Dancing With Your DVR: What To Watch Tonight

The other day we were eating lunch with a friend in a cute center north of Beverly Hills and spotted Warren Beatty walking to his car. My friend mentioned that Woody Allen had once said that if he were to be reincarnated, he’d want to come back as Warren Beatty’s fingernail. That got us thinking about a) other good Woody Allen lines (i.e. “I’m not afraid of death. I just don’t want to be there when it happens”), and b) Warren Beatty, whose talents as an actor and charisma as a personality sometimes overshadow his ability as a movie-maker (Heaven Can Wait and Reds).

During a search yesterday of Beatty on Fancast, we were delighted to discover that his nearly 10-year-old political diatribe Bulworth has landed on the site and is available for viewing. Even though it’s an edited version, tonight we’re watching Bulworth [click here to watch the entire movie] as an anecdote to some of the silly and superficial debate that’s occupying the current race for the White House. But that means we have to DVR a few things also worth watching:

1. Cocaine Cowboys — Showtime is airing this documentary from director Billy Corben on how drug trafficking in the 70s and 80s impacted Miami. Watch clips by clicking here.

2. Movies Rock — CBS is airing this tribute to rock in film that took place last week in Hollywood and will no doubt focus as much on the famous enjoying themselves in the audience as it does on Beyonce, Elton John, Carrie Underwood and John Legend on stage. Although it seems like TV Land would treat it better as a mash-up of clips from the best movies about rock, we’ll fast forward to hear the first 30 seconds of each song, see what everyone is wearing, and then be done with it.

3. Bill Moyers Journal — No, we aren’t super smart or trying to pass ourselves off as PBS snobs, but tonight’s show is about the impact of new media, blogs, You Tube, and social networking on the 2008 presidential race, and since we’re part of this world, we’re going to watch to see what we can learn and also to see if we know any of the people interviewed as experts.

4. Men In Trees — Just reverse everything we said about Bill Moyers, and that’s why we’re watching this hour of TV crack.