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SATURDAY
OCTOBER 5
2013

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 
2013 MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYOFFS

TBS, 5:30 p.m. ET

Only two postseason games are played today, as a doubleheader televised by TBS. First up, at 5:30 p.m. ET, is Game 2 in the Tampa Bay Rays vs. Boston Red Sox series, a series in which Boston has the edge by clobbering the Rays 12-2 in Game 1. Next, at 9 p.m. ET, is Game 2 in the Detroit Tigers vs. Oakland Athletics, a contest which, to this point, has been much more competitive: Detroit won Game 1 by a score of 3-2.

 
  
 
 
MUHAMMAD ALI'S GREATEST FIGHT

HBO, 8:00 p.m. ET

This new HBO telemovie is about Muhammad Ali’s U.S. Supreme Court battle to defend his conscientious objection status in refusing to be drafted during the Vietnam War. Ali is seen only in vintage footage, but the Supreme Court justices are played by others. And what others: Christopher Plummer, Frank Langella and Danny Glover star. For a full review, see Gerald Jordan’s Crossing Jordan.
 
  
 
 
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE

IFC, 8:00 p.m. ET

One of Stanley Kubrick’s masterpieces. This 1971 movie, based on the book by Anthony Burgess, is the movie that made me want to be a critic, because it disturbed yet impressed me at the same time, and I kept returning to it to figure out why. (The answer: It’s a brilliant piece of filmmaking, basically.) Malcolm McDowell stars as a futuristic teen thug who, over the course of the movie, experiences being both predator and prey.

 
  
 
 
HOUSE OF VERSACE

Lifetime, 8:00 p.m. ET

I’m not remarking on the quality of this new Lifetime movie – just on the casting, which is reason enough to tune in on a slow Sarturday night. Gina Gershon stars as Donatella Versace, the fashion designer who, until now, has been most visibly and famously portrayed by Maya Rudolph on Saturday Night Live. And also featured in this movie, in a supporting role: Raquel Welch. The stars of Showgirls and One Million Years B.C. in the same movie? Here we go…

 
  
 
 
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE

NBC, 11:29 p.m. ET

There have been two pop-culture tsunamis so far this fall: the build-up to the end of Breaking Bad, and the series of successfully attention-demanding antics by Miley Cyrus. Posturing at MTV’s Video Music Awards. Riding her “Wrecking Ball” video, naked, to unprecedented first-day views. And now, appearing on Saturday Night Live, as both guest host and musical guest. Nice twerk if you can get it.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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3803 Comments
 
 
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Dave
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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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