SATURDAY
DECEMBER 5
2015

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

NBC, 8:00 p.m. ET

This movie came out in 1946 – next year will be its 70th anniversary. But it still resonates, and adds cheer to the holiday season, and reminds us what a wonderful actor James Stewart was. Imagining a world without Stewart’s George Bailey in it is tough enough. A world without It’s a Wonderful Life? Impossible.

 
  
 
 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

Here’s a movie that was made just four years after It’s a Wonderful Life, so this is its 65th anniversary. William Holden was a young movie star then – and Gloria Swanson wasn’t, which makes her role in this 1950 classic even more fitting, and creepy. They did, indeed, have faces then.

 
  
 
 

BBC America, 9:00 p.m. ET

SEASON FINALE: Clara is dead, the Doctor is fuming, and in tonight’s Season 9 finale of the modern Doctor Who series, the Doctor returns to his homeland of Gallifrey – but with vengeance, more than nostalgia, in mind. Clara, just before her death, had ordered the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) not to seek revenge for what was about to happen to her – but will he listen?
 
  
 
 

Sundance, 10:00 p.m. ET

Last season, the creepiest thing about The Returned was one returnee in particular – the mostly silent little kid. Tonight, in Season 2, he’s back at center stage. And he’s no less creepy…
 
  
 
 

NBC, 11:29 p.m. ET

Ryan Gosling guest hosts this new episode, with musical guest Leon Bridges.
 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.