1) “St. Denis Medical” season-finale, 8 p.m., NBC. Dr. Ron (David Alan Grier) has been a curmudgeon, resisting warmth. Now he faces triple-bypass surgery and insists he just wants to be ignored … leaving others (shown here) to fret. Put that alongside another story — the aftershocks from Matt and Serena’s passionate kiss — and you have a terrific episode, rippling with humor and sentiment. Read more…
Is it too early to worry about season-finales?
Maybe, but CBS is ready. It will wrap up one season this month (“Matlock,” shown here, April 23) and some others in the first half of May,
Most of these will be back in the fall, with a few exceptions: “The Neighborhood” had already said this is its last season; CBS won’t be bringing back “DMV,” “Watson” and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and has given no word on “America’s Culinary Cup” or “Hollywood Squares.”
But for 17 others, this is just a summer break; the finale dates are:
Read more…
PBS will be back on Broadway next month.
It will stuff four Fridays in May with “Great Performances” shows. That includes two full musicals — “Suffs” (shown here) and “Top Hat” — plus a documentary and a Nicole Scherzinger concert.
This has become a tradition, for the month leading into the Tony awards. Each year, “Great Performances” puts new specials alongside ones from London. In this case, “Top Hat” and the Scherzinger concert were filmed in England, the others in the U.S. The line-up, all at 9 p.m., is: Read more…
1) Musicals. Amid a day of biblical films, Turner Classic Movies pauses for “Easter Parade” (1948), at 8 p.m. ET; the film has little to do with Easter, but does have Judy Garland, Fred Astaire and great Irving Berlin songs, Also, the Oscar-winning “Sound of Music” (shown here) is 6:45 p.m. on Freeform and 8:10 and 11:16 p.m. on BYUtv. Read more…
1) “Best Medicine” season-finale, 8 p.m. Tuesday, Fox. Last week’s hour set this up neatly: Visiting Norwegians tricked the town into a damaging deal … Greg and George (shown here, left) mentioned they’d secretly married … and Dr. Best pointed Louisa to his ex-girlfriend, a fertility expert. Now that blends beautifully, in an episode that mixes fun with strong emotion. Read more…
1) Basketball, TBS, TNT and TruTV. It’s final-four time in the college tournament. Connecticut (shown here) and Illinois collide at 6:09 p.m. ET, with Michigan and Arizona at about 8:49. All three channels carry pre-game shows (starting at 2:30 p.m.) and a post-game show. Read more…
1) “Sheriff Country” and “Fire Country” return, 8 and 9 p.m., CBS. Back from a two-week basketball break, these have a big-deal crossover: A mysterious school-bus explosion (shown here) leaves nine students missing; the sheriff and the firefighters investigate. In the second hour, Bode and Nathan try a desperate rescue. Read more…
1) “Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage” return, 8 p.m., CBS. After a two-week basketball break, broadcast-TV’s best comedy returns. And it’s back with its best kind of episode, mixing the families: Mandy tries to give Georgie’s sister dating advice; Georgie’s mom (shown here) is not pleased. Read more…
1) “Chicago Med,” 8 p.m., NBC. In a remarkable change-of-pace, “Med” starts a two-week story focusing almost entirely on Dr. Charles (shown here). A soft-spoken psychiatrist, he has soothed other people, amid painful family burdens in his past and present. Now life crashes down, in an ordeal played with subtle skill by Oliver Platt, a five-time Emmy-nominee. Read more…
1) “Secrets of the Bees,” 8-10 p.m., National Geographic. The superb “Secrets” films, produced by James Cameron, have shown mega-creatures — whales and elephants and such. Now it goes micro, with great footage inside hives. Bertie Gregory shows us a fascinating web of duties, including scouts, workers and queens-in-waiting. Read more…
Best-bets for April 6: “St. Denis” and basketball finales 
Best-bets for April 5: a faithful (and musical) Easter 
Best-bets for April 4: final-four, “SNL” and Moses 
