MONDAY
SEPTEMBER 9
2013

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

CBS, 5:00 p.m. ET

Yesterday, the top two women’s seeds, Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka, went at it in a dramatic three-set U.S. Open Women’s Tennis final that lived up to all expecations, and even to their previous matchup. Today, it’s the men’s turn, with the same numerical matchup. No. 1 Novak Djokovic, once again, faces No. 2 Rafael Nadal. It’s their sixth time in a Grand Slam final, and their third time in four years squaring off in the finals at Flushing Meadow.

 
  
 
 

CBS, 10:00 p.m. ET

We’re nearing the end of this summer’s run of this CBS summer hit – and tonight, Big Jim (Dean Morris) reveals his less personable side as never before. Watch for it. Between this series and Breaking Bad, Dean Norris is having the TV summer of a lifetime.

 
  
 
 

PBS, 10:00 p.m. ET

This sweet film by High Hanson and Anson Hartford profiles an octet of octogenarians, and even older folks, from around the world, happily and proudly competing in the Over 80 World Table Championships, held in Inner Mongolia. Some of it is about the joy of competition. Some of it isn’t. But even watching an elderly competitor make a dash for it through a pulsating fountain, in this context, is cause for celebration. Check local listings.

 
  
 
 

TCM, 10:00 p.m. ET

This excellent new documentary import continues tonight with its second installment, a show with a lengthy title but a narrow focus: 1918-28 – The Triumph of American Film and the First of Its Rebels. It covers the ascendance of Hollywood, its first early stars – including the silent-comedy geniuses Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton – and the introduction of sound. And arrive early and stay late, because the night’s TCM lineup also includes Buster Keaton’s hilarious short One Week at 8 p.m. ET, and, at 4:15 a.m. ET, Harold Lloyd's brilliant, full-length Safety Last! feature (pictured) from 1923. My film students, if they watch tonight’s TCM lineup, will be cheating by “reading ahead” – but it’s the one type of cheating I actively encourage.

 
  
 
 

Syndicated, Check local listings

SERIES PREMIERE: Two decades ago, Arsenio Hall emerged on the late-night scene as a brash young comic with a decidedly different viewpoint (he wasn’t white) and a defiant attitude (in a famous pre-premiere cover story, he vowed to “kick Jay Leno’s ass.” He didn’t, and Leno proved astoundingly durable – but Hall, who has been gone from TV since 1994, has decided this is the time to come back. His new show is syndicated, and usually scheduled at the 11 p.m. ET hour (where it plays in New York on WPIX), so... Check local listings.
 
  
 
 
 
 
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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.