Television|What's On Friday
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What's On Friday
By Kathryn Shattuck
2 P.M. (Showtime) STAGE BEAUTY (2004) In this high-end costume drama about theater in 17th-century England, directed by Richard Eyre and based on a play by Jeffrey Hatcher, Billy Crudup, above, portrays Ned Kynaston, among the last of the old-school female impersonators and a specialist in doomed Shakespearean heroines. Claire Danes is Maria Hughes, who starts out as his stage-struck dresser and later becomes his rival as women are allowed to appear onstage. Rupert Everett hams it up as King Charles II; and Tom Wilkinson is Othello to Ned's Desdemona. "For about two-thirds of its length 'Stage Beauty' is propelled by a complex and fascinating set of ideas about sexual identity and theatrical performance," A. O. Scott wrote in The New York Times. "But as it rushes toward an upbeat ending, the movie at once recoils from this notion and bizarrely succumbs to its logic. In disowning drag and in straightening out Ned Kynaston, 'Stage Beauty' — absurdly for a work that professes to revel in the love of theater — takes a literal-minded stand for the straight and narrow in both sex and art."
9 A.M. (CUNY) IRISH WRITERS IN AMERICA Contemporary Irish and Irish-American writers discuss their creativity and how being Irish affects them in this 13-week series, which begins with Colum McCann, the author of "TransAtlantic" and "Let the Great World Spin," a National Book Award winner, and the Emmy Award-winning television writer and comedian Conan O'Brien. "The great lie is that the writer knows what he or she is doing," Mr. McCann says. "It's not true. You write toward what you want to know." Mr. O'Brien has a slightly more humorous take. "Anyone who tells you they love writing is a liar — or a bad writer," he says. (Repeated at 2 and 8 p.m.) In "Day at Night," at 9:30 a.m., Ayn Rand, the author of "Atlas Shrugged," is interviewed by James Day in a digitally remastered episode from 1974.
12:30 P.M. (C-Span) 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY The historian David McCullough will read from the president's speeches and the United States Naval Academy Men's Glee Club will perform in this live broadcast from Dealey Plaza in Dallas. At 2:10, the network will take calls from viewers. And at 2:30, James Taylor will perform and Gov. Deval L. Patrick of Massachusetts will speak at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.
8 P.M. (NBC) DATELINE NBC Kate Snow interviews Katherine Walton, an American living in Kenya, about being trapped with her five children inside the Westgate mall in Nairobi during the attack in September. Faith Wambua, a Kenyan, talks about the ruse she used to keep herself and her two children and alive.
8 P.M. (History) J F K ASSASSINATION: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE The network examines the results of a poll about who killed President Kennedy, left, and the alternate explanations presented by the 71 percent of participants who did not believe that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman. "Lee Harvey Oswald: 48 Hours to Live," at 10, chronicles Oswald's final two days.
9 P.M. (NBC) WHERE WERE YOU: THE DAY J F K DIED Tom Brokaw combines archival footage from NBC News with personal recollections and reflections from more than 40 others, including the widow of a Dallas police officer who received a letter from Jacqueline Kennedy and a neurosurgeon who examined President Kennedy.
9 P.M. (HGTV) HAWAII LIFE Mainlanders turned Hawaiian real estate brokers try to seduce others to follow in their footsteps. In this episode, an architect with a tortoise menagerie decides to build his dream home on Maui after discovering that he can't find a house that suits his needs. At 9:30, a couple trade Baltimore for the Big Island on a budget of $375,000.
MIDNIGHT (WE) THE LYLAS Bruno Mars's sisters — Jaime, Tiara, Tahiti and Presley Hernandez, right, otherwise known as the Lylas (for "love you like a sister") — continue their pursuit of musical superstardom in Los Angeles after leaving behind the sand and surf of Hawaii. But a vocal coach tells them their singing is awful.
1 A.M. (13) THEATER TALK Cherry Jones and Celia Keenan-Bolger discuss their roles as Amanda Wingfield and her daughter, Laura, in Tennessee Williams's "The Glass Menagerie" at the Booth Theater. Susan L. Schulman talks about her new memoir, "Backstage Pass: True Tales From a Theatre Press Agent." KATHRYN SHATTUCK