THE 40th ANNUAL KENNEDY CENTER HONORS
CBS, 9:00 p.m. ET
This annual celebration of the arts, traditionally, has been one of the best TV offerings of the year, honoring a quintet of artists from widely disparate fields and, in so doing, giving viewers a taste of artistry, and true variety, that hasn’t been seen on TV since they glory days of The Ed Sullivan Show and the prime-time variety format. Traditionally, also, the President of the United States has been on hand, since these awards began 40 years ago, to salute and honor the new and past recipients of the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors. This year, the awards go to TV producer Norman Lear, whose All in the Family dominated 1970s TV by refracting a fractured nation through the prism of one working-class, multi-generational American family; singer Lionel Ritchie; hip-hop artist and actor LL Cool J; dancer, actress, and choreographer Carmen de Lavallade; and singer-songwriter Gloria Estefan. But this year, breaking with tradition, the President will not be there. President Donald Trump has declined the invitation to attend. Had he made the short trip to the Kennedy Center near the Watergate Hotel, he could have read some of the quotes inscribed by former President John F. Kennedy on the arts center building itself. “I look forward to an America,” goes one quote, “which will reward achievement in the arts as we award achievement in business of statecraft.” Another reads, quite fittingly, “This country cannot afford to be materially rich and spiritually poor.”