MONDAY
AUGUST 6
2018

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Acorn TV, 3:00 a.m. ET

SEASON PREMIERE: This British series launched overseas in 2015, and recently started its run stateside thanks to Acorn TV. Today marks the unveiling of Season 2, continuing the adventures of Joanna Scanlan as DI Vivienne Deering, an investigator who has more than her share of social quirks and flaws. And that’s not surprising since this series comes from Paul Abbott, whose output of lovable misfits includes the antagonistic protagonists of Cracker, State of Play, and Shameless. For a full review, see David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower.

 
  
 
 

AMC, 9:00 p.m. ET

SEASON PREMIERE: Season 4 of this superb Breaking Bad spinoff begins with two very different scenes, advancing the plot in two very different timelines and styles. And without giving any spoilers, let me rhapsodize a bit about both of those scenes. The pre-credits sequence, like all other Better Call Saul season openers, is shown in a black-and-white vignette set in the post-Breaking Bad future, and continues the story of Jimmy McGill a.k.a. Saul Goodman, now a.k.a. Gene Tacovic. And once again, as in the series opener (which established the sequel part of this series to the tune of The Ink Spots’ “Address Unknown”), Saul starts off with a haunting Ink Spots song – this time “We Three,” which includes such appropriate lyrics, for someone hiding in plain sight as manager of a Cinnabon franchise in Omaha, as “We three, we’re all alone / Seems like we’re living in a memory / That’s my echo, my shadow, and me.” And it’s a tension-filled scene, opening and ending in mystery and dread. And then, after the credits, comes the continuation of last season’s cliffhanger, where the fate of Michael McKean’s Chuck, Jimmy’s brother, looked very precarious. Very soon, you’ll know the answer… and also will learn the identity of the next character from Breaking Bad to join the Saul universe. Don’t miss it. To hear or read my full review on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, visit the Fresh Air website. And for a full review here at TVWW, see David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower.   

 
  
 
 

PBS, 10:00 p.m. ET

Yu Xiuhua (pictured) is a 39-year-old woman with a high-school education, cerebral palsy, and, in her home country of China, an unusual amount of fame. She published a book of her own poems, a book that quickly became the best-selling poetry collection in China over the past 20 years. So the story of tonight’s P.O.V. is a success story – except that her success, and her unexpected fame, combine to give her another set of problems. Check local listings.

 
  
 
 

AMC, 10:05 p.m. ET

SERIES PREMIERE: The most newsworthy thing about this new AMC series is that one of its executive producers is Paul Giamatti. The next most newsworthy thing is that AMC has opted to release its entire Season 1 run of 10 episodes today, but only on its streaming service, AMC Premiere – which is available to Comcast Xfinity and YouTube TV subscribers for an additional charge of $4.99 monthly. The regular cable AMC network will roll out the show on a weekly basis – and for Lodge 49, binge viewing may indeed be the way to go, and to schedule. I previewed the first five episodes – half of Season 1 – and still have no clear idea where the series is going, or whether it’s worth staying around to watch. (I’ll keep you posted.) Basically, it’s a series about a secret organization in Los Angeles that’s populated by oddballs who mostly offer moral support to one another, and seems to be a cross between Cheers, Northern Exposure and John from Cincinnati. Which sounds, I’m well aware, like a very bizarre recipe, and not necessarily a recipe for success. The central character in Lodge 49 is a snake-bitten ex-surfer drifter, played by Wyatt Russell (pictured), whose appearances in other numerically associated movies include This is 40, 22 Jump Street, and Table 19. Oh, and if you’ve never heard of him, it’s likely you’ve heard of his parents: Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn. And, yes, for a full review, see David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower as well as a little background on the show from TCA and Roger Catlin's TV Eye.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.