Month: September 2019

Best-bets for Sept. 6: Greece gets classy, Sheen gets laughs

1) “Live From Lincoln Center,” 9-10:30 p.m., PBS. OK, this isn’t live AND it isn’t from the Lincoln Center; other than that, the title is quite accurate. We follow the Chamber Music Society, as it visits and performs in iconic Greek settings (shown here). Classical pieces flow from the Ancient Amphitheater of Larissa, the Church of the Taxiarchon in Pelion and more. Read more…

Best-bets for Sept. 5: Pro football starts 100th season

1) Pro football season-opener, 8:20 p.m. ET , NBC. In 1920, the Decatur Staleys were 10-1-2, almost becoming the first champions of what’s now the National Fooball League. They became champs the next year … then changed their name to the Chicago Bears. The ’21 season was also when the Green Bay Packers joined, creating a fierce rivalry. Now the NFL’s 100th season begins with the 199th game between them. The Packers (led by Aaron Rodgers, shown here) lead 97-95-6, but the Bears, who host, are coming off a 12-4 season. Read more…

TV wrestling starts a rowdy new era

A generation ago, Teal Piper (shown here) recalls, wrestling didn’t seem like an equal-opportunity workplace.
“Women were really accessories to the men,” she said. They were there for sex appeal.
She once expressed that opinion to her father – possibly in a snarky, teenager way. “He just let me have it.” He slammed his fist, broke the table, and lectured that women work twice as hard.
It should be mentioned that her dad, the late wrestling star Rowdy Roddy Piper, had table-thumping strength plus social consciousness. “He had three daughters and he was a feminist at heart.” Read more…

Best-bets for Sept. 4: Chefs go global

1) “MasterChef,” 8 p.m., Fox. Two weeks from its finale, this is down to the final six home chefs. There are four men, ranging from Nick DiGiovanni, 22, to Subha Ramiah (shown here), 54, and two women – a stay-at-home mom (Shari Mukherjee, 34) and a former Army interrogator (Sarah Faherty, 31). Now — in the show’s first global episode – they’re flown to Gordon Ramsay’s flagship restaurant in London, where they serve 36 guests, including his family. Read more…

What to know before Conan buys Greenland

As Conan O’Brien prepares to help Donald Trump buy Greenland, let’s admire the symmetry.
Greenland was discovered (or re-discovered) by Eric the Red. He has:
— A little in common with O’Brien, whose special airs at 10 p.m. Tuesday (Sept. 3) on TBS. Mostly, it’s just the red hair.
— A lot in common with Trump. Eric, it seems, was a felon, a colonialist, a control freak, a slaveholder, a multiple killer and a guy who exaggerated the value of real estate.
.That last one, incidentally, is the part that directly relates to Trump. (I just thought the others provided extra information.) Read more…

Wu-Tang: Urban sound, built on Carolina dreams

By the time he was a teenager, Rza would be immersed in New York’s hip-hop scene.
He would eventually be linked with Method Man and Ghostface Killah and Ol’ Dirty Bastard and more. He would create Wu-Tang Clan (shown here), the powerhouse group depicted in a new Hulu series
.But some of the first poetry he heard wasn’t rap … and he wasn’t in New York … and he wasn’t Rza. He was Bobby Diggs, living in North Carolina and listening to his uncle.“
He spoke in song, nursery rhymes all day,” Rza said. “Or old folk tales.” Read more…

Best-bets for Sept. 3: Mayans return; Conan buys Greenland

1) “Mayans M.C.” season-opener, 10 p.m. FX. Three weeks before the big networks start their season, one of the most popular cable shows is back. It’s tough, taut and often brutal (especially tonight); it also has complex characters with sparse words and deep layers of emotion. At the core is EZ Reyes (JD Pardo), a probationary member of the motorcycle club; his brother hates him and his father (Edward Olmos, shown here with Pardo) has dark secrets. Meanwhile, the feds try to wipe out the rebel leader … unaware she has a deal with the cartel. Read more…