TUESDAY
NOVEMBER 6
2018

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Various Networks, 6:00 p.m. ET

Polls close in various states at various times – the first key races will begin reporting estimated partial results at 6 p.m. ET, in Kentucky and Indiana, and the several Congressional swing races in California won’t arrive to East Coast viewers until 11 p.m., give or take a month or so. (They count ballots very slowly there.) What I suggest, very strongly, is to settle on your cable news network of choice at 6 p.m. ET – whether it be Fox News, CNN or MSNBC – spend 10 minutes there, then flip to a competitor. That way, you’ll get a full spectrum of perspectives and good news/bad news, whatever your political affiliation. And by reading the body language and expressions of the anchors, who have access to some early data they can’t report until polls close, you might catch glimpses of upsets to come. For the second wave, the major broadcast network news operations chime in with full-time specials in prime time. At 8 p.m. there’s the start of ABC News Midterm Election and PBS NewsHour Election Night, followed at 9 p.m. ET by CBS News: Campaign 2018 and NBC News Special: The Vote. Through the night, rely upon, and keep returning to, your favorite source – but keep channel surfing. And please, please, please: VOTE.

 
  
 
 

Fox, 8:00 p.m. ET

This is not a recommendation. Not tonight. NBC News, even though it has sister cable news network MSNBC to cover the slack and the voting results, pre-empts entertainment programming tonight for a prime-time midterm election special. Fox, though it has sister cable news network Fox News, does not – and, tonight, presents a new episode of the scripted fantasy series The Gifted. It’s a good show – but tonight, your attention should be elsewhere.

 
  
 
 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

This is a recommendation. Especially tonight. No matter what happens at ballot box tonight, it follows mathematically that about half of us will be disappointed by the results, and, perhaps, disappointed very early into the evening. Knowing that, one of every two of us may be in need of some sort of reality-avoiding escape – and TCM, in prime time, presents one of the best movies ever made. And one of the most unblinkingly cynical, too, with a message of continuing to fight despite long odds and personal disappointments: 1942’s Casablanca, starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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3801 Comments
 
 
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Apr 21, 2026   |  Reply
 
Dave Bianculli
Hey sweetie,

It's not that complicated! It's TV!!! Do what I do!!!!! Grab a six pack of Miller Lite, crack the first one open and drink it. Rinse and repeat!!!!!!! ROTFLMBFFAO!!!!!!!!!

Just let the TV flow over you.

Good luck!!!!!!!!!!

Dave
Apr 21, 2026
 
 
 
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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.