What’s on TV Wednesday: Debate Night With Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders

Photo

Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders face off on taxes. And Abbi’s mom appears on “Broad City.”

What’s on TV

BROAD CITY Comedy Central at 10:30 p.m. When a mom shows up on a sitcom, it’s usually bad news for the child and great news for the audience. From Elaine Stritch as Colleen Donaghy (“30 Rock”) to Shelley Long as DeDe Pritchett (“Modern Family”), mom roles have given great older actresses a chance to dole out some tough love and questionable advice and make humiliating life decisions that perhaps strike a little too close to home. One of the two “Broad City” moms has already appeared: Susie Essman as Ilana’s brash mother. Now it’s Abbi’s turn, and her mom is played by sitcom royalty: Peri Gilpin (Roz from “Frasier”).

Photo

CMT ARTISTS OF THE YEAR 8 p.m. on CMT. Country music has expanded and mutated in surprising ways in the last decade: It has leaned jauntily into hip-hop, opened the door for rebellious female songwriters, and swerved back into masculine Strait-and-narrow balladry. But while a new era of “nice guys” rises up the charts, as the critic Jon Caramanica of The New York Times noted last month, the genre’s mainstream center is still held by charming rogues like the ones being celebrated at this performance in Nashville: Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, Chris Stapleton and Keith Urban. Because of the deadly attack at Mr. Aldean’s festival appearance in Las Vegas this month, the program’s award presentations will be shelved in favor of additional performances. “It doesn’t feel right to be patting ourselves on the back that night like we would normally do,” Margaret Comeaux, the show’s executive producer, said in an interview.

DEBATE NIGHT WITH TED CRUZ AND BERNIE SANDERS 9 p.m. on CNN. The former presidential candidates couldn’t be more different in their political stances, oratorical approaches or hometowns. But they are both forcefully persuasive and more than willing to wade into substantive policy discussions, as seen in their health care debate in February. On Wednesday they will face off on another contentious issue coming before Congress: President Trump’s tax reform plan. Mr. Cruz called Mr. Trump’s plan “encouraging”; Mr. Sanders called it “morally repugnant and bad economic policy.” Sparks and grimaces will fly. (You can also catch Mr. Sanders on Wednesday’s “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” at 11:30 p.m. on CBS.)

THE SCORE (2001) 10 p.m. on FLIX. In his last movie, Marlon Brando teams up on a heist with two younger acting legends: Robert De Niro (who shared the character of Vito Corleone with Brando in the “Godfather” trilogy) and Edward Norton. It’s a one-last-job caper set in Montreal, with Brando’s reserved calm contrasting Mr. Norton’s hotheadedness. The movie is paced deliberately, and lifted by a sultry jazz score and smoky vocals from Cassandra Wilson.

Photo

ROSEHAVEN 11 p.m. on Sundance. This charming, gentle Australian comedy’s first season comes to a close, with McCallum Real Estate, a homegrown Tasmanian business, in financial trouble.

Continue reading the main story