SUNDAY
JANUARY 8
2017

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Various Networks, 1:00 p.m. ET

The weekend’s remaining two wild-card games are played today. The first, at 1 p.m. ET on CBS, features the 10-6 Miami Dolphins visiting the 11-5 Pittsburgh Steelers (pictured), and playing in the sort of weather that doesn’t exactly favor the Dolphins. Then, at 4:30 p.m. ET on Fox, the 11-5 New York Giants go to an even colder-weather site, to face the surging 10-6 Green Bay Packers.
 
  
 
 

NBC, 8:00 p.m. ET

Jimmy Fallon is the host of the Golden Globes this year, Meryl Streep is the recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and, as always, it’s the combo of celebrities and alcohol that promises to make this a watchable, or at least quotable, awards show. The awards themselves? Meaningless.
 
  
 
 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

Any opportunity to watch this 1977 Woody Allen masterpiece – especially in cases such as tonight’s, when it’s presented unedited, uninterrupted and in its proper screen ratio – should be taken, and savored. Each viewing, I find myself paying attention to different little details. Last time it was Diane Keaton’s unbroken, heart-wrenching cabaret singing. This time, I think it’ll be Christopher Walken’s cold-eyed, straight-ahead spooky stares. Especially behind the wheel.
 
  
 
 

PBS, 9:00 p.m. ET

Last week’s season opener of Sherlock ended with a sad stunner of an unexpected death. And tonight, we learn how the surviving characters cope in the wake of that… wake. Also, looming on the horizon, is Sherlock’s greatest nemesis, Moriarty. Benedict Cumberbatch stars. Check local listings.
 
  
 
 

Smithsonian, 9:00 p.m. ET

MINISERIES PREMIERE: This four-part documentary series is a decade-by-decade history not only of advertising, but of television itself – and, as such, is valuable as well as impressive. Syracuse University pop-culture expert Robert J. Thompson is all over this thing, and makes great use of his screen time – and Matthew Weiner is all over the opening episode, too, bringing clips from his Mad Men series and revealing just who, on the real Madison Avenue, inspired what. Expect plenty of fun facts: I had no idea, for example, that the whole concept of engagement rings was something basically cooked up by Madison Avenue no sooner than the 1940s. And what was Clairol’s “Does she or doesn’t she?” tag line really asking?

 
  
 
 

MeTV, 10:00 p.m. ET

RERUN RETURN: Beginning tonight, the cult classic 1974-75 TV series Kolchak: The Night Stalker joins the MeTV Sunday night lineup. The one-hour series premiere, about a modern Jack the Ripper, opens the series – and if you need a reason to sample it, here’s one. One of the writers on this series was a young David Chase, decades before he went on to create The Sopranos. Darren McGavin stars in this journalistic precursor to The X-Files.
 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.