is 1970’s The Twelve Chairs, one of the rarest Brooks films to find on TV, and one he adapted from a period Russian novel. Next up: 1976’s Silent Movie (9:45 p.m. ET), his homage to the pre-sound era of cinema, and 1977’s High Anxiety, his Alfred Hitchcock homage that had creative input from the Master of Suspense himself. An interview conducted by Dick Cavett is shown at 1:15 a.m. ET, followed an hour later by 1983’s To Be or Not to Be, Brooks’ charming version of the 1942 Jack Benny wartime comedy movie. Brooks’ version co-stars his late wife, Anne Bancroft, who’s as hilarious as she is beautiful – and Ernst Lubitsch’s original version co-starring Benny and Carole Lombard, ends the evening at 4:15 a.m. ET. Watch them all! Trade with friends!
 
  
 
 

CNN, 9:00 p.m. ET

I was out of the country two weeks ago when breaking news of the shot-down aircraft pre-empted The Sixties on CNN, so last Thursday, CNN showed a previously scheduled installment instead of 1968, which is now shown tonight, unless more breaking news interrupts. I described 1968 last week thusly: It makes sense that this really smart CNN documentary series would be perceptive enough to single out the year 1968 as one volatile and meaningful enough to warrant its own hour – titled, simply, 1968. And what relevance does that year hold to today? Well, start with the Soviet incursion into Czechoslovakia, if you want modern parallels. And if you want pivotal historical events, start with the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., and the election of Richard Nixon, and… well, watch and see. It’s amazing, and frightening, that all of that happened in one explosive 12-month period.

 
  
 
 

Lifetime, 9:00 p.m. ET

On tonight’s episode of Runway, the designers are ushered into a movie theater, where they’re asked to concoct runway looks from “unconventional materials.” Here’s hoping: a flapper dress made of Twizzlers? (Okay, so we actually saw one of those, pictured, back in Season 8. I’ve never forgotten it.) A mod pop-art black-and-white blazer with buttons made of Junior Mints? And what about a long popcorn boa, held together with corn syrup? Hey – a man can dream. Especially one who’s on a diet…

 
  
 
 

ABC, 10:00 p.m. ET

This week’s installment of NY Med has stories, as usual, that are as intense as they are unscripted – real life, and real life and death, running through the doors and corridors and treatment rooms of Roosevelt Hospital and elsewhere. And this week, there’s a two-year-old girl facing sudden death, another patient who flees an impending operation out of fear, and – well, just watch. And be amazed, as I am each episode, by the professionalism, the humaneness, and the amazing dedication of these doctors, nurses and other health-care professionals. They're just super...
 
  
 
 

Sundance, 10:00 p.m. ET

MINISERIES PREMIERE: Maggie Gyllenhaal stars in this new eight-part production, a co-production by Sundance and BBC-2, and she gives a performance unlike any of hers I’ve ever seen. I’ve seen some great ones, but nothing that prepared me for her multilayered, mysterious character in this drama: a British heiress who uses her money and political position, as well as her Israeli heritage, to try and broker a path for peace in the Middle East. But as topical and inspirational as that sounds, she’s surrounded by people with their own agendas – and even before the credits sequence begins, we’ve seen how deadly the stakes can be, and often are. This is an impressively involving and unpredictable drama, populated by characters who are hard to read and even harder to forget. For a full review, listen to today’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, or visit the Fresh Air Website later this afternoon.
 
  
 
 
 
 
Read and add comments HERE for today's Best Bets!
 
 
 
 
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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.