FRIDAY
MARCH 4
2016

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Showtime, 8:00 p.m. ET

Essentially, this 2015 documentary is about the making of a movie: The 1971 racing film Le Mans, starring race-car and motorcycle enthusiast Steve McQueen. But it’s also about Hollywood stardom, the definition of that era’s cool factor, and other stuff – none of which has as much pure electricity as McQueen whenever he smiles, squints, or just coldly stares.

 
  
 
 

PBS, 9:00 p.m. ET

This profile of country singer Loretta Lynn is a warm reminiscence, and the memories come from more than just the singing star herself. For example, there’s a journey down memory lane with both Lynn and Sissy Spacek, who portrayed Lynn in the 1980 movie Coal Miner’s Daughter. For a full review, see David Hinckley’s All Along the Watchtower. Check local listings.
 
  
 
 

History 2, 9:00 p.m. ET

Werner Herzog directed this fascinating 1982 film about a man pursuing a dream with almost monomaniacal zeal – a description which may have fit Herzog’s approach to filming on location. Klaus Kinski plays Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, whose plan is to bring opera to the Amazonian jungle. It’s a plan that requires him to drag a large riverboat across a mountain to traverse from one body of water to another – and Herzog, in recreating the efforts, took no shortcuts. I first saw this movie when it was released 34 years ago, and I’ve been a diehard Herzog fan ever since. Find the History cable network’s sister network History2 (or H2), tune in, and see why.

 
  
 
 

Cinemax, 10:00 p.m. ET

Tarsem Singh is a former music video director (R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion”) who has a lush and original visual filmmaking sense – one that TV finally may tap into successfully later this year, as he’s the staff director on the upcoming Wizard of Oz semi-sequel Emerald City. But until now, his best work has been as director of this 2000 crime drama, which takes the delve-into-the-mind-of-a-psychopathic-killer theme from Silence of the Lambs and approaches it literally, with a mind-meld into the killer’s subconscious. The person sent into his mind to tap into his deepest secrets and hidden information is a therapist played by Jennifer Lopez, with help from FBI agent Vince Vaughan. The bad guy is played, viciously, by Vincent D’Onofrio, and all three of them are served well by Singh’s dreamlike visions. At more than one point, Lopez becomes one herself.

 
  
 
 

HBO, 10:00 p.m. ET

Tonight’s guests include Sarah Silverman. But with a news week cycle that includes Super Tuesday primary results, there’s no lack of talk topics.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.