SUNDAY
SEPTEMBER 7
2014

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

CBS, 4:30 p.m. ET

The U.S. Open has been a very upsetting sports event this year – that is, in the fact that major upsets occurred all over the place. The men’s championship game, played tomorrow afternoon, features two players appearing in their first major final. And today’s women’s championship, while featuring the dominant and accomplished Serena Williams, has as the other finalist Caroline Wozniacki, who got here by outlasting Peng Shuai in a match, played under grueling, sweltering conditions, that ended with Shuai retiring, unable to continue, midway through the second set (pictured, with a concerned Wozniacki right there). So Wozniacki is tough, she and Serena are close friends – and this final ought to be quite interesting, no matter the outcome.

 
  
 
 

National Geographic, 8:00 p.m. ET

How, after all these years, can a TV documentary approach the topic of 9/11 with something new to say, or something different to add? This one, directed by executive producer Erik Nelson, does – by shifting the focus from 9/11 to 9/10, and unearthing what several people tied to the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, were doing and saying the day before, on Sept. 10. From the person who served two of the hijackers pizza to Father Mychal Judge, whose speech the day before 9/11 is an eerily prescient description of the dangers and the draw of firefighting.

 
  
 
 

Smithsonian, 8:00 p.m. ET

Here’s another TV special that takes a different approach to the upcoming anniversary date of the 9/11 tragedy. This one looks at the history and very recent completion of One World Trade, the towering replacement for the World Trade Center twin towers. When its complicated and illuminated spire was erected at the top of the building, One World Trade became the tallest structure in the Western hemisphere – and this documentary follows the work crew as they accomplish that literally sky-high feat. The vintage news footage is, as always with 9/11, tough to watch – but the view from the top, as Crowning New York nears its architectural climax, is both amazing and affirming. 

 
  
 
 

NBC, 8:20 p.m. ET

This is the official Sunday season opener for Sunday Night Football, and the kickoff match is indeed a high-profile one. It’s Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos vs. Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts. Luck, of course, is the QB who replaced Manning in Indianapolis, but this is more a game about top teams than just about the men at the helm. And the game is played at Mile High Stadium, so the Broncos have, and should enjoy, home-field advantage.

 
  
 
 

HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET

SEASON OPENER: It’s the start of the final season of Boardwalk Empire, and the show’s writers and producers are using the opportunity to go backward as well as forward. Tonight’s opener, for example, spends quite a few scenes going back to Nucky’s childhood, and showing his early efforts to get an advantage, get ahead, and ingratiate himself with the powerful and influential Commodore, despite being less athletic or charming than the other Atlantic City wharf rats. Meanwhile, in the “present” day of 1931, the adult Nucky (Steve Buscemi) is pulling the strings, and averting dangers, while on a work-related, and rum-related, visit to Havana. Patricia Arquette co-stars.

 
  
 
 

HBO, 10:00 p.m. ET

SEASON FINALE: Although I still can’t recommend this series enthusiastically, I continue to watch it. The individual one-hour parts may be better than the whole, but they contain enough strong performances, and intriguing moments, to keep me watching. But how will the first season end of this mercurial drama? With so few questions answered, I fear, that this may be where I say goodbye for good. But we’ll see…

 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.