1) “The American Southwest,” 10 p.m., PBS. The Colorado River (shown here) flows for 1,450 miles, from the Rocky Mountains to Mexico. It carved the Grand Canyon and is partly diverted to California farms. This portrait juggles gorgeous vistas, clumsy narration, strong ecological comments and views of critters, from beavers to snakes and salmon flies Read more…
Now that we’re finished with July 4 and all thise 250th-birthday stuff, it’s time to leap ahead almost a century.
Yes, the founding fathers were interesting … but so were the frontier folk. A new “Little House on the Prairie” reaches Netflix on Thursday (July 9).
That moves us to the late 1860s, with Americans recovering from the Civil War. Some were pushing to new land — especially the Ingalls family.
“They moved around a lot,” writer-producer Rebecca Sonnenshine told the Television Critics Association. “The Ingalls were always on the move.” Read more…
Her name reflects a galaxy far away, but her passion involves the frontier long ago.
Meet Skywalker Hughes (shown here, right) — no relation to Luke or to Howard or to this writer. She’s 14 and plays the older sister in the “Little House on the Prairie” reboot, arriving Thursday (July 9) on Netflix.
First, that name:
Her grandfather, she told the Television Critics Association, had the surname Walker and wanted to have a son named Jay. “It’s apparently really funny to name your son after jaywalking.”
Instead, he had daughters and asked one of them to name her daughter Skywalker. “My mom was a little like, ‘OK, We’ll see what happens.’ But I really do love my name …. I am a very, very big ‘Star Wars’ fan.” Read more…
1) “Password,” 10 p.m., NBC. Two amiable guys, Wayne Brady (shown here winning “The Masked Singer”) and Jimmy Fallon, collide. That follows “America’s Got Talent,” on a night when other broadcast stations stick to reruns or wrestling. The only other exception is “Breaking the Deadlock” (9 p.m., PBS), which looks at election security. Read more…
1) World Cup, 8 p.m. ET, Fox. Off to a strong start, the U.S. faces Belgium, in Seattle. The Americans (shown here in a previous game) have won all three games that counted, outscoring their opponents, 8-1. (After cinching a spot, they rested their starters and lost a game,.3-2.) Belgium has had 0-0 and 1-1 ties, plus 3-2 and 5-1 wins. Tonight, one will be eliminated. Read more…
Amid all the summertime reruns and re-reruns, we might long for some fresh TV shows..
They’re coming … and all on the same day.
That’s Thursday, July 9. There will be a new drama series (a good one) and a continuing drama (a great one). There will be a new Jennifer Garner mini-series (shown here) and the season-openers of two game shows and two reality competitions.
All of them arrive together, mostly by coincidence. Logically, networks waited for various distractions (basketball, hockey, soccer, 4th-of-July) to end; weirdly, they then all chose July 9.
Here’s a round-up, starting with broadcast TV, then cable, then streaming: Read more…
1) “Patience,” 8 p.m. PBS. After a so-so start to its second season, this show finally has the sort of smart hour that filled the first year. An autistic girl may have seen her father killed; Patience Evans, also autistic, struggles to help. It’s a neatly complex story and a subtly perfect, Emmy-worthy performance by Ella Maisy Purvis (shown here) as Patience. Read more…
1) “Big Brother” season-opener, 8-9:30 p.m. Thursday, CBS. The 28th season begins, this time in a house with a “time trip” theme (shown here). That ranges from a crazy-clock entry to design elements that span the centuries. There’s another 90-minute episode at 8 p.m. Sunday, then a weekly pattern — 8-9:30 p.m. Wednesdays, 8-9 p.m. Thursdays and Sundays. Read more…
1) “Disney Celebrates America,” all day, ABC. There are special editions of “Good Morning America” (7-10 a.m.), “Sports Center” (5-7 p.m.) and more. And at 8, Ryan Seacrest hosts from Nashville, with country stars (Reba McEntire, Tim McGraw, Clint Black, Brothers Osborne, Little Big Town), plus Boyz II Men, Nick Jonas and fireworks (shown here from a previous event). Read more…
Generations of Bells have made key contributions to music. That includes:
— Robert “Kool” Bell, leader of Kool & The Gang, which performs Friday (July 3) on the Capitol Lawn. That’s in a party (8 p.m. on most PBS stations) that has fireworks and music, from Alan Jackson to Chicago to Kool’s “Celebration” — an essential song for any 250th-birthday party.
— His dad, Robert “Bobby” Bell. His contribution was to not hit Miles Davis.
Really. “My father was a boxer,” Bell said,. “Miles Davis wanted to box with him, but he wouldn’t do it. He said, ‘I don’t want to ruin your career.'”
So Davis, his jaw and lips intact, continued to be a great jazz trumpeter. His music became one influence for Kool’s gang. Read more…
Best-bets for July 8: a mighty river, a Cup-less day 
Best-bets for July 7: games, sharks and reruns 
Best-bets for July 6: soccer, plus cartoon overload 
