Various Networks, 7:00 p.m. ET
When I was covering election nights for New York newspapers, I would sit in my basement office watching, and writing about, 10 or 12 TV sets at once, each television tuned to a different broadcast or cable news operation. Now I just watch on one set (though recording on several DVRs), flipping to the next station whenever I feel the urge — which is often. I recommend the same approach for 2012. If, in a given hour, you’re not sampling MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, PBS and the broadcast networks, and popping in on AXS TV and elsewhere, you’re not taking the full ride that election coverage has to offer. Don’t bother tuning in until 7 p.m. ET — but after that, grab your remotes and fasten your seat belts.
Sundance, 9:00 p.m. ET
Election Night not scary enough for you? Then try this as an occasional or lengthy distraction: Roman Polanski’s 1968 thriller, starring Mia Farrow as a loving wife whose husband moves her into a foreboding old apartment house, where the neighbors are scary, and her nightmares are even scarier, with good reason.
FX, 10:00 p.m. ET
Gemma (Katey Sagal) was confronted by Jax (Charlie Hunnam) last week, and forced to admit the real reason she ran her vehicle into a tree with Jax’s young son aboard. But Jax told her how to begin atoning for her sins, and it has to do with getting close to Clay (Ron Perlman). Very, very close. And it begins tonight.
Comedy Central, 11:00 p.m. ET
No matter what other media venues you watch tonight, you must – must – watch Comedy Central during this particular hour. Both Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert present live Election Night editions of their respective shows, and both shows should have you laughing, whether or not, by that part of the evening, you’re in a mood to do so.
Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m. ET
If this show is half as funny as its title, it’s going to be wonderful. And there’s no reason to expect Colbert won’t deliver the goods. He almost always does, especially when the stakes are high. And that’s the truthiness.