AMC, 8:00 p.m. ET
On a night when the TV schedule is so dead, why not spend prime time with the undead? Or, at least, with dead men walking. This 2005 zombie movie is one of the more recent genre efforts by George A. Romero, who revived the zombies, so to speak, with his classic low-budget feature, Night of the Living Dead. This one stars Dennis Hopper and The Mentalist star Simon Baker.
TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET
Whenever things on TV are really slow, I turn for relief to Turner Classic Movies, where there’s almost always something worth watching. And presto: Tonight, TCM leads off prime time with this little-seen 1946 drama, about a woman (Laraine Day) whose horrid behavior towards men – one man in particular – may or may not be explained, and excused, by her schizophrenia.
HBO Signature, 9:00 p.m. ET
I saw this 2011 movie in the theater, and just saw it again when it premiered on cable – and now, I’m afraid, it’s another movie I may have to add to my
“spider-web” list, of films that ensnare me every time they’re televised. George Clooney stars as a husband and father who finds his marriage is about to change, along with his assessment of it. Stealing this Alexander Payne film is Shailene Woodley, who appears not to be acting, but simply captured on film.
TCM, 9:45 p.m. ET
This early vampire film – made in 1936, only five years after Bela Lugosi’s landmark Dracula – stars Gloria Holden as Countess Marya Zeleska, a forerunner of more modern vampires in that she’s portrayed somewhat sympathetically – and basically bisexually. You’re welcome.
Cinemax, 10:00 p.m. ET
I was a bit premature last week, identifying that night’s episode as the penultimate one of the season. Tonight, with Melissa George’s Sam finding important information about her own past, actually is the season’s next-to-last installment – and I’m pleased to report that Cinemax already has given the green light to a second season of this Frank Spotnitz spy series. Good news. Good move.