HBO’s “Watchmen”(show here) is the big winner in the annual Television Critics Association awards.
The show – merging fantasy, action and racial commentary – was named program of the year, plus best movie or mini-series and best new show. Its star, Regina Taylor, won the individual drama award. Read more…
1) Academy of Country Music awards, 8-11 p.m., CBS. During a five-month delay, this ound ways to do lots of live, social-distanced music. That will be scattered into the Grand Ole Opry’s past and current homes and a nightclub. Keith Urban hosts, Taylor Swift (shown here) ends a seven-year absence and sings “Betty,” Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani do “Happy Anywhere” and Carrie Underwood does a medley of women’s hits. Also: Luke Bryan, Kane Brown, Miranda Lambert, Tim McGraw, Trisha Yearwood, many more. Read more…
1) “America’s Got Talent,” 8-10 p.m., NBC. Five spots remain in the 10-person finals; now 11 acts compete for them. There are lots of singers – Celina Graves (shown here), Cristina Rae, Kenadi Dodds, Daneliya Tuleshova, Voices of Our City – and two dance acts, BAD Salsa and W.A.F.F.L.E. Crew. Also, a magician (Max Major), a daredevil (Jonathan Goodwin), a sword-swallower (Brett Loudermilk) and acrobats (Bello Sisters). Tonight, viewers vote; on Wednesday, we’ll learn who survives. Read more…
1) “Dancing With the Stars” opener, 8-10 p.m., ABC. There’s a new host (Tyra Banks) and ew judge (Derek Hough, shown here with Bindi Irwin, one of his six championships). There’s also a new approach, with dancers being distanced from everyone except their partners. The line-up includes Carole Baskin, the animal activist from “Tiger King”; Kaitlyn Bristowe, a former “Bachelorette”; and skater Johnny Weir. Also, athletes (Charles Oakley, Vernon Davis), musicians (Nelly, A.J. McLean), actors (Jesse Metcalfe, Anne Heche, Skai Jackson, Justina Machado) and more. Read more…
1) Academy of Country Music awards, 8-11 p.m. Wednesday, CBS. With a five-month delay, this found ways to do live, social-distanced music. Performers will be scattered over three spots – the Grand Ole Opry’s past and current home and a nightclub. And there will be plenty of them. Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani (shown here) do “Happy Anywhere”; Carrie Underwood does a medley of women’s hits. Also: host Keith Urban, Luke Bryan, Trisha Underwood, Kane Brown, Miranda Lambert, Tim McGraw, more. Read more…
Heading into her new talk show, Drew Barrymore has one big advantage.
She’s already seen it all, done it all, been it all. And most of that was decades ago.
“I hosted (‘Saturday Night Live’) when I was 7 years old,” she reminded TV critics. Then came the wilder years, when she was “blacklisted at 12. (When) you’re on the cover of the Natonal Enqurier at 13 years old for being institutionalized, there’s not much people can throw your way.”
All of that is deep in the past. Now she’s 45, thrice-divorced, with two young children and a life she once described as “almost a nun.” And she’s ready to talk; she always has been. Read more…
1) “Masterpiece: Van der Valk” debut, 9 p.m., PBS. The season’s first scripted show is a winner – a smart and well-crafted mystery with fresh settings. All the key people are British, including the novelist who created the characters and the actors who play them, led by Marc Warren (shown here). Still, this is set in Amsterdam, providing a fresh look … and a lot of bicycles. The opener starts with a wild bike chase, then shows the main crime. It pauses for humor (as Van der Valk meets his new aide), then eyes art, politics and romance. Read more…
There will be some laughter this autumn, after all.
ABC says its Wednesday situation comedies — including “The Conners,” shown here — will start their seasons on Oct. 21 and 28. They’ll be virtually the only sitcoms (not counting reruns and cartoons) in primetime.
Networks have assembled makeshift line-ups for the fall, strong on reality shows and a few dramas. For sitcoms, however, the field is smaller: Read more…
1) “Coastal Elites,” 8-9:30 p.m., HBO, rerunning at 11:20. In the right hands, a pandemic can seem fun. Paul Rudnick (“Sister Act,” “Addams Family Values”) wrote monologues about social-distanced live; five gifted actors then did them in a social-distance way. Kaitlyn Dever plays an idealistic youmg nurse from Wyoming; Bette Midler plays an angry old New Yorker. Dan Levy plays a neurotic actor, Issa Raye plays a rich kid and Sarah Paulson (shown here) plays the star of the internet’s “Mindful Meditations.” Read more…
For months, actors were simply in limbo.
“People used to say show-business was Depression-proof,” Bette Midler told the Television Critics Association recently. “In the Depression, the movies were the only things that survived.”
Not this time. During the COVID shutdown, writers kept writing and musicians kept recording, but actors mostly stayed at home and waited … except for five of them.
Those were the actors in “Coastal Elites” (shown here with Kaitlyn Dever ), which debuts at 8 and 11:20 p.m. Saturday (Sept. 12) on HBO, rerunning often. Working in social-distanced ways, they did monologues about distanced lives. Read more…
