‘Gideon’ offers food for thought
Nobody embodies glum, middle-aged repression like Bill Nighy. He was the bureaucrat who found a social conscience in the 2005 HBO film “The Girl in the Cafe,” and tonight he’s a high-powered publicist suffering an emotional crisis in the rewarding British drama “Gideon’s Daughter” (9 p.m. tonight, BBC America).
“Gideon” takes place in the optimistic “cool Britannia” years of the late 1990s, when Tony Blair’s government put an emphasis on hype and celebrity culture. Gideon Warner (Nighy), the most sought-after image-maker in the realm, seems the perfect man to plan London’s millennium-night party, an event to be remembered for 1,000 years.
But Gideon finds it difficult to concentrate. Having failed to grieve for his dying wife, he fears he’s losing his daughter, Natasha (Emily Blunt). Along the way, he takes up with a woman (Miranda Richardson) with grief issues of her own.
A remarkable and rewarding offering for thinking grown-up viewers, “Gideon” is the must-see TV event of the week. It may not be remembered for a thousand years, but it will stick in your mind longer than the now-forgotten Y2K hoopla.
The news magazine “48 Hours Mystery” (10 p.m. tonight, CBS) promises us yet more details about the police investigation into the disappearance of Natalee Holloway.
Wake me up when there is real news.
Ricky Gervais, the creator of “The Office” whose quirky comedy Internet offerings were recently cited by the “Guinness Book of World Records” as the most downloaded podcasts ever, will guest-star on “The Simpsons” (8 p.m. Sunday, Fox).
In the episode, Marge and Homer will participate in a “Trading Spouses” experiment in which Homer moves in with a controlling wife and Marge gets her beleaguered husband (Gervais).
Dr. Sanjay Gupta hosts “Sleep” (7 p.m. Sunday, CNN), dedicated to the science of 40 winks. Sleep, or the lack of it, appears to be the obsession of millions of Americans.
In a one-hour round up, Gupta looks at the effects of sleep-deprivation on such everyday activities as working and driving and explains how even moderate sleeplessness can result in memory loss and other afflictions.
Viewers who want to catch up with “Little People, Big World” (8 p.m. tonight, TLC) can watch the first eight episodes (7 p.m. Sunday, TLC), airing consecutively over four hours.
Saturday’s highlights
The NCAA Basketball Tournament (4 p.m.) continues.
Scheduled on “Dateline” (8 p.m., NBC): very different twins.