MONDAY
APRIL 7
2014

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Oxygen, 7:30 p.m. ET

With all these TV series about serial killers on the schedule these days – tonight alone brings us The Following on Fox and Bates Motel on A&E – here’s another look at the Oscar-winning granddaddy of them all. Even though granddad had a taste for fava beans, a nice chianti and… human flesh. Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster star.

 
  
 
 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

This 1948 movie presented a gritty, modern look at New York city, making postwar film noir out of the city streets and actual locations. Barry Fitzgerald and Howard Duff star as NYPD homicide detectives, in a format that would be adapted for television 10 years later.

 
  
 
 

CBS, 9:00 p.m. ET

Saturday night, after No. 8 seed Kentucky beat No. 2 seed Wisconsin, on the sneakered heels of No. 7 Connecticut’s equally unexpected victory over No. 1 seed Florida, I asked myself, “When was the last time two such low-ranked seeds met in the NCAA Final?” The answer, it turns out, is never.  So consider this a cage match of snarling, scrappy underdogs – and anyone who still has a chance to win an office pool with these two teams is either an accurate clairvoyant or an astounding optimist.

 
  
 
 

Fox, 9:00 p.m. ET

It was stretching things enough to find a way to bring back this show’s Season 1 villain from the apparent dead. But in last week’s episode, it was revealed that another would-be corpse from last season’s finale, Natalie Zea’s Claire, is alive as well. The only thing still without a pulse on The Following? The show’s plot line. Even Kevin Bacon can engender only so much loyalty – and this week, I fear, may be the sound of a stretched-thin plot snapping into utter uselessness. And, to coin a phrase, watchlessness.

 
  
 
 

Showtime, 11:00 p.m. ET

SEASON FINALE: In 30 brief minutes, David Steinberg presents quick conversations with three comics: Bob Saget, Kevin Pollak and Larry Miller. And, in that short time, gleans some funny and honest insights from each. Even Saget, who stops tossing off-color one-liners just long enough to explain why.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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3696 Comments
 
 
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Arvid Berggren
Long-time TVWW devotee here. I manage a commercial vehicle operation and Colorado Springs Mobile Mechanic (https://coloradospringcosmobilemechanic.com) keeps our fleet going. Bianculli's picks keep us sane during maintenance delays - essential reading!
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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.