SATURDAY

FEBRUARY 9

2019

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

PBS, HBO, 8:00 p.m. ET

Morgan Neville’s wonderful, inspirational and almost certainly tear-inducing documentary on Fred Rogers, the disarmingly honest and empathic host of PBS’s Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, comes to TV tonight after a heartwarmingly successful run in theaters. Its TV debut is significant, too, because of its inclusiveness: It premieres on the premium service HBO, which will continue to show it at other times this month, but for this first-night TV premiere, Won’t You Be My Neighbor? is simulcast on the PBS series Independent Lens. Considering Rogers’ long and constant commitment to public television (he not only appeared on public TV before it became PBS, but almost single-handedly secured the funding to continue it), the documentary’s availability on public TV is symbolic as well as perfect. When you watch this program tonight – and you must – I predict its messages, of civility and inclusion and empathy – not only will make you think, but will make you weep. One word of warning, however: I’m in here somewhere, briefly, providing a TV historian’s perspective on the impact and importance of Fred Rogers. But watch it anyway, please. And record it, because you’ll want to see it more than once, all the way to the emotional closing credits. Beautifully done, Mr. Neville.

PLANET EARTH: DYNASTIES

BBC America, 9:00 p.m. ET

This is such an enjoyable new nature documentary series, in part because it’s such an inspired hybrid of the old and new. Its storytelling approach, singling out one family of creatures (tonight: painted wolves) and following them like a drama, goes all the way back to the early Walt Disney and Wild Kingdom nature shorts. Yet the technological tools it uses, capturing the sound and sight of these animals, day and night, over a period of years, provide breathtakingly modern new perspectives. And of course, there’s the host, Sir David Attenborough, the world’s best at presenting nature on television. And when I say “world’s best,” I really do mean that literally.

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE

NBC, 11:29 p.m. ET

Tonight’s guest host, on this new installment, is Halsey. The musical guest also is Halsey, which means she’s pulling double duty – and following in the footsteps of such SNL host-and-musical-performers as Bruno Mars, Britney Spears, Paul Simon, Ray Charles, Justin Timberlake, Taylor Swift, Donald Glover, and the first-ever “I’ll-do-both” host/musician, Desi Arnaz. (Technically, the musical guest for that 1976 episode was his son, Desi Arnaz Jr., but the elder Arnaz returned to his bandleading roots to perform, among other songs, his classic “Babalu.”

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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.

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