1) “Now Hear This” season-finale, 9 p.m., PBS. This is the show’s best hour yet, a visit to Iceland. The scenery is stunning (shown here in a generic view, not from the show), the people are appealing — “we’re doers,” one says — and the music is abundant. With only 400,000 people, Iceland averages 500 new albums a year. This hour ranges from choral music inside a volcano to a thundering cello concerto. Read more…
Summer Sundays will be a little fresher, after all.
PBS has announced that it’s putting the second season of “Patience” into the 8 p.m. slot, from June 14 to Aug. 2. That will lead into the 11th and final season of “Grantchester,” at 9.
Previously (see separate story), the network had announced a summer that will be fairly heavy on reruns — including “American Experience” ones on Fridays and the second “Downton Abbey” season at 10 p.m. Sundays. Its new shows included some scattered documentaries, plus the four-part “Once Upon a Time in Space,” which will range from Space Station Mir to commercial spaceflight. Read more…
1) “Grey’s Anatomy” return, 10 p.m., ABC. After a three-week rest, “Anatomy” (shown here in a previous episode) is back to wrap its 22nd season. Next week is the season-finale, including the departure of Teddy and Owen. Tonight, however, it’s a big-deal crisis: The Royal Bridge collapses, putting all the doctors into action. Read more…
Movies, we’re told, need to have likable characters. They need people who are easy to root for.
That’s true … unless it’s a really well-made movie. Then rules are discarded.
Which brings us to HBO and its current streak: One Saturday (April 25), it had “Marty Supreme”; the next (May 2), it will have “Wuthering Heights”(shown here).
Both films (each reaching HBO Max a day earlier) center on hugely selfish and obsessive people. “Wuthering Heights” goes even further by giving us no one to like; even the servant girl is nasty.
And yet we watch for the best of reasons: Everything — the visuals, the dialog, the performances — is brilliantly executed. Read more…
1) “Shared Planet” season-opener, 10 p.m., PBS. Even in packed cities, nature survives. We see mountain lions in Los Angeles (shown here with the “Hollywood” sign in the background), a huge oyster project in New York, trees blooming near (or on) the skyscrapers of Medellin and Singapore. A week after its Earth Day shows, PBS propels this globally ambitious, four-week documentary. Read more…
1) “NCIS,” 8 p.m., CBS. LL Cool J (shown here) is turning “NCIS” into a lifetime assignment. He was Sam Hanna for 14 seasons on “NCIS: Los Angeles,” plus 12 episodes on “NCIS: Hawaii”; this fall, he’ll star in the new “NCIS: New York.” First, here’s his sixth “NCIS” episode. The team comes together to defend one of its own, who’s been framed for murder. Read more…
1) “The 1% Club,” 8 p.m., Fox. Joel McHale’s comedy (“Animal Control)” finished its season last week, but he’s still busy hosting TV’s best game show. Amid fascinating questions, McHale (shown here) toys with contestants. Today, they include one person who’s been on Jerry Springer’s show and another who was a zombie on “The Walking Dead.” Read more…
PBS will spend chunks of this summer the way other networks do –with reruns.
They’ll be good reruns, at least. “Downton Abbey” will be there; so will a best-of “American Experience,” ranging from Woodstock to the moon, from John Kennedy to George H.W. Bush.
And there will be some new shows mixed in. They include the final season of “Grantchester” mysteries (shown here), plus documentaries about a poet, a publisher, a Holocaust hero, outer space and the American Southwest. Read more…
1) “The Forsytes” season-finale, 9 p.m., PBS. Amid all the Victorian-age glamour, there are deep waves of emotion. At work, Jo was right; Soames wasn’t, destroying a client. At home, both men’s marriages are crumbling. Jo left after his wife (they’re shown here) banned him from seeing his long-ago lover and their children. Now come great moments, especially from his grandmother. Read more…
1) “Grey’s Anatomy” return, 10 p.m. Thursday, ABC. After a three-week rest, “Grey’s” (shown here in a previous episode) is back for the final two episodes of its 22nd season. Next week will see the departure of Teddy and Owen, plus cliffhangers. This week, however, it’s the sort of big-deal event the show savors: The Royal Bridge collapses, putting all the doctors in crisis mode. Read more…
Best-bets for May 1: gorgeous sights, splendid sounds 
Best-bets for April 30: “Grey’s” is back; “Elsbeth” is fun 
Best-bets for April 29: Nature and democracy survive 
