TUESDAY

NOVEMBER 5

2013

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

TCM is celebrating Vivien Leigh’s birthday today by presenting two of her best and most iconic roles, and films, in a lengthy prime-time double bill. First up: Elia Kazan’s big-screen version of Tennessee Williams’ sexy, swampy, atmospheric masterpiece, starring Marlon Brando in an era-changing performance as Stanley Kowalski, and Leigh as Blanche DuBois, one of the two women who drive Stanley to fits of screaming. (The other, of course, is Kim Hunter as STELLA!!!)

PROMISED LAND

HBO, 8:30 p.m. ET

This 2012 movie takes two sympathetic, popular screen stars, Matt Damon and Frances McDormand, and casts them in conceivably less likable roles: employees of a giant international energy company, dispatched to a small town to persuade the locals to sign away the mineral rights under their land, and allow the controversial natural gas extraction process known as fracking. But then come the characters on the other side of the issue – specifically, Hal Holbrook as a local high-school science teacher, and John Krasinski as a stranger who comes to town to oppose Damon’s efforts. Gus Van Sant directs, and, quite interestingly, Damon and Krasinski collaborated on the screenplay, based on a story by Dave Eggers.

AMERICAN MASTERS: “JIMI HENDRIX: HEAR MY TRAIN A COMIN’”

PBS, 9:00 p.m. ET

Jimi Hendrix was the very first performer I saw in concert, in 1967, when I was 13 years old. Impressive, huh? Except that the next performers I saw, about 30 minutes later, were The Monkees. Hendrix was the opening act for the Monkees then, but only for a handful of concerts – and I was at the one in Miami, taken by my aunt, with my cousins, to see The Monkees, because I had been too young to see The Beatles the year before. (Arrgh.) But I digress. This American Masters documentary covers that period, and many others, in Hendrix’s short life, and includes more than enough concert footage to prove why he was seen as such a bold, incomparable guitar god. But there’s lots more here, too, including terrific fresh comments by Dweezil Zappa and Paul McCartney. For a full review, see Gabriela Tamariz’s Streamline. Check local listings.

NEW GIRL

Fox, 9:00 p.m. ET

After shooting the pilot for New Girl, Damon Wayans Jr. had to leave the show before it went to series, because his then-endangered sitcom, Happy Endings, was unexpectedly renewed, not canceled. But here he is again, returning as the same character, Coach, and making the first appearance in what is now being called a recurring role. That’s one positive benefit of Happy Endings eventually having a not-so-happy one. It’s gone now. But on this series, at least tonight and sometime in the future, Wayans is back.

GONE WITH THE WIND

TCM, 10:15 p.m. ET

This 1939 Civil War epic set audience records for a movie presentation on TV when it was shown, for the first time on the small screen, as a two-part NBC special in the mid-Seventies, just before the home-video revolution. Now, instead of seeing it on a small square screen with tons of commercials, you can watch it on widescreen, high-definition TV, and in a single sitting, on TCM, where it’s uninterrupted as well as uncut. Clark Gable is Rhett Butler, and Vivien Leigh, today’s TCM birthday girl, achieved cinematic immortality as Scarlett O’Hara.

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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

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

HBO, 8:30 p.m. ET

PBS, 9:00 p.m. ET

Fox, 9:00 p.m. ET

TCM, 10:15 p.m. ET

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