IFC, 5:00 p.m. ET
If you want to get lost in the world of Michael Corleone, and the evocative 1970s films directed so moodily and mightily by Francis Ford Coppola, IFC is presenting those two genre classics back to back. Al Pacino plays the young man reluctantly gravitating towards the family business… and away from his eventual wife, played by Diane Keaton.
Disney Channel, 8:00 p.m. ET
This 2009 Pixar animated film is a great movie, with one of the funniest cartoon dogs ever. But what killed me the first time I saw this movie, and continues to devastate me (in a good way) every time since, is the opening. I won’t say more, if this is your first time with Up. But watch it, and be prepared for a deeper emotional experience than you get with most live-action films. Ed Asner provides the voice of the elderly, cranky man who finds himself on an unexpected voyage with a young and eager Boy Scout – and Asner gives a clinic on how to fully vocalize an animated character. Of course, the film’s writers and co-directors, Pete Docter and Bob Peterson, deserve credit, too – and Peterson deserves extra credit, because, like Asner, his vocal contributions are invaluable. Not only did Bob Peterson co-write and co-direct, but he provides the voice for the two key canine characters: the menacing Alpha, and the easily distracted Dug, whose instantly broken attention span reminds me, more and more, of the news media and how they bounce impatiently from topic to topic. “Squirrel!”
HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET
Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympics athlete in history, narrates this one-hour documentary, and is one of its executive producers. It’s about the costs, emotional even more than physical, of athletes training to compete as the best in the world in their respective sports. Phelps and other Olympic athletes, including Apolo Anton Ono, Sean White and Sasha Cohen, are interviewed – some who stood atop the podium, some who fell short. And rather than being inspirationally upbeat,
The Weight of Gold is more like a series of cautionary tales. It arrives this summer at a time when the 2020 Summer Olympics was scheduled to be held… but, because of the coronavirus pandemic, is being delayed a year.
For a full review, see David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower.
ABC, 10:00 p.m. ET
With a handful of episodes remaining in this final season, the team from S.H.I.E.L.D. continues to fight not only for survival, but against a rival team whose aim is to alter history by affecting the timeline. This battle takes place in the past – in lots of pasts, actually, as both teams jump through time as they try to counter one another – and tonight, after a sad sacrifice by one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. members, settles down in 1983. It’s a time that, among other things, requires Daisy to confront the most significant figure from her own path: her mother.