WEDNESDAY

DECEMBER 7

2016

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

Hulu, 3:00 a.m. ET

SERIES PREMIERE: The newest Hulu drama series, streaming beginning today, is a very slick little TV production: looking sunny, presented glibly, and with a subject matter, about scheming psychics, that’s ripe for picking in the right hands. And the right hands, at the center of this new show, is Jeffrey Donovan, whose laid-back swagger was on view for several successful seasons on USA’s Burn Notice. This new series introduces him as a likable rogue, but one who’s under the thumb of the psychic-scammers equivalent of the mob. Isabella Rossellini plays the matriarch of that weird clan of modern gypsies and thieves – but when Donovan’s Charlie Haverford gets a mild concussion, then gets pulled accidentally into a riptide of a hypnosis session, emerges with a new, less larcenous personality. It’s almost like Breaking Bad in reverse – but as Charlie breaks good, will it take?

HEAVEN'S GATE

MGM HD, 7:05 p.m. ET

Michael Cimino wrote and directed this infamous 1980 Western, which stars Kris Kristofferson and Christopher Walken, and was mocked at the time for being a huge box-office and artistic failure. Box-office failure, sure – but watch this restored cut of Cimino’s original vision, and both the images and the story line will deliver much more resonance.

HAIRSPRAY LIVE!

NBC, 8:00 p.m. ET

LIVE SPECIAL: NBC’s latest live musical completes John Waters’ trip from pop-culture rebel and outlier to total mainstream artist, as his 1988 movie Hairspray, turned years ago into a hit, Tony Award-winning Broadway musical (which itself was turned into another movie, a la Mel Brooks’ The Producers), is performed tonight on live broadcast network television. Harvey Fierstein reclaims his stage role of Edna Turnblad, newcomer Maddie Baillio stars as wannabe featured TV dancer Tracy Turnblad, and co-stars include Kristin Chenoweth, Ariana Grande, Jennifer Hudson, Martin Short, Sean Hayes, Andrea Martin, Rosie O’Donnell, and actresses who starred as two previous Tracys: Ricki Lake from Waters’ original movie, and Marissa Janet Winokur as the Tony-winning Broadway star. Following on the high heels of NBC’s The Wiz, Peter Pan and The Sound of Music, this Hairspray Live! could well be the network’s best live musical production yet. Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, who produced the others, are in charge again, so this new Hairspray is in the hands of some very savvy stylists.

SOUTH PARK

Comedy Central, 9:30 p.m. ET

SEASON FINALE: All season long, South Park has presented a continuing story line, which managed to comment on the nation’s presidential election while also laying the groundwork for a brilliant satirical concept: the idea of a threat, from a foreign country targeting and hacking the U.S., to reveal the complete Internet histories of individual citizens. It’s the email hacking threats writ very large, with the idea that if people’s private computer searches and other anonymous activities were made public, there would be much less computerized snark and bullying. Even the title of tonight’s episode, which concludes this season-long story line, is quietly brilliant: It’s “The End of Serialization As We Know It.”

CONAN WITHOUT BORDERS: BERLIN

TBS, 10:00 p.m. ET

SPECIAL: In his latest travel special, taking him to a foreign country where he ends up being the butt of almost all the jokes, Conan O’Brien goes to Germany. Specifically, to Berlin, where he visits, among other places, a beer hall, a nude beach, and a dominatrix.

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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.

New From TVWW

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

Hulu, 3:00 a.m. ET

MGM HD, 7:05 p.m. ET

NBC, 8:00 p.m. ET

Comedy Central, 9:30 p.m. ET

TBS, 10:00 p.m. ET

David Bianculli

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