For the third time, TV has fresh responsibility in a stay-near-home world.
First it was Easter without churches …. then Earth Day without being out in nature … and now Memorial Day without some of the usual parades and public events.
So TV has alternatives. It has a major concert (8 and 9:30 p.m. Sunday on PBS, see separate sotry) … a new mini-series (“Grant,” 9 p.m. Monday on History) … documentaries … and, of course, lots of movies, including three airings of the Spielberg/Hanks classic “Saving Private Ryan” (shown here).
“Wartime is rarely the moment for great moviemaking,” Richard Schickel and George Perry wrote in “The Warner Bros. Story” (2008, Running Press)). Vivid examples range from 1940s films to the 1968 “Green Berets,” the much-derided film that airs twice Saturday (5:30 p.m. ET, Turner Classic Movies, 9 p.m., Sundance) and again Sunday (5 p.m., Sundance).
But there are strong exceptions – lauded films made in wartime, from the 1941 “Casablanca” (5 p.m. ET Saturday, TCM) to the 2014 “American Sniper” (4:30 p.m. Monday, AMC).
“In days of patriotism and pride, combat movies are like recruiting posters,” Jeanine Basinger wrote in “American Cinema”(1994, Rizzoli). Later, they begin to tell a full story.
She points to Sam Fuller, who simply said, “you cannot make a true war film.” Some 36 years after he was in the D-Day invasion, he drew raves for “The Big Red One” (1 p.m. Monday on Sundance).
And 18 years after that, Steven Spielberg made the classic D-Day film. “Saving Private Ryan” airs at 5 p.m. and midnight Saturday on Sundance and 9:30 a.m. Monday on AMC.
Here are some of TV’s Memorial Day weekend shows:
CONCERT
– “National Memorial Day Concert,” 8 p.m. Sunday, PBS, rerunning at 9:30. The Washington, D.C., event was canceled, but new music – Trace Adkins, Cynthia Erivo, Renee Fleming, Kelli O’Hara, Chris Jackson – was taped. It will be mixed with tributes (new and rerun) and more.
MINI-SERIES
“Grant,” the story of the Civil War general, airs at 9 p.m. Monday through Wednesday on History. Each episode reruns at about 11; the previous ones rerun at 7 p.m. Tuesday and 5 and 7 p.m. Wednesday.
DOCUMENTARIES
On Sunday, the History Channel has “World War II in HD,” 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.; “Navy SEALs, 2-6 p.m.; “The World Wars,” 6 p.m. to 4:02 a.m. On Monday, it has “Vietnam in HD” from 9 a.m.to 3 p.m.
The American Heroes Channel has films Sunday and Monday, plus 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
MOVIES
There are plenty, so we’ll stick to the ones that were chosen by www.rottentomatoes.com (which compiles critics’ views) as the 100 best wartime and post-war movies. For the TCM films, all times are ET; unlike most channels, TCM’s schedule is three hours eartlier PT:
– Saturday:
“Glory” (1989), 9:30 a.m. TCM (No. 54 on the list); “Sergeant York” (1941), 11:45 a.m., TCM (No. 81); “Saving Private Ryan” (1998), 5 p.m. and midnight, Sundance (No. 38); “Casablanca” (1942), 8 p.m. TCM, (No. 1);
– Sunday, none on the list.
– Monday:
“Where Eagles Dare,” 8:30 a.m., TCM (No. 70); “Saving Private Ryan” (1998), 9:30 a.m., AMC (No. 16); “The Great Escape” (1963), 11:15 a.m., TCM (No. 45); “The Big Red One” (1980), 1 p.m., Sundance (No. 56); “Fury” (2014), 1:30 p.m., AMC (No. 86)“The Dirty Dozen” (1967), 2:15 p.m., TCM and 9 p.m., Sundance (No. 61); “American Sniper” (2014), 4:30 p.m., AMC (No. 95); “Best Years of Our Lives” (1946), 8 p.m., TCM (No. 16); “Coming Home” (1978), 1 a.m., TCM (No. 91); “Kelly’s Heroes” (1970), 1 a.m., Sundance (No. 94).