CITIZEN KANE
TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET
Next year, Orson Welles’ cinematic debut, Citizen Kane, will be 80 years old – and still ranks at or near the top of most lists of the best movies ever made. Watch it tonight, again or for the first time, and see why. The structure, the photography, the characters, the sheer intelligence of the damned thing – it all sticks the landing all these decades later, including the movie’s takes on politics, the media, and show business. It’s an amazing accomplishment, then and now. And it’s very neat that this prime-time telecast is hosted by TCM’s primary host, Ben Mankiewicz, whose grandfather is Herman Mankiewicz, who, with Welles, co-wrote the screenplay of Citizen Kane.