Thanksgiving week brings many traditions. In show business, this season is when movies are released for Oscar consideration.
Starting today, Netflix streams “Hillbilly Elegy,” directed by Ron Howard. The film is adapted from a best-selling 2016 memoir by J.D. Vance, a book that many felt explained the feelings of heartland Americans beset by the decline of local industries and the hollowing out of their hometowns, overwhelmed by drug addiction. After the 2016 election, some felt that “Elegy” explained the disenchantment of working-class Appalachian whites in ways that “coastal media elites” could not understand.
Others countered that Vance, a Yale-educated Wall Street venture capitalist, had become as coastal and elite as they come.
The film stars Glenn Close and Amy Adams. Both are known as Oscar also-rans. Close (seven nominations) and Adams (six) have never carried off a statuette.
If reviews are any indication, they may have to wait. Since the film’s Nov. 11 theatrical release, it has received generally negative reviews. Some of them are scathing.
The Rotten Tomatoes site sums the film up as “bland melodrama.” The A.V. Club thought it “reinforces the stereotypes it is supposed to be illuminating.” “Everything About ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ Is Awful” opined Vox. And that was just the headline!
Vox critic Alissa Wilkinson goes on to write, (in her very first line!) that it is “possibly the worst movie I’ve seen in years.”
I’m not sure a Ron Howard movie has been so shellacked since he and Jim Carrey desecrated “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” way back in 2000. Come to think of it, in 2009, he also turned Dan Brown’s ridiculous but thoroughly readable novel “Angels & Demons” (10:10 p.m., TMC) into a bore.
As I hope I’ve made clear, I have not seen “Hillbilly Elegy,” as it was released as a movie and not as mere “television.” Now that it can be streamed on Netflix, we can all make up our own minds.
— Viewers in search of bingeable nostalgia should visit Pluto. The free, ad-supported streaming app Pluto TV adds a series of new channels dedicated to vintage series, including “Happy Days,” “Family Ties,” “The Love Boat,” “Wings,” “The Beverly Hillbillies,” “Mission: Impossible,” “Laverne & Shirley” and “Mork & Mindy.”
For the uninitiated, Pluto presents itself as a cable-like grid, offering hundreds of aggregated feeds, everything from live news and sports to old shows and movies. If you’re a cord-cutter who doesn’t want to spend a dime on subscriptions, it offers more than you can possibly watch.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— “The Voice” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG).
— A robot traveler’s last moments on “Cosmos: Possible Worlds” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-PG).
— A serial killer’s profile rings a bell on “FBI” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
— Jane Lynch hosts “Weakest Link” (9 p.m., NBC, r, TV-PG).
— Shea meets someone from her past on “Next” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-14).
— A hacker’s twisted game results in highway carnage on “FBI: Most Wanted” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
— An explosion rocks the hospital on “Transplant” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— The search for the girls continues on “Big Sky” (10 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
— “Frontline” (10 p.m., PBS, check local listings) recalls Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination for Supreme Court justice.
— “Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel” (10 p.m., HBO, TV-PG) looks at microdosing athletes and superfans bereft of live sporting events.
CULT CHOICE
After a battle to reduce the voting age (“14 or Fight!), teenagers take over Congress, put a rock star (Christopher Jones) in the White House and put everyone over 35 in reeducation camps in the ludicrous 1968 exploitation classic “Wild in the Streets” (10:30 a.m., TCM, TV-14), also starring Shelley Winters, Hal Holbrook, Diane Varsi and Richard Pryor. “The Shape of Things to Come,” a song from the soundtrack, became a minor hit and was much-covered over the decades. It was eventually used in an ad for Target stores.
SERIES NOTES
A flashback to Gibbs’ and Ducky’s first encounter on “NCIS” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) … Love songs on “The Bachelorette” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … Spring arrives on “Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life” (8 p.m., CW, TV-14).
LATE NIGHT
Jimmy Fallon welcomes Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Paul Bettany and Internet Money featuring Gunna, Don Toliver and Nav on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) … Amy Adams and Adam Davidson visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC).
