Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Ellen Gray's Memorial Day weekend TV picks: TCM goes to war, 'Grace of Monaco' and more

* GRACE OF MONACO. 9 p.m. Monday, Lifetime. Nicole Kidman stars in this oddly filmed look at a tumultuous period in the life of the Philadelphia-born princess - and on her supposed role in helping to end a standoff between tiny Monaco and Charles de Gaulle's France. Widely panned at Cannes, it has landed here after a very public fight between director Olivier Dahan and producer Harvey Weinstein. Lifetime's put on much, much worse than this, though, and I don't blame you a bit if you can't resist.

GRACE OF MONACO. 9 p.m. Monday, Lifetime.

Nicole Kidman stars in this oddly filmed look at a tumultuous period in the life of the Philadelphia-born princess - and on her supposed role in helping to end a standoff between tiny Monaco and Charles de Gaulle's France. Widely panned at Cannes, it has landed here after a very public fight between director Olivier Dahan and producer Harvey Weinstein. Lifetime's put on much, much worse than this, though, and I don't blame you a bit if you can't resist.

THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO. 6 a.m. Saturday, TCM.

The classic movie network kicks off its Memorial Day weekend marathon with this 1944 recounting of the first U.S. strike against Japan after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Stars include Spencer Tracy, Van Johnson and Robert Mitchum. For an altogether different look at an altogether different war, see Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire and Anthony Perkins in "Friendly Persuasion" at 8 p.m.

BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY. 7 p.m. Saturday, USA. Tom Cruise stars in the 1989 Oliver Stone film about paralyzed Vietnam veteran and anti-war activist Ron Kovic, on whose memoir it's based.

TEXAS RISING. 9 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, History.

Don't mess with Texas? Ten-hour limited series about what happened after the Alamo premieres on Memorial Day, continues the following night and then appears on three subsequent Mondays. Maybe best to just set the DVR. Cast includes Bill Paxton, Brendan Fraser, Ray Liotta, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kris Kristofferson.