Friedrich --

Wednesday, 10-02
* At 8 pm, A&E runs a "Biography" episode on the British comedian Benny Hill. Americans tend to think of Brits as uptight and proper, yet upperclass Brits can be perverse and decadent, British theater people, as I've been told by actor friends, are uninhibited even by theater-people standards, and the Brit tradition of working-class, music-hall bawdiness is a long one. Benny Hill showed us what that tradition was like.
* At 10 pm TCM broadcasts "What Price Hollywood." Directed by George Cukor and starring Constance Bennett, it's "A Star is Born" minus the music, and the first time that material was put on screen.

Thursday, 10-3
* At 4:30 pm, the E! channel's "True Hollywood Story" is about the movie "Jaws." A good episode, partly because "Jaws" really did change Hollywood history, establishing the tradition of the "summer action blockbuster."
* At 8 pm, on TCM, a trim little horror picture, "The Spiral Staircase," directed by the underappreciated Robert Siodmak.

Sunday, 10-6
* At 8 pm (and again at 11 pm) E! broadcasts a "True Hollywood Story" about Marlon Brando.
* At 8 pm, Sissy Spacek is interviewed on Bravo's "Inside the Actor's Studio."

Best,

Michael