FRIDAY
DECEMBER 6
2013

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Sundance, 7:00 p.m. ET

This 2001 Cameron Crowe film is based on a 1997 Spanish film called Open Your Eyes (well, Abre los Ojos, anyway). Both of them – the original Spanish film and the Hollywood remake – feature Penelope Cruz, but the other primary stars are replaced for the English-language adaptation. For Vanilla Sky, Cruz’s co-stars are Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. But in both versions, it’s a very unsettling and unpredictable story.

 
  
 
 

CBS, 8:00 p.m. ET

A week ago, I was complaining about the appearance of Christmas TV specials in prime time, showing up the day after Thanksgiving. A week later, though, I may as well give up. So here’s a very vintage repeat, of a 1969 animated adventure narrated by Jimmy Durante, and featuring some of the voices very familiar to those of us who wallowed in everything Bullwinkle.

 
  
 
 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

This 1932 Josef von Sternberg movie, starring Marlene Dietrich as a risqué German entertainer, is a wild, wild movie even 80 years later. Even Cary Grant, as the young, wide-eyed target of her flirtations and machinations, seems a bit stunned as to how to react to her. And wouldn’t you, if the singer you were attracted to made a stage entrance doing a strip tease as a gorilla – stripping off her gorilla costume to become a white Afro-wigged warrior princess?

 
  
 
 

ABC Family, 8:30 p.m. ET

Another Christmas offering – this time the 2000 live-action movie, staring Jim Carrey as the green-faced Grinch.

 
  
 
 

MGM HD, 10:00 p.m. ET

Last night, NBC mounted a live production of The Sound of Music. Monday, HBO is presenting a new biographical and music-filled tribute to Stephen Sondheim. And tonight, to keep that musical theater ball rolling, MGM HD – one of the best places to watch this kind of ultra-widescreen presentation – is televising the 1961 movie version of West Side Story, with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Sondheim. Natalie Wood stars.

 

 
  
 
 
 
 
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Dave Bianculli
Howdy pardner,

Did you pass out on your keyboard after getting drunk, and then just kept bouncing your head over and over and over???

ROTFFLMBFAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously dude, watch more TV, drink less alcohol!!!!

Warmly,

Dave
Jun 20, 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.