TUESDAY
JULY 9
2013

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

PBS, 8:00 p.m. ET

This 1997 Ken Burns documentary – directed by Burns and co-written by Burns and Dayton Duncan – takes a story most people think they know, and tells it anew, in the type of depth that makes it seem like a new story indeed. And, as with so many Burns documentaries, it begins its story at a point in history long before you might have expected. Hal Holbrook narrates. Check local listings.

 
  
 
 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

Both Bette Davis and Paul Henreid star in tonight’s prime-time TCM double feature. First up in this 1942 drama, featuring Davis in one of her best roles, as a woman who finds happiness later in life. Then, at 10 p.m. ET, comes 1946’s Deception, in which the two stars reteamed four years later, in a story that involved murder as well as passion.

 
  
 
 

NBC, 8:30 p.m. ET

SEASON FINALE: This series has been harmless enough, in a Candid Camera type of way, and, a as a geriatric version of Punk’d, slightly less mean-spirited. But tonight, there’s a more persuasive reason to tune in: For this final show of the season, the scheduled guest prankster is Ed Asner, who first co-starred opposite Betty White when she played Happy Homemaker Sue Ann Nivens to his Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (pictured).

 
  
 
 

PBS, 10:00 p.m. ET

Much like the series of Up documentaries by Michael Apted, visiting the same small group of people over every seven years of their life, Bill Moyers and Frontline have produced a series of intimate, involving studies checking in with the same two Milwaukee families – the Stanleys (top) and the Newmanns (bottom) – over a period of several decades. The last time was before 9/11, and this time, like the last time, these formerly upwardly mobile families are finding it very difficult just to keep going. It’s a horror economics story in miniature – a microcosm about what’s poisoned the American dream. Moyers brings, as always, two things missing from many TV reports on economic issues: perspective and compassion. Check local listings.

 
  
 
 

Comedy Central, 10:00 p.m. ET

SERIES PREMIERE: This new Comedy Central series, based on the long-running web series, is a more polished version, but maintains its oddball mixture of historical facts and frat-boy misbehavior. People are filmed explaining various events from history – in tonight’s premiere, that includes Watergate (with Fred Willard guest starring as Deep Throat). The disclaimer tells the story: “Every storyteller you are about to see is completely drunk.” And the actors act out this rambling, often stumbling narration, while, sometimes, information is passed on. Sometimes even before the storyteller passes out. This should be some sign of the end of modern civilization – but I have to admit it, Drunk History leaves me more amused than offended.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.