Mrs. Wizard: ABC's J.K. Rowling Doc

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The media is never one to ignore trends, so expect the next 96 hours to be chock-full of Harry Potter. Look for Charles Gibson rocking spectacles and a scarf, Andy Rooney doing commentary about how annoying Muggles are and Wolf Blitzer transforming into an owl at the end of Friday's Situation Room. Tonight, Elizabeth Vargas grabs her quidditch wand or whatever, to report on Potter-creator, J.K. Rowling.

J.K. Rowling: A Year in the Life [8 PM, ABC]

ABC rehashes the 2007 British documentary that shadowed Rowling the year before Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released. The scribe talks openly about her inspiration for the title character and revisits her hometown, where he was conceived. Vargas hosts.

Big Brother 11 [8 PM, CBS]

Either Chima or Braden will be kicked to the curb in the first eviction of this season. Afterwards, compare the episode to the live feed's footage to ensure you didn't miss any gay-slurs.

Watch What Happens: Live [12 AM, Bravo]

Bravo's new social technology experiment show premieres tonight. Host Andy Cohen will be joined by "Bravolebrities" to discuss this week's pop culture news live. Viewers at home can interact with Andy via email, phone, Twitter, video and Facebook.

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Trainspotting [9:45 PM, IFC]

Before he was chasing Indian kids around the slums of Mumbai, Danny Boyle accomplished other visual challenges such as pulling a man out of the toilet and generally making heroin seem not that bad. Requiem for a Dream pretty much torpedoed the whole 'lust for life fantasy' that intravenous drug use is central to, but this group of British actors made the lower class drug culture almost appealing. Maybe it was just the Clinton years and the general happiness in the world in 1996 when the film was released, but watching this 13 years years later, you feel the nostalgia for that simpler time when you could score an eight ball with your mate with only toxoplasmosis (and dozens of other diseases) to fear.



Comments

  • snickers says:

    For one of Rowling's likely inspirations, have a look at the 1985 adventure movie Young Sherlock Holmes.