BEST BETS FOR SATURDAY, MAR. 13, 2010
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Fox Movie Channel, 8 p.m. ET In the Seventies, Paddy Chayefsky gave us Network. In the Eighties, James L. Brooks – who, like Chayefsky, cut his teeth writing television – gave us this very clever look at TV news, with a bit less bite but plenty on which to chew. Albert Brooks plays a talented news writer, William Hurt plays an effortless news reader, and Holly Hunter plays the high-energy news producer drawn to them both. Made in 1987, this one still works – and features Jack Nicholson, too. |
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TCM, 8 p.m. ET James Cagney basically perfected the gangster film, or at least his portrayal of a twisted hood, in this brutal 1949 character study. Virginia Mayo co-stars. |
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Starz, 9 p.m. ET Recommending this 2009 romantic comedy about rival TV news personalities, on the same night I’ve done the same for Broadcast News, seems wrong somehow. Artistically and intellectually, this doesn’t stand a chance. But Katherine Heigl, as the woman who is both repelled by and attracted to Gerard Butler’s macho bluntness, generates many more laughs, and much more respect, than her part deserves. Someday, she’ll get a movie role worthy of her… |
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ABC Family, 9:30 p.m. ET …After all, Sandra Bullock eventually did. Meanwhile, she clocked time in lots of movies such as this one, from 1998, in which she and Nicole Kidman play witches with an attitude. |
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ABC, 10 p.m. ET If you didn’t stay up to watch Kimmel’s after-Oscars special, or catch his “Handsome Men’s Club” video routine online afterward, here’s a prime-time, same-week repeat – and worth it, if only to see Matthew McConaughey’s very funny frustration at self-appointed “President Jimmy.” |
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NBC, 11:29 p.m. ET This week’s guest host, on this fresh edition, is Jude Law, and the musical guest is Pearl Jam. |
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