FRIDAY

SEPTEMBER 5

2014

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

2014 U.S. OPEN TENNIS

CBS, 12:30 p.m. ET

The women’s semifinals are played today, and there’s quite a contrast in both styles and track records. The first match, scheduled to start after 1:30 p.m. ET, pits unseeded Peng Shuai of China vs. No. 10 seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark. Neither has yet won a major. After that, the other semifinal match pits No. 17 seed Ekaterina Malarova of Russia – who hasn’t won a tennis major yet, either – against No. 1 seed Serena Williams. Williams, so far, has won 17 of them. Expect this to be on the path to 18.

STAND UP TO CANCER

Various Networks, 8:00 p.m. ET

This annual TV fundraising marathon occupies only an hour of TV time, yet it’s spread across more than 25 different television networks, including the four major broadcast networks – ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox – as well as such outlets as ABC Family, Bravo, E!, Encore, FXM, HBO, Lifetime Movie Network, MLB, National Geographic, Showtime, Starz!, TNT and VH1. Katie Couric hosts, and scheduled performers for this live showcase include The Who, and celebrity appearances are virtually nonstop.

BABY FACE

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

Many Baby Boomers, such as myself, came of age at a time when we were introduced to Barbra Stanwyck as the tough matriarch on the prime-time Sixties Western The Big Valley. But once we did our homework, and started looking at old movies, going back more than three decades’ worth of Stanwyck’s films was nothing short of revelatory. Here she is, for example, way back in 1933, playing a shrewd and sexy woman who decides to use her charms to shoot her way up the social ladder – and finds it almost depressingly easy.

SAVING MR. BANKS

Starz!, 9:00 p.m. ET

This delightful, fact-based 2013 movie stars Emma Thompson as the persnickety British writer P.L. Travers, author of Mary Poppins, and Tom Hanks as Walt Disney, the Hollywood filmmaker determined to bring her novel to the big screen. It was not an easy sell – but certainly makes this light-hearted film easy to watch. It goes down easily – no spoonfuls of sugar required.

THE KNICK

Cinemax, 10:00 p.m. ET

This episode, the fourth in the series, is the last one provided to critics for advance review – and it’s the best of the bunch, bringing simmering conflicts to a boil, and also making the most of following the post-op care in the case of a particularly gruesome facial reconstruction medical procedure. You’ll know it when you see it – and I haven’t forgotten it since.

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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

CBS, 12:30 p.m. ET

Various Networks, 8:00 p.m. ET

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

Starz!, 9:00 p.m. ET

Cinemax, 10:00 p.m. ET

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