LOS ANGELES — For two weeks, I’d been seeing shows that promised to be fresh or fun or edgy or some other good thing.
And then, on the final day of the Television Critics Association tour, I saw my new favorite show. It’s called “Perfect Harmony” and it’s a perfectly harmonious blend of comedy, warmth and music. Read more…
1) U.S. Gymnastics Championships, 8-10 p.m., NBC. After three nights on cable, the event jumps to NBC for its finish; this is the women’s championship, the key part for American viewers. This often showcases future Olympic stars; past winners include Simone Biles, five times; Shawn Johnson and Jordyn Wieber (shown here) twice each; Dominique Dawes; and Mary Lou Retton. Now we’ll see another champion — a year before the Olympics. Read more…
LOS ANGELES — For many people, childhood means inhabiting multiple worlds.
That can be a good thing, molding an actor or author, a politician or salesman. Or it can be an ordeal.
The latest example is “David Makes Man,” the Oprah Winfrey Network series about a 14-year-old bouncing between a housing project and a magnet school. It’s fictional … except when it’s not. Read more…
1) “Elementary” series finale, 10 p.m. Thursday, CBS. For seven years and 155 episodes, Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) and Dr. Watson (Lucy Liu) have solved modern murders, mostly in New York. At times, the show has slid into a drab monotone; still, it’s had intelligent people cracking complex cases. Tonight (shown here)t, they wrap up their battle with tech billionaire Odin Reichenbach and get word about Jamie Moriarty, who has been Sherlock’s nemesis and (under the name Irene Adler) his lover. Read more…
1) “Fallen Hearts,” 8-10 p.m., Lifetime. We’re at the mid-point of the five-part saga based on V.C. Andrews’ Casteel Family novels. This film is the last one to center on Heaven Casteel, played by Annalise Basso, 20 (shown here). In “Heaven” (rerunning at 4 p.m.), she was dirt-poor; her mom fled and her dad sold the five kids separately – in her case, to a cruel family. In “Dark Angel” (6 p.m.), she moved to a Philadelphia mansion. In “Fallen Hearts,” she’s happy and married … and lured back to the mansion. Read more…
LOS ANGELES — We all know what Florida is like. Or we think we do.
“Everybody thinks we’re white sand beaches and Mickey Mouse,” Clint Raulerson (shown here) said.
He’s one of the people in PBS’ “Family Pictures” and he’s definitely no Mousketeer. Talking to the Television Critics Association, he was wearing a 10-gallon hat.
Yes, he’s a cowboy; there are a lot of of them in Florida, he said. “We still have about a million head of cattle in the state.” Read more…
LOS ANGELES — Remember award-show hosts – the ones who soar or sputter while working live?
They’re increasingly hard to find. Chris Collier, head of the Fox network, said there will be no host this year for the Emmys; that comes after the no-host Oscars.
Collier said the Emmy decision was spurred partly by wanting time for tributes to several departing shows. He considered some hosts, but “that’s 15-20 minutes we can’t” use for farewells. Read more…
1) “Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert,” 9 p.m., PBS. This isn’t what you’d expect: The setting and the orchestra are Austrian, the conductor is Venezuelan, the soloist is Chinese … and most of the music is from American composers. Really. Gustavo Dudamel (shown here) opens spectacularly with Bernstein’s “Candide” overture and Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” with pianist Yuja Wang. She pauses for a Chopin waltz, but then we’re back to Sousa, Steiner and more, beautifully played and filmed. Read more…
Monica Lewinsky has a new role in life: She’s been hired as a producer of “Impeachment,” the Bill Clinton mini-series that will debut in September of 2020.
And yes, she’ll also be a character in it. Beanie Feldstein – who plays the chubby virgin-turned-vampire on FX’s “What We Do in the Shadows” — will play Lewinsky (who is shown here with Clinton). Read more…
The gaps have been gaping, but now “Alanta” fans can quit worrying:
Yes, there will be a third season. And, for that matter, a fourth. Each will be eight episodes, with the back-to-back filming beginning next spring. Read more…
