Schemes — odd or ominous — lurk amid old secrets

David Duchovny’s career had been littered with oddities.
He’s met monsters and mutants, ghosts and cryptids and schemes to create alien-human hybrids. Also, poison labs and poison guns and mind control and a plan to have bats carry incendiary devices.
We expected that from his “X-Files” series. But bizarrely, some of that is non-fiction: Everything that was listed above after “also” involves real-life schemes, detailed on “Secrets Declassified” (shown here), which he hosts at 10 p.m. Tuesdays on the History Channel.
“Some of it is laughable,” Duchovny said, in a Television Critics Association session. “But then you step back and you go, ‘Well, this could have really impacted a lot of people in a negative way.'” Read more…

Best-bets foe April 14: “Doc” and “Voice” conclude

1) “Doc” season-finale, 8 and 9 p.m., Fox. It’s been a terrific season, stuffed with high-stakes medical and personal stories. Now it tries to top that with this two-parter: A deadly virus is loose; with their floor quarantined, doctors scramble to identify the virus, Amy (shown here) faces memory seizures … and when Richard (her nemesis) is stricken, she puts herself in danger. Read more…

Best-bets for April 13: big night for starts, finishes

1) “The Voice,” 9-11 p.m., NBC. Trimmed to half its usual length (to make room for basketball), this will conclude Tuesday. Tonight, we get the final nine singers; they’re shown here, from left: Liv Ciara, 16; Lucas West, 20; K.J. Willis, 35; Mikenley Brown, 19; Alexia Jayy, 31; J.W. Griffin, 25; Jeremy Keith, 40; Jared Shoemaker, 32; and Syd Millevoi, 23. Read more…

Best-bets for April 12: audacious, euphoric dramas

1) “Audacity” debut, 9 p.m., AMC, repeats at 10:09 and 11:38. We’re in tech country, where everyone seems to be wealthy, angry and sad. That includes Duncan (Billy Magnussen, shown here), whose company is plummeting, plus other schemers, their children and even their therapists. Like “Succession,” this brilliantly entwines flawed (and sometimes funny) humans. Read more…

Week’s top-10 for April 13: five finales, two openers and a basketball blitz

1) “The Voice” finale, NBC. Trimmed to half its usual length, this wraps abruptly. Today (9-11 p.m.), we hear Liv Ciara, 16; Mikenley Brown, 19; Lucas West (shown here), 20; Syd Millevoi, 23; J.W. Griffin, 25; Alexia Jayy, 31; Jared Shoemaker, 32; K.J. Willis, 35; and Jeremy Keith, 40. On Tuesday, there’s a recap at 8 p.m. and the final four, from 9-11 p.m. Read more…

Best-bets for April 11: “SNL” and lots of fighting

1) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:30 p.m., NBC. Colman Domingo (shown here) has fresh fame in his 50s. He co-starred in “Color Purple,” got Oscar nominations for “Rustin” and “Sing Sing” and drew a Tony nomination for writing the play “Fat Ham.” Now, at 56, he hosts “SNL,” with Anitta, 33, as the music guest. It’s the first time for both of them. Read more…

“SNL” closes season with Ferrell, McCartney

“Saturday Night Live” will close its season with two of its favorite people, Will Ferrell (shown here) and Paul McCartney.
Ferrell hosts the May 16 episode, with McCartney as music guest.
That’s part of broad age range: Olivia Rodrigo, 23, doubles as host and music guest on May 2, two weeks ahead of McCartney, 83.
On a new episode Saturday (April 11), Colman Domingo hosts and Anitta is the music guest, both for the first time. Then, after two weeks of reruns, comes the final push, newly announced: Read more…

A wild ride with the master of micro-budget movies

Right now, Roger Corman’s legacy is filling our Fridays with micro-budget movies.
Corman died in 2024, at 96, but his films persist. They were huge in quantity, mixed in quality, tiny in cost. And they launched great careers.
On April 10, for instance, two films — “The Wild Angels” (shown here) at 8 p.m. ET and “The Trip” at 11:30 — will show us Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson, before “Easy Rider.”
On April 17, we see early work of Peter Bogdanovich (Targets,” 8 p.m.) and Francis Coppola (“Dementia 13,” 1 a.m.). A week later, it’s Martin Scorsese’s “Boxcar Bertha,” at 8. Those three men have gone on to get 15 best-director Oscar nominations, winning three times. Read more…

Best-bets for April 10: comedy, ragtime & a stampede

1) “Happy’s Place,” 8 p.m., NBC. This show often skids off the rails, but it instantly improves when Jane Lynch is there. Now Lynch — the five-time Emmy-winner — is back as imperious mother of Gabby. (They’re shown here.) Now she’s staying with Gabby, who’s desperate to oust her. Alongside another story (date night for Emmett), it’s a fun episode. Read more…

Best-bets for April 9: comedy time on Fox and Max

1) “Animal Control,” 9 p.m., Fox. Two weeks from its season-finale, this mixes three fun stories: Frank and Daisy (shown here) find a fresh way to lose money, then try to get it back …. Shred and Patel botch night duty … And Victoria can’t process her break-up with Parker. He’s played by Josh Segarra, who’s way overwrought as the “Best Medicine” cop, but much better here. Read more…