Who will be joining Armisen for this one? Maya Rudolph? Kristen Wiig? Amy Poehler? Tina Fey? Is it too soon to mount another Prince Show?
The edifying “All The Way” deals with the first, tumultuous year of Lyndon Johnson’s presidency, from a crane shot of John Kennedy’s blood-soaked convertible to Johnson’s victory over Arizona’s Barry Goldwater 12 months later. It’s directed by Jay Roach, who directed HBO’s earlier presidential movies “Recount” and “Game Change” (and, oddly, all three of the big screen’s Austin Powers comedies).
“Breaking Bad’s” Bryan Cranston does a spectacular job of inhabiting the Texas politician, as does Bradley Whitford (deputy chief of staff Josh Lymon on “The West Wing”), who disappears into the role of civil-rights crusader Hubert Humphrey.
Also terrific is Anthony Mackie (the Marvel movies’ Sam “The Falcon” Wilson) as Dr. Martin Luther King.
Steven Spielberg produces, and “All The Way’s” emphasis on the passage of 1965’s Voting Rights Act inevitably evokes Spielberg’s own “Lincoln,” which depicted another president’s efforts to pass the slavery-banning 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution exactly 100 years earlier.
Cranston is not in every scene, and some of most interesting stuff deals with what King’s men and, separately, the Dixiecrats in Congress were arguing about privately among themselves.
I also learned a lot about Johnson. His bizarre German automobile, only mass-produced in the 1960s. And the now-forgotten sex scandal that Johnson feared would hand the 1964 election to Goldwater.
8 p.m. Saturday. HBO.
Last week’s SNL hosted by Drake beat all Saturday network programming in late night or primetime.
Saturdays, Feb. 19-May 14, 2016
(Adults 18-49; repeats in gray; previous weeks in parentheses)
1.8 (1.9) (---) (2.1) (1.9) (1.8) (1.9) (---) (---) SNL
0.7 (---) (---) (0.6) (---) (---) (0.4) (---) (---) ABC Movie
0.7 (---) (---) (---) (---) (0.8) (0.6) (0.8) (0.8) Dateline
0.7 (0.7) (0.6) (0.6) (0.7) (0.6) (0.6) (0.7) (0.7) Dragon Ball Z
0.7 (0.8) (0.8) (0.7) (0.6) (0.9) (0.8) (---) (1.1) 48 Hours
0.6 (---) (---) (---) (---) (0.7) (---) (0.6) (0.8) SNL Primetime
0.4 (0.4) (0.4) (0.4) (0.4) (0.3) (0.4) (0.5) (0.4) Naruto Shippuden
0.4 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) NCIS LA
0.4 (---) (0.6) (0.4) (0.4) (---) (---) (---) (---) NCIS NO
0.3 (0.2) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) American Grit
0.3 (---) (---) (0.3) (0.3) (---) (---) (0.4) (0.3) Full Frontal
0.3 (0.3) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Houdini & Doyle
0.3 (0.3) (0.4) (0.3) (0.3) (0.3) (0.4) (0.4) (0.4) House Hunters Reno
