FRIDAY

APRIL 5

2013

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

Public Television, Check local listings

Marking this week’s 45^th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., this weekend’s edition of Moyers & Company has Bill Moyers reexamining the civil rights leader’s other primary battle for equality: economic equality for all, in an “Economic Bill of Rights.” Moyers and his guests, historian Taylor Branch and author and theologian James Cone, discuss King’s vision – and his legacy – while noting the even harsher economic realities faced in 2013. Moyers & Company airs from Friday to Sunday on local public TV stations; to find it in your local area, visit the BillMoyers.com website.

MILDRED PIERCE

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

With a prime-time telecast of this 1945 tearjerker, TCM launches a new month-long Friday night showcase: “A Woman’s World: The Defining Era of Women on Film.” And joining Robert Osborne as host of the screenings of these 17 movies is a woman who helped define an era of women herself: Cher. Tonight’s theme is Motherhood, which explains leading off with Mildred Pierce. Joan Crawford plays the mother, and Ann Blyth the ultimately ungrateful daughter. And stay tuned – for more movies, and more Cher.

MICHAEL FEINSTEIN'S AMERICAN SONGBOOK

PBS, 9:00 p.m. ET

SEASON PREMIERE: Two new installments of Michael Feinstein’s passionate and intelligent study of popular music are shown tonight, and all I have to do is drop a couple of names, and musical-theater fans will be setting their DVRs to record. In the first hour, Feinstein’s interview subjects, discussing musical theater, include Stephen Sondheim and Angela Lansbury. In the second hour, his guests include Liza Minnelli. Check local listings.

REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER

HBO, 10:00 p.m. ET

Maher’s guests tonight include one whom I expect to be particularly passionate, as well as articulate: The Perfect Storm author Sebastian Unger, who co-directed the Oscar-nominated Restrepo film with war photographer Tim Hetherington. The photographer was killed by mortar fire in Libya two years ago, and Unger has just directed a new documentary, Which Way is the Front Line from Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington, which premieres on HBO April 18.

VICE

HBO, 11:00 p.m. ET

SERIES PREMIERE: “Unfamiliar. Unfiltered. Unafraid.” That’s the slogan for this new HBO series, which takes a high-risk, in-your-face, look-at-me approach to news and social affairs coverage. It’s definitely got the energy of youth, as well as the conviction – and whatever your response to its packaging and attitude, the images and information it provides are worth absorbing. For a full review, see Eric Gould’s Cold Light Reader.

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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

Public Television, Check local listings

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

PBS, 9:00 p.m. ET

HBO, 10:00 p.m. ET

HBO, 11:00 p.m. ET

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