On this particular day, April 1, there are so many TV shows of note that there wasn't room for them all in BIANCULLI'S BEST BETS. So today only, if you want to find out about the best shows on TV tonight, keep reading BIANCULLI'S BLOG here...
Today's BIANCULLI'S BEST BETS, as I hope you've realized by now, are -- for the second annual time -- a tongue-in-cheek April Fool's Day joke. (If you read the BETS without realizing that, I've failed completely. As a humorist, and as a human being.)
But here are the real BEST BETS for Sunday, April 1. Enjoy... because there's a lot going on.
THE KILLING (AMC, 8 p.m. ET) -- SEASON PREMIERE: This series, based on the Danish mystery, is back for a second season, picking right up where the action didn't end last season -- infuriating many viewers in the process.
But within minutes, the game is afoot again. So if you have forgiven this series its clumsy cliffhanger, this new season begins by reminding what was so appealing about these central characters in the first place.
For more, see my Bianculli's Blog HERE and listen to or read my NPR Fresh Air with Terry Gross review HERE.
FROZEN PLANET (Discovery, 8 p.m. ET) -- This is the Winter installment, when, in the north and south polar regions of our planet, winds are freezing, oceans are frozen, and animals are finding astounding ways to survive.
This hour presents a lot of them, and it's a whale of a show -- including the part where orcas travel in small pods, swimming from ice hole to ice hole in search of places to get their breath. Literally. You can catch my Fresh Air review of this show by clicking HERE.
MASTERPIECE CLASSIC: "GREAT EXPECTATIONS" (PBS, 9 p.m. ET; check local listings) -- Part 1 of 2. This new two-part adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel -- a story that's been dramatized almost as well, and as often, as A Christmas Carol -- is sharp in parts, dull in others, but gets more than enough right to make it worth sampling and enjoying. David Suchet and Ray Winstone turn their supporting roles into tasty feasts -- and the biggest scene-stealer of all is Gillian Anderson, as a younger than usual, but still white-haired and unhinged, Miss Havisham.
GAME OF THRONES (HBO, 9 p.m. ET) -- SEASON PREMIERE: Let there be dragons! And there are, as this sprawling HBO fantasy series begins a second season of treachery, blind ambition and gratuitous nudity.
Peter Dinklage, who won an Emmy for his role here as a particularly devious, resourceful and resilient member of the Lannister clan, remains one of the strongest players here -- in the story and in the cast -- as the conflicts between kingdoms become more and more pronounced. And, for the most part, more and more interesting.
For more, see my Bianculli's Blog HERE and listen to or read my NPR Fresh Air with Terry Gross review HERE.
MAD MEN (AMC, 10 p.m. ET) -- After last week's wild season premiere and that French-infused surprise birthday party, the Mad Men gifts keep on coming.
In tonight's episode, they include a fancy leather valise, embossed with six special words: "Judge not, lest ye be judged." Tough words -- especially for a professional TV critic.
For my Fresh Air review of this series, click HERE.