‘American Crime Story,’ Winter Olympics, ‘This Close’ on Sundance Now
The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story (10/9c, FX): OK, this may not be the happiest way to spend an hour of Valentine’s Day night, but you won’t find a series more gripping than Ryan Murphy’s disturbing psychological portrait of murderer Andrew Cunanan (a stunning Darren Criss). As the storyline continues to go back in time, this week’s episode contrasts the proud coming out of designer Gianni Versace (Edgar Ramirez) in the pages of The Advocate in 1995 with the sad history of one of Cunanan’s other victims: closeted Naval officer Jeffrey Trail (a heartbreaking Finn Wittrock).
Winter Olympics (8/7c, NBC): Prime-time highlights include the gold medal finals in pairs’ figure skating and women’s speed skating, featuring Team USA’s reigning world champion Heather Bergsma in the 1000m race. Stay up past midnight to see if France’s Pierre Vaultier can repeat his gold-medal win in the visually exciting snowboard cross competition.
This Close (streaming on Sundance Now): Intimate, graphic and immediately engaging, this six-episode romantic comedy-drama is the streaming service’s first straight-to-series presentation. Shoshannah Stern and Josh Feldman, both deaf actors, created and co-star in the prickly contemporary chronicle of BFFs Kate (Stern) and Michael (Feldman), a more grounded version of Will & Grace. Kate, a mid-level publicist, is newly engaged to Danny (Friday Night Lights‘ Zach Gilford), which she worries will cause emotional distress to Michael, a creatively blocked graphic-novelist still getting over his break-up with ex-fiancé Ryan (Colt Prattes, redeeming himself from ABC’s Dirty Dancing remake). Cheryl Hines and Marlee Matlin guest in this authentically enjoyable series.
Inside Wednesday TV: Romantics can wallow in AMC’s daylong marathon of James Cameron’s Titanic (starts at 9 am/8c, continues until 3 am/2c/midnight PT). Your heart will go on as the ocean liner goes down, repeatedly, into world and cinema history. … The CW counts down The Top 14 Greatest Valentine’s Day Movies of All Time (9/8c), with the help of host Dean Cain. … The standoff continues on Paramount Network’s Waco (10/9c), as David Koresh (Taylor Kitsch) waits for a sign of God while his fellow Branch Davidians suffer from a lack of food and medical treatment.
