TUESDAY
NOVEMBER 8
2016

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Various Networks, 7:00 p.m. ET

Once upon a time, broadcast TV news coverage of election returns was the only game in town. Now it’s just one game among many, but there are times when Monopoly and Sorry are fun to play, if only for old time’s sake. (And this year, without getting too political, Monopoly and Sorry seem like particularly appropriate pastimes.)  After evening newscasts, special political coverage by the respective broadcast networks begins at 7 p.m. ET, under their individual banners and names. At CBS, it’s Campaign 2016: CBS News. At NBC, it’s NBC News Special: 2016 Election. At ABC, it’s ABC News: Your Voice, Your Vote. And on noncommercial TV, there’s PBS NewsHour Election coverage. Which one to watch? My advice, as with the cable news networks listed individually below, is to flip around and keep in on them all. After a few minutes, each network operation will reveal just what it knows, and thinks, at that moment. Take it in, then jump around, and compare and contrast. Unlike in the voting booth, you have more than one choice you can make.

 
  
 
 

MSNBC, 5:00 p.m. ET

MSNBC’s packaged umbrella coverage of Election Day 2016 gets an hour jump on its competition at CNN and Fox News – though over on those networks, news, by any other name, will be delivered simultaneously. Just in slightly different flavors. Please sample them all. Think of Election Night coverage as a buffet, not a binge. Hop around. Nibble. And save room for dessert, with Stephen Colbert on Showtime...

 
  
 
 

CNN, 6:00 p.m. ET

On Morning Joe this morning on MSNBC, the hosts and pundits agreed about the places on which to focus tonight – not the cable or broadcast networks, but the states, Florida and North Carolina. If one or both goes for Hillary Clinton, especially Florida, the night’s an early one. If they both go for Donald Trump, then it’s going to be a long night. We no longer have NBC’s Tim Russert and his “Florida! Florida! Florida!” mini-whiteboard – but in 2016, the medium has the same message. And on CNN, that message will be delivered with lots and lots of high-tech gimmicks.

 
  
 
 

Fox News Channel, 6:00 p.m. ET

One reason to check in on Fox News tonight is to watch the network news figure who, in this 2016 election, has been drawn into the fray, and the headlines, more than any other: Megyn Kelly.

 
  
 
 

BBC World News, 6:15 p.m. ET

I don’t know if it’s possible to fully separate the political from the equation, at least when it comes to coverage of presidential politics. Were I to look at all the cable news networks and sources, for example, and declare Fox News the best overall presenter of results and opinions, I might be branded as a conservative. Conversely, if I recommended MSNBC, I’d be more likely to be pegged as a liberal. I usually deflect such questions with the honest answer that my favorite source for TV news is the BBC World News, which tonight will provide U.S election coverage beginning at 6:15 p.m. ET. Katty Kay and Andrew Neil host from New York – and theirs is a post-Brexit perspective well worth hearing, whatever the trends and outcome of the U.S. vote.

 
  
 
 

Comedy Central, 11:00 p.m. ET

When Jon Stewart was at the helm of The Daily Show, a live edition of this show would have been an unmissable highlight. This year, because of Noah’s unexpectedly tepid run to date as Stewart’s successor, this seems more like a third-party candidate viewing choice. I’ll be watching, or at least recording, to see how he and his team does on this most important of political-satire nights – but if he doesn’t do something really memorable, he’s not likely to be memorable, period, in this particular anchor desk.

 
  
 
 

Showtime, 11:00 p.m. ET

Stephen Colbert’s live show, on the other hand – competing directly against his old Daily Show haunt – absolutely is Must-See TV. It’s not only televised live, as was Colbert’s Late Show on CBS last night (and will be, again, tomorrow night) – but it’s unedited, and Colbert, in Showtime promos, has made it clear he intends to be much freer with his language, if not his comedy, than his broadcast network employers can allow. Hence, for starters, this special’s title…

 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.