THURSDAY

JANUARY 11

2018

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

CBS, 8:00 p.m. ET

From the beginning, which by now is a very long time ago, The Big Bang Theory (which premiered in 2007) has been especially adept at two things: introducing and developing new characters, and finding ways to pair off its players in unexpected combinations. The introduction of former Blossom star Mayim Bialik as Sheldon’s girlfriend, Amy Farrah Fowler, has been a comic godsend since she first appeared as Amy in 2010. And tonight, with Amy and Sheldon (Jim Parsons) now planning their wedding, you’d think they’d be inseparable – but tonight’s new episode separates them, at least professionally. Sheldon throws Amy out so he can work solo on his research, which leads to some temporary shuffling of the comic deck. Amy finds herself working well with Leonard (Johnny Galecki), while Sheldon ends up spending unexpected solo time with Leonard’s wife, Penny (Kaley Cuoco).

GASLIGHT

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

Ingrid Bergman stars as a young, newly married woman whose husband (Charles Boyer) takes her back to her old home, the site of a family tragedy. And from there, things get… complicated, and very, very confusing. So confusing, with so many layers of deception and obfuscation, that even today, more than 70 years after this 1944 movie was directed by the great George Cukor, the title and term Gaslight continues to be used to describe efforts to hide, deny or alter reality simply by fabricating an alternate set of facts. You may have heard the term recently, for example, on MSNBC – but tonight’ Gaslight is on TCM. And that’s a fact.

THE GOOD PLACE

NBC, 8:30 p.m. ET

All of Season 1 of The Good Place was a treat, and a trick. Since the start of its current Season 2, The Good Place has been one reboot after another, each one a delight. Last week’s episode, the first new one of 2018, ended by throwing yet another curveball, with Ted Danson’s Michael saving the very people he’d been called upon to torture for eternity. And now, he’s been told to scrap his just-abandoned experimental alternate hell neighborhood – but that’s where his protected charges, including Kristen Bell’s Eleanor, continue to hide. So what now? The great thing about this comedy is, I have no idea…

YOUNG SHELDON

CBS, 8:31 p.m. ET

Tonight, in this new episode, young Sheldon (Iain Armitage) has his first taste of a very formative experience: playing the game Dungeons & Dragons.

TRUTH AND LIES: THE TONYA HARDING STORY

ABC, 9:00 p.m. ET

With I, Tonya now in theaters, starring Margot Robbie as infamous Olympic ice skater Tonya Harding, ABC News presents this special, in which Amy Robach profiles and interviews the athlete who became, unwittingly and unflatteringly, one of the major stars of the 1994 Winter Olympics. That’s because some of the men she knew conspired to target one of Harding’s on-ice rivals, Nancy Kerrigan, and clubbed her in the knee at a practice session before the Olympics that year. We saw her story dramatized in I, Tonya. Now we hear it in her own words, from Her, Tonya. (Or is it She, Tonya?)

GET OUT

HBO, 10:30 p.m. ET

Comedian Jordan Peele stunned audiences by making an astounding successful, creepy, and only occasionally and intentionally funny horror movie with this 2017 thriller, Get Out. In this wonderfully spun story, written and directed by Peele, Daniel Kaluuya stars as Chris, who is being taken by his girlfriend, Rose (played by Allison Williams from Girls), on a weekend vacation to meet her parents for the first time. He’s black, she’s white – and what happens once they arrives is, among other things, a modern approximation of Rod Serling’s classic The Twilight Zone. And as such, it served as a winning audition: Peele, the former co-star of Comedy Central’s Key and Peele, has been hired to oversee a new version of The Twilight Zone, which will be presented exclusively on the CBS All Access streaming service.

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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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BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

CBS, 8:00 p.m. ET

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

NBC, 8:30 p.m. ET

CBS, 8:31 p.m. ET

ABC, 9:00 p.m. ET

HBO, 10:30 p.m. ET

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